Quilombolas go to COP28 to demand climate justice – 12/02/2023 – Environment

Traditional communities from Brazil are present at COP28, the UN climate conference that began on Thursday (30), in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Despite this, they will not play a leading role at the event’s main tables and demand more prominence in the debate on climate change.

Participation takes place in some panels and conversation circles, in person and also through videoconferencing and recorded statements sent for presentation at the summit.

One of the Brazilian speakers will be Selma Dealdina, vice-president of the board of the Casa Socioambiental Fund. She was already at last year’s edition, held in Egypt. This time, at COP28, she will speak about the importance of traditional communities in preserving the environment.

She will participate in debates on gender and climate change and also on racism and violence against quilombola leaders. Furthermore, she will be at a table with the Vice President of Colombia, Francia Márquez, where topics related to Colombian rural black communities will be discussed.

“I think there is no way to continue discussing the environment, climate justice, the territorial management of biomes without the racial agenda. We need to racialize the debate”, says Selma, who is also a member of the National Coordination of Articulation of Black Rural Communities Quilombolas.

Born in the community of Sapê do Norte, in Espírito Santo, she does not deny the importance of the summit, but questions what real change can be seen as a result of previous climate conferences without the population that is most affected by environmental problems being heard.

“An ordinary worker cannot afford to go to the COP. How are they going to pay R$10,000 for the ticket, R$40,000 for the hotel? Even the COP that will be in Brazil [a COP30, em 2025, em Belém]. This does not mean that our participation will be facilitated.”

According to Selma, it is important to consider gender and the role of women in forest conservation through the way they deal with the land.

A study by ISA (Instituto Socioambiental) published last year shows that indigenous and traditional peoples play a fundamental role in caring for Brazil’s forests.

According to the analysis, in addition to high social technology in the traditional management of areas, the presence of indigenous people expands governance over territories and promotes important socio-environmental contributions to recover degraded areas.

The survey also showed that indigenous lands and extractive reserves presented more forest protection than full protection conservation units or APAs (environmental protection areas). Over the last 35 years, indigenous lands have protected 20% of the total national forests.

João Leôncio will address the role of indigenous peoples in environmental protection at COP28. The deputy chief of the Cachoeirinha Indigenous Land, of the Terena and Kinikinau people, in Mato Grosso do Sul, will participate in the event virtually.

“I’m going to talk about the struggle of our people, about our territory, and I want to convey the message, a complaint about the delay in demarcation.”

The UN climate summit features representatives from almost 200 countries, including delegates, ministers and heads of state. Brazil has the largest COP28 delegation: according to official UN records recorded by Sheetthere are 1,337 registered.

This number, in addition to politicians at federal, state and municipal levels, also includes advisors, technicians, media professionals and a wide range of specialists.

For Bárbara Barbosa, racial and gender justice coordinator at Oxfam Brasil, the environmental issue is being discussed in an inverted way, guided by companies and governments.

“The people who live in the forests have not been considered. The communities protect the forests, the rivers. The large estates are responsible for the environmental and climatic collapse”, he says.

She also highlights that the economy’s production chains could be more sustainable if they learned from the technologies and ways of working developed by these communities.

“It’s super important to see these people participating in discussions at a high level [como a COP]but there is a certain frustration that they are not at the center of the debate.”

In Brazil, in addition to quilombolas and indigenous people, examples of traditional extractive communities include riverside dwellers, chestnut farmers, caiçaras, artisanal fishermen, gypsies, land and bottom-dwelling people and pasture closures.

Letícia Santiago de Moraes will be in Dubai during COP28. She is vice-president of the National Council of Extractive Populations. A resident of Ilha do Marajó, in Pará, she leads a delegation of young people from traditional communities on a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

“I will participate in some tables with the perspective of our communities and thinking about preparation for Belém [sede da COP30]”, account.

Despite the lack of protagonism in the debates at the Dubai event, she highlights the importance of making contact with communities from other states and countries to improve coordination in defense of collective rights.

“We need to think about the climate emergency from the perspective of communities. These are the people who are vulnerable, who suffer from droughts and fires. We need to talk. We are the ones who experience the greatest threats from logging, mining and oil. “

The choice of the United Arab Emirates as hosts has led to criticism in recent weeks, especially after leaked documents indicate that the summit presidency studied how to close oil deals in talks with countries as part of the event.

In the assessment of Isadora Gran, climate justice coordinator at the Climate Reality Project Brasil, the COP has currently offered a little more participation opportunities for these communities. Despite this, there are still many barriers, such as language, technical terms used and financial issues.

“These people don’t have access to where these discussions are taking place, what language these discussions are taking place in and who actually participates in them. [Existe um] social class, gender, race that still limits access to these spaces.”

As for the impacts on the climate, Isadora highlights, people in the communities perceive them closely, precisely because of the relationship they have with nature, on which they depend to guarantee their way of survival.

“It is necessary to combine traditional knowledge and climate science, another way of seeing nature.”