The Amazon belongs to humanity -- let's protect it together

Tashka and Laura Yawanawá lead the Yawanawá people in Acre, Brazil -- a tribe that stewards almost 500,000 acres of Amazon rainforest. As footage of the Amazon burning shocks the world's consciousness, Tashka and Laura call for us to transform this moment into an opportunity to support indigenous people who have the experience, knowledge and tools needed to protect the land.

Tashka Yawanawá (Sharp exhale)

(Sharp exhale)

(Sharp exhale)

(Sharp exhale)

(Singing)

(Singing ends)

(Sharp exhale)

I'm Tashka Yawanawá.

I'm here with my wife.

I come from the Yawanawá community,

which is located in the state of Acre

in the Brazilian Amazon.

Takes some days to arrive here.

I just did the song

to reconnect us
to the spirit of the rainforest.

From immemorial time,

my people live in the Yawanawá territory.

We see this holistic way

of how nature is.

Nature, to us, belongs
to the whole of humanity.

And we Yawanawá see

the environment, the forest, as alive.

But everything is always a challenge.

Mostly now, because I think
many of you know

that the Amazon now is on fire.

That affects all of us.

Destroying the Amazon does not affect
just the indigenous people,

because we are all connected.

Whatever we do in my community,
if I burn everything,

it's going to affect it here,

when the snow comes here at Christmas.

If you pollute here,

it's going to affect it when the rain
comes to my country.

I used to say we all belong
to the global village.

I used to say, Amazon belongs to humanity,

and also that humanity needs to take care
as the indigenous do in the world.

And for this reason,

today is a time to wake, unite us.

We Yawanawá are doing our part.

We take care of Mother Earth.

And now, I will give to my wife.

Laura Yawanawá: We are here
with our hearts crying.

I am smiling here, but my heart is crying,

because a lot of our forests
are being destroyed.

And I just want to give you a message.

This crisis is giving
humanity two options.

One option is you help to end,
to destroy and exterminate

all our forests and all
our cultures that go with it.

Or, we transform this crisis
into an opportunity

to empower indigenous people,

to support indigenous people

and to save the rainforest
and their cultures.

And how can you do that?

We have, the Yawanawá,
we created a life plan,

which is our strategic planning

that tells us the steps
of how we want to secure our territory.

We take care of about
200,000 hectares of rainforest.

But now it's under threat.

So this life plan shows the steps
for us to secure our land,

our biodiversity,

our culture, our education.

I invite you all,

I invite all companies,

I invite all governments,
all civil society,

to listen to indigenous peoples,

to go back to our roots.

We have been here
for many, many ... for centuries.

And we have been trying
to scream to the world

that we need to protect
our territory, our nature.

And you never listen to us.

Never.

I guess this crisis is teaching humanity

that now you need to listen to us

and to support indigenous
peoples directly,

to support their initiatives directly.

So that's the message
that I would love to leave to you.

That indigenous people have the answer,

and if you want to save the Amazon,

we have to take action now.

TY: (Sharp exhale)

(Applause)