INTERVIEW- Vanda Witoto calls upon world to stop looking at climate change-impacted Amazon with satellite gaze

 Representing her community at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which took place on November 6-19 in Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai, Vanda Witoto was one of several indigenous people from different parts around the globe who came to Sharm El-Sheikh calling for just and direct finance for their communities to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, as their communities are the most vulnerable to climate risks.

Vanda, who represents her ethnic group “Witoto”, which is associated with the spirit of the ant, is one of Brazil’s indigenous female influencers in the Amazon, where she and her community stand defiant against climate change.

The 35-year-old woman bears the indigenous name Derequine, which means “Wild Ant”. Her clan’s traditions and habits are inspired by the life of ants as an indication of cooperation, hard work and community life, according to her official website.

Vanda Witoto is a nursing technician and was the first person vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of Amazonas. She provided medical assistance to the community of 700 families in her area, aka Parque das Tribos, which was neglected by the authorities, according to Outras Palavras.

In an interview with Jusoor Post, Vanda talked about how her community is suffering from climate change impacts and how they lack basic needs and are deprived of rights to health, education and food, although they are the real safeguards of the earth.

Q - First of all, could you speak briefly about your community or your ethnic group and how climate change is affecting you?

A - I live in a community called Parque das Tribos Manaus Amazonas. Our community consists of 35 ethnic groups. The community [her clan] is around 2,500 people who live on the outskirts of Manaus and lack public policies such as access to drinking water, education and health care. 

Here, we fight for the right to exist because the state denies us as indigenous people. We don't have enough land to plant, and that's why we suffer from food insecurity. Many families don't eat three meals a day, and children stop going to school.

Q - How do indigenous people enhance women’s empowerment and role in their communities?

A - The participation of women today inside and outside our territories has been very important since we have been attending the university. When we – as women – go the university, we understand that our role is important to be respected by society and men. Today, our bodies and our voices are at the forefront of the fight to contain deforestation, the invasion of our territories, grabbing land and mining. That is why we have been threatened. Many leaders have had their homes set on fire. Women leaders do not walk alone because we are persecuted.

It is necessary for the government to protect us and give us the requirements and security to continue defending the forests in the territories, because it is us the indigenous women who protect the planet. 

Q - How do you mitigate and adapt to climate change crises? What are your solutions to these crises when it comes to protecting forests, soil, and water?

A - Our simple way of life is caring for the land such as not deforesting and not polluting. This is is the way we live. We manage the forest and we relate to it. We belong to it. This relationship alone is what has guaranteed our forest standing and our rivers protected.

We are the ones most impacted by climate change, so we are the ones who have the solution for that. 

Q - What do the indigenous people need from the international arena to enrich the spread of their practices and knowledge?

A - What we need is the financial support so that we can be protected in the region where we monitor our territories. Our actions, which are our way of life, should be recognized and valued above all throughout this climate change mitigation process. Many times, we do not have any financial support to guarantee our food in the land we care for, because we are who defend the earth and the planet.

We are those who care for the existence of humanity, but we are not protected. International countries need to finance projects in indigenous communities starting from education and agriculture to traditional medicine. These projects need to be financed to provide quality of life for those peoples in the territory. 

Q - What is your message to the world leaders?

A - What I want to say to the world is to stop looking at the Amazon with that satellite gaze. The people of the world and the rulers do not know how much the life of the indigenous riverside population of Quilombolas of this Amazon [Afro-Brazilian who escaped the slavery of Brazil after being enslaved from the 16^th century until the 19^th century] is impacted by climate change.

We experience a very high level of large environmental racism. We don't have access to drinking water at the base of the largest hydrographic basin on the planet. We are not guaranteed the right to have our culture, our mother tongue of nature, as they [the invaders] are destroying the forest. They are polluting our rivers, and it is our lives that are impacted. We need to take care of people's lives first because they are the ones who take care of the forest and because we are the ones who protect the rivers with our own lives.