Pará participates in global forum on climate and ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples
The international forum brings together indigenous people and experts from four continents to create a Global Climate Protection Agenda based on ancestral knowledge
The State of Pará participates this Tuesday (1st) and Wednesday (2nd) in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in the Forum on Indigenous People Wisdom on Protecting Environment – Forum "The Value of Ancestral Wisdom for Environmental Protection", which brings together indigenous leaders, experts, and authorities from various countries in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The initiative is coordinated by the South-South Cooperation Council for Sustainable Development (CCSS), with support from international institutional partners.
Representing Brazil and the Amazon region, the Secretary of State for Indigenous Peoples of Pará, Puyr Tembé, is part of the event bringing to the international community the experience of Pará in building public policies aimed at valuing indigenous peoples and protecting traditional territories.
During the two days of programming, participants discuss the role of ancestral knowledge in environmental protection and the formulation of sustainable climate solutions. The goal of the forum is to initiate the construction of a Global Climate Protection Agenda based on traditional knowledge, with exchange between different continents and cultures.
The secretary stated that Pará has made progress in public policies that respect indigenous protagonism, citing the creation of the Secretary of Indigenous Peoples as an important milestone.
“The ancestral wisdom of indigenous peoples is fundamental to rethink the relationship of the world with nature. Pará has advanced in public policies that value this knowledge and place indigenous communities at the center of the environmental and climate debate,” said Secretary Puyr Tembé.
In her opening speech, she emphasized that “there is no separation between nature and humanity,” and that indigenous peoples have understood this interdependence for millennia as the basis of their spiritual, political, and territorial practices. “The forest, the rivers, the animals, the sky, and the earth are part of our collective body,” she stated.
According to Puyr, ancestral wisdom “is not the past — it is present and future,” being alive in forms of cultivation, healing, social organization, and in practices of caring for the Earth as a living being with rights.
She reinforced that, in the face of severe environmental crises, “there will be no effective solutions without listening to those who have defended and inhabited the territories that still resist for centuries,” highlighting the role of indigenous peoples, quilombolas, riverside dwellers, and other traditional communities.
The meeting will result in an international document to be adopted at the end of the program on July 2nd. This text will serve as the basis for a long-term program that will travel to other continents in the coming years. The next edition already has a confirmed host: it will be held in April 2026 in the Philippines during the country's presidency in ASEAN.
The presence of Pará at the Forum reinforces the strategic role of the Amazon in international climate debates and strengthens global articulation among indigenous peoples, institutions, and experts committed to addressing the environmental crisis and valuing traditional knowledge as a collective good.
Text: Jaelta Souza / Ascom Sepi
