Listen to a voice from the rainforest
Cecilia Iorio, CAFOD’s Brazil Country Representative, warmly invites you to the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester to hear first-hand from indigenous leader and activist Mauricio Ye’kuana, who together with his people fights to protect the Brazilian Amazon rainforest from illegal invaders for us all. The event is taking place on 11 June from 2pm.
Mauricio’s talk will include a call-to-action to the UK government and civil society to fulfil commitments made at COP26 to protect forests, biodiversity and indigenous rights in the global fight against climate change before it is too late. The event also marks the official UK launch of the recent report, Yanomami Under Attack, published by CAFOD’s partner organisation, Hutukara Yanomami Association.
After the talk, there will then be a Q&A session with Mauricio before a chance to visit the exhibition “Amazônia”. “Amazônia” is a breathtaking photography exhibition by Sebastão Salgado at the Science and Industry Museum. These images provide the backdrop of what is at stake if these human rights violations and environmental destruction continue at such exponential rates.
The role of indigenous campaigners
The latest IPCC report, launched in February 2022, warns us of the urgency of tackling climate change.
The increasing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest is having a devastating impact on our planet and driving climate change.
Indigenous people play a vital role in keeping the rainforest standing and their way of life and their struggle for rights benefit all of us living on this planet. Mauricio Ye’kuana will talk about the link between indigenous rights and tackling climate change – come to hear first-hand from an indigenous leader who lives in the Brazilian rainforest.
Mauricio will share what life looks like for him and other Brazilian indigenous groups on the frontline of their life and death struggle to ensure both indigenous peoples’ rights and the protection of the Amazon Rainforest.
The dangers faced by communities in the Amazon
Violent conflict, murders, rape, prostitution and mercury poisoning of the Yanomami and Ye’kuana have all ensued as a result of illegal gold mining. These communities are the key to our planet’s survival as the only defenders of this tropical forest, living in an area twice the size of Switzerland (9.6m hectares). By 2021, the total cumulative forest area destroyed by illegal gold mining in Yanomami land exceeded 3,000 hectares (approximately ¼ of the size of Manchester city).
Recent research by the journal ‘Nature Climate Change’ shows that ‘the Amazon is approaching a tipping point…after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity’.
Sebastiao Salgado’s exhibition “Amazônia”
Highly acclaimed Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado’s exhibition “Amazônia” at the Manchester Science and Industry Museum will give you more food for thought about this link as Sebastiao Salgado himself is an advocate for both protecting the climate and indigenous peoples’ rights.
Do not miss out on this memorable collaboration and spread the word!