Capable of connecting ancestral knowledge and decisive practices for the preservation of the forest, indigenous communicators will play a crucial role in decision-making spaces regarding climate
This text is part of the series Journalism in Brazil in 2025 and was originally published in Farol Journalism Newsletter.
As the world witnesses increasingly extreme weather events – such as the historic droughts that hit the Amazon in 2023 and 2024, and the southern part of the country with torrential rains that flooded several cities in Rio Grande do Sul last May – one question resonates: how will we face the global climate crisis? At the heart of this response are indigenous peoples. In 2025, native peoples will have much to teach about how to face a phenomenon that is already affecting thousands of lives on the planet.
In the Rio Negro basin, located in the extreme northwest of the state of Amazonas, where 23 indigenous peoples live, communities that have inhabited the region for thousands of years face both record floods and prolonged droughts that challenge their survival. This is what happened in 2023, when the navigability of the rivers was affected by the historic drought, making it difficult to access the farms, from where they obtain their main food, cassava. These populations depend on the forest and the rivers to survive. Changes in the rain cycle affect the dynamics and behavior of fish, earthworms and even soil fertility. These impacts are not merely "givens" to indigenous peoples: they are experiences that profoundly alter their subsistence practices, rituals and their relationship with nature.
In this region, since 2005, the Indigenous Environmental Management Agents have been making these records, an initiative of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro (FOIRN) in partnership with the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA). The results of these surveys are published in a magazine called Aru, which is in its fourth edition, available online and also circulating in printed format in the region.
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Even in the face of the challenges presented by climate change, the traditional ways of life of indigenous peoples offer a beacon of light in the midst of the crisis. With sustainable practices, such as agroforestry management and the use of fishing and farming techniques that respect natural cycles, these communities demonstrate that it is possible to live in harmony with nature – they prefer to affirm that they are part of nature itself and of Mother Earth, which is why they care so much and respect it.
The techniques may seem simple, but they are sophisticated and based on thousands of years of observation and direct interaction with nature – knowledge that scientists are only just beginning to recognize as essential in tackling climate change. This is proven by several studies, which make it clear that indigenous territories are the best preserved in Brazil.
However, indigenous peoples, guardians of the forests, suffer attacks on their rights and constitutional guarantees every day, whether in the Executive, Legislative or Judiciary branches. Hence the need for permanent mobilization and the fight for these achievements.
In a scenario of mobilization and struggle, communication plays a crucial role. This is where the Rio Negro Indigenous Communicators Network, the Wayuri Network, comes in. Created in 2017 to strengthen the narratives of indigenous peoples, the network uses podcasts, social media, and educational materials to disseminate information that combines traditional knowledge and contemporary practices. In addition to raising awareness about the impacts of climate change, Wayuri values and shares indigenous adaptation strategies, bringing the peoples of the region closer together and taking their voices to the world.
The Wayuri Network also acts as a radar, recording the effects of climate change on indigenous territories and mobilizing communities to take action. One example is the work carried out to document extreme floods and droughts, which not only informs the indigenous people themselves, but also helps alert society to the severity of the crisis. It is living proof that indigenous peoples are not just victims of climate change, but protagonists in the fight for solutions.
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As the planet seeks solutions to the crisis at meetings and events such as the COPs, indigenous knowledge and community communication are proving to be indispensable tools. Recognizing this is not only an act of historical justice, but also an urgent strategy to save everyone’s future. As the forest, rivers and communities that live in them show us, we need to connect knowledge, practices and voices in a true web of climate solutions.
In 2025, the trend is for popular communication and community networks to occupy decision-making spaces regarding the climate, to be able to communicate to the people of the forest what has been proposed to save the planet, because we are the ones holding this pressure cooker of global warming in check.