“Let’s stop the emissions of false and irresponsible promises, let’s put an end to the pollution of empty words and fight for a livable
future and present.”

Txai Suruí is 28 years old. She comes from a well-known and influential family of activists: her father is Chief Almir Suruí, who grew up in the Brazilian Amazon Forest, a member of the Lapetanha tribe in Rondônia. Her mother is Ivaneide Suruí, a legendary figure in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon.

Txai is an activist of the Paiter Suruí people; coordinator of Kanindé, an association for ethno-environmental defence that has been working with indigenous people for 30 years; coordinator of the Indigenous Youth Movement of Rondônia.

Txai comments: “Activism was not a choice. We fight because we have no other choice, and we have to do it in the best way possible”. And she continues: “Indigenous peoples are on the front line of the climate emergency, which is why they must be at the centre of decisions to contain it. We have ideas to delay the end of the world. Let us stop the emissions of false and irresponsible promises, let us put an end to the pollution of empty words and let us fight for a liveable future and present. May our utopia be the future for the Earth.”

In an international meeting with her green feather headdress on her head, she said: “We call this headdress Cocar. We change it depending on the occasion. This time I wear a war Cocar to reiterate that we indigenous people are willing to fight, not with weapons but
with the wisdom of words.”

Listening to this young woman with strength seems to fulfil the prophecy of her father, the cacique (chief) Almir Narayamoga who, shortly after birth, in introducing Txai to the Paiter-Suruí community placed the child on a tree trunk and defined her as a future labiway esagah, a leader in the Tupi-mondé language spoken by the natives.

Txai learned resistance before even coming into the world. During her pregnancy, her mother, Neidinha, a historic activist, spent long hours telling her long-awaited daughter the myths of her people. And she urged her to protect them, as her parents had tried to do, in the front line of denouncing the incursions of loggers. A commitment for which the couple was repeatedly threatened with death and forced into hiding.

The Amazon issue divides the world: the protection of the largest rainforest in the world, a fundamental ecosystem for the survival of man on this earth; and the aims of managing its immense resources. On one side, the game is environmental, historical and cultural; on the other, it is economic, political and of power.

Txai grew up among demonstrations, marches and community work. At the age of five, she made her first public speech. “My mother had taken me to a march for the protection of the rights of indigenous children. At a certain point, I let go of her hand and headed towards the stage. I don’t remember what I said. Only the eyes of the audience fixed on me, from which respect shone”, said the young woman, whose full name is Walelasoetxeige Paiter Bandeira Suruí. To acquire new tools of nonviolent struggle, Txai decided to attend the Faculty of Law in Porto Velho.

“Knowing the laws is essential to help the peoples of the Amazon,” explains the first Suruí to study at the university and designated, even before graduating, coordinator of Kanidé. “My horizon is Amazonian. But I always try to give a global character to our commitment. The natives of the largest tropical forest on the planet, however, do not fight only for themselves and for their rights. Ours is a battle for Life. Ours, of the globe and all its inhabitants. Because killing the Amazon means condemning humanity to death.”

“Over the last 50 years, approximately 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed: if this trend reaches 20-25% of the forest, the Amazon could turn into a shrub savannah in a few decades”. The alarm is raised by the WWF, which invites everyone to reflect on this extremely critical situation, hoping for immediate and coordinated action at a global level.

This emergency is, in fact, global. The Amazon is the largest tropical forest on Earth: “Over 550 million hectares that host 10% of global biodiversity, including over 40,000 plant species and thousands of animal species. Furthermore, the Amazon’s capacity to store over 75 billion tons of carbon is crucial in the fight against climate change”, reiterates the environmental association.

The degradation of the tropical forest risks compromising the achievement of the global goals of limiting warming to 1.5°C, making it urgent to protect and preserve this precious ecosystem.
In the Amazon, 2024 was unfortunately a year of new sad records. Brazil has registered over 110,000 fires since the beginning of the year, marking the highest number since 2010 and a dramatic increase of 76% compared to the same period in 2023, according to the Brazilian Institute of Space Research (Inpe).

The destruction of one of the most vital natural resources on the planet such as the Amazon would have devastating consequences for biodiversity, for the indigenous populations who live there and would irremediably compromise the fight against climate change, WWF notes.

“For the natives, the land, the water – concluded Txai -, trees are not “raw materials” to be transformed into money. They are part of us. Thanks to this spiritual closeness to the forest, we indigenous people have learned to take care of it. We have been doing it for millennia. Our experience and ancestral wisdom can be put at the service of the rest of the globe to avoid catastrophe before it is too late.” (C.Z) – (CC BY-SA 4.0/Ana Pessoa/Midia Ninja/CopCollab25)