During the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Conferência das Partes da Convenção da Diversidade Biológica - CDB) in 2022, we were isolated from any negotiation, dialogue or participation process. We were living through the anti-democratic governments of Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, who aggravated the social, political, economic, health and ecological crisis. These were times of environmental flexibilization, the dismantling of inspection bodies, the privatization of protected areas, the persecution of human rights organizations, social movements and public servants, an increase in land conflicts and the murder of environmental leaders and activists.

This scenario of destruction was rejected by Brazilian society with the election of President Lula. Today, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA), led by Marina Silva, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, led by Sônia Guajajara, are seeking greater interaction with civil society, especially with social movements related to biodiversity, in order to define their positions. These are essential positions for a megadiverse country, a member of the G20 and a leading player in the CBD negotiations.

However, corporate agriculture and large corporations can influence Brazil's position. There is a dominant discourse in Brazil that agribusiness “sustains” the country and that the solutions presented by this model will solve the problems of the environmental and climate crisis. In fact, this development model results in a disastrous reality. Despite the reduction in deforestation, there has been an indiscriminate increase in burning in all regions, especially in the Pantanal, Cerrado and Amazon. Almost 12 million hectares were burned in 2024. We are experiencing the constant release of pesticides and new transgenic seeds, including wheat. Our water system is on alert and we are experiencing the possibility of oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River. We recently experienced one of the biggest socioenvironmental tragedies in our history: the floods in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, which affected more than 1.5 million people.

In this regard, we need to be vigilant against positions that tend towards socio-environmental regression and that negatively impact traditional territories and rights. We need to guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples, quilombolas, traditional peoples and communities and family farmers, especially to land, territory and wate and to defend socio-biodiversity. We need to reject the privatization of common goods, the initiatives of green capitalism and the financialization of nature, because they only accumulate capital and exclude the peoples of the forests, waters and countryside.

Thus, we, the indigenous peoples, quilombolas, traditional peoples and communities and family farmers of Brazil, aware of the issues under discussion at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol, have come, through this open letter: a) to denounce policies and processes underway in Brazil that affect our territories and biodiversity; b) to express our position and our recommendations, aspiring to a socially and environmentally just country.

:: Click here