“The world needs to hear what indigenous people have to say,” Txai Suruí tells CNN

The young indigenous Txai Suruí, one of the representatives of Brazil at COP26, the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change, defended a greater participation of indigenous peoples in the international debate on the environment and climate change.

“The world needs to hear what indigenous peoples have to say; we need to be at the center of the discussion”, said the activist in an interview with CNN, from Glasgow, Scotland.

“It is inconceivable today to see a space like the COP and talk about climate and the environment without the presence of indigenous peoples. I had the privilege of being there, but you should have a lot more indigenous peoples. And not just in the opening, we should be in the COP decision spaces. We are the ones at the forefront of the fight against climate change.”

The 24-year-old is part of the Paiter Suruí people, from Rondônia, and joined the global map after speaking at the opening of COP26, this Monday (1).

In his speech at the conference, Txai said that indigenous peoples are “at the forefront of the climate emergency, so we must be at the center of the decisions that take place here.”

*With information from Rafaela Lara. Text published by Juliana Elias