An estimated 100,000 people took part in the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice in Glasgow on Saturday 6 November, in Glasgow, site of the ongoing COP26 UN Climate Conference.
Brazil the pariah
As custodian of one of the world’s largest carbon sinks (the Amazon rainforest), Brazil’s role was sure to be crucial. Amazônia Latitude reported: ‘
‘Brazil, once a leader in environmental practice, arrived at this conference as a pariah, with record rates of deforestation and emissions, persecutions of indigenous people, obliteration of data and lack of funding for climate action… Despite having the second highest coverage with vegetation in the world, according to IBGE data, and the greatest biodiversity on the planet, according to UNESCO, Brazil has still contributed to global warming more in line with a 2.5° C limit than one of 1.5°. After declining to host COP in 2019 and instigating a wave of attacks on the proposal to include Amazônia in climate negotiations, Brazil arrives at this conference as a pariah.’
Txai Surui, a young indigenous leader from Rondônia, told BBC Newsround:
“My village has a lot of trees, it’s green and it’s like a big family. “We can see our plants don’t flower like they did before and the rivers are dying because of deforestation. This affects our food… The Earth is speaking. She tells us that we have no more time.”
Another Brazilian environmental defender who is in Glasgow is Claudelice Silva dos Santos, from Nova Ixipuna in Pará. Since she has been in Glasgow, her community has come under attack, according to a Guardian report. Armed men burned tents, forced residents into lorries, hooded and beat them and then dumped them by the roadside far from their home. Some older people were tied up and left on anthills.
According to the Guardian, Claudelice’s community of São Vinicius has been involved in a long-running dispute with local ranchers. Her brother José Claudio Ribeiro dos Santos, and sister-in-law, Maria do Espírito Santo, were killed in the area in 2011.
Amazônia Latitude Editor-in-Chief Marcos Colon is attending the conference, sponsored by the Winthrop-King institute at Florida State University. Marcos is a regular contributor to LAB. The photographs below were taken by Marcos during Saturday’s protest march
