Manaus hosts 4th edition of ‘Proteja Talks’; project promotes knowledge between traditional peoples and society

Gabriel Abreu – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Next week, Amazonas receives the 4th edition of Proteja Talks, ten stories of indigenous peoples and traditional communities of the Amazon and their efforts for territorial, social and economic monitoring. The meeting seeks to expand the reach of indigenous voices, quilombolas, traditional communities and activists working to combat the climate crisis, directly from the floor of the world’s largest rainforest.

The executive coordinator of Proteja, from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), Sylvia Mitraud explained that the Proteja initiative promotes dialogue and mutual understanding between populations in protected areas and other population segments in Brazil.

Proteja Talks is a celebration. Each year, the event brings together people with remarkable and diverse experiences on a current theme to share with the public in a more playful way, in a celebratory gathering.

“Indigenous and traditional populations in protected areas have been the target of enormous pressures against their territories, their cultures, their ways of life. Proteja partners understood that this year it was important to show with the remarkable experiences of 10 people how indigenous peoples and traditional communities work to advance their wellbeing, health, culture, protect their forests and rivers”, he highlighted.

Proteja Talks

The Proteja Talks is one of the products of the Proteja Portal, which is, in addition to a digital library on protected areas in Brazil, an initiative that has 16 partner institutions. The Proteja Talks is an event inspired by the TED Talks model, which contemplates content about protected areas in Brazil and has been held every year since 2019.

The fourth edition will be held in person in Manaus, Amazonas, on November 29, 2022, focusing on the Amazon region and bringing stories from indigenous and traditional communities about their practices of monitoring their territories. The talks will also be broadcast virtually to the public, through the YouTube of the Proteja Portal, and will later be edited and posted on the portal as part of the Proteja Talks series.

The event is funded by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Participating in the organization are COIAB, Brazil International Education Institute (IEB), Imazon, Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), Ecological Research Institute (IPÊ), Kanindé Association, The Nature Conservation (TNC Brasil), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Brasil) and WWF Brasil.

Guests

Speakers include Toya Manchineri, general coordinator of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB); Daiana Figueiredo, quilombola president of the Mixed Cooperative of Traditional Peoples and Communities of the Calha Norte (Coopaflora); Nirda Oliveira, quilombola from the Chumbo community, in Mato Grosso; Viceli Costa, president of the Association of Communities of the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve; and Roselma Corrêa, from the Pedrinhas Community, in Maranhão, president of the Lar de Maria Association of Rural Quilombola Working Mothers.

Also speaking will be Beka Munduruku, a youth from the Munduruku people, from Pará; Odila Godinho, founding president of Turiarte Amazônia (PA), a tourism and forest handicraft cooperative; Sediel Ambrósio, from the Baré people, coordinator of the Public School Health Project in Manaus; Jackiel Cássio, from the Serra do Navio Community, in Amapá, and forest ranger of the Bio Parque da Amazônia; and Luan Suruí, from Lapetanha village, member of the Garah-Itxa Sustainable Production and Extractivism Cooperative.

The event will be presented by digital influencers and indigenous activists Samela Sateré-Mawé, from Amazonas, and Kauri Waiãpi, from Amapá.