The science is clear: our current global relationship with nature is unsustainable. We need a reminder that alternative ways of co-existing have been practiced for generations around the world.

Despite comprising less than 5% of the world's population, indigenous people protect 80% of global biodiversity. They are also often left out of the decision-making process when it comes to tackling the Planetary Emergency. To truly mitigate the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, we must centre Indigenous knowledge at the heart of our climate response. Join us for this online panel and hear directly from Indigenous climate experts.

This session will be simultaneously translated in Spanish.

Meet the Speakers

Hamangaí Pataxó is a 25-year-old Brazilian advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples and the protection of nature, and Coordinator of the Gender Working Group at the Engajamundo Youth Association. Hamangaí grew up in the state of Bahia and faces the struggle of its people – the Pataxós Hã-hã-hae – for their land. Hamangaí went to COP24 in Poland in 2018, and in 2019 she participated in the Villagio per la Terra in Rome, where she spoke about the Amazon and the importance of protecting the people who live there.

Serena Mendizabal (she/her) is a Cayuga Wolf Clan Panamanian woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Serena is a land protector, community-based researcher, grassroots organizer, and Indigenous climate justice advocate. Serena comes from a long line of land defenders, and in her youth has been actively working with 1492 Land Back Lane, a land occupation in Six Nations defending sacred Haudenosaunee territory against encroaching housing development. Serena currently acts as a Youth Ambassador with Protect the Tract, a Haudenosaunee-led group in her community, Six Nations, focused on enforcing the traditional governance (the Haudenosaunee Confederacy)'s moratorium on development along the Grand River (Haldimand Tract). Serena recently graduated with a Master of Geography & Environment with a focus on Indigenous environmental health governance and her main focus now is her role at Sacred Earth Solar, an organization empowering frontline Indigenous communities resisting industry and extraction, with solar energy and healing justice. Serena is passionate about self-determined community development, action, and futures, and believes in a future with Indigenous youth & elders leading; sovereign, healthy nations; and lands and waters back.

[ONLINE AUDIENCE] Indigenous leadership for our collective future