"THE SALVATION OF THE PLANET IS IN THE ANCIENT WISDOM OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMAZON” 

The Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin (COICA), with our world view, diversity of languages, history, cultures, spirituality, territories, economy, we have existed from ancient times.  We have adopted different forms of organization and identity under the framework of national states that established norms and laws according to their interests, not knowing the ancestral rights of the first inhabitants of the Amazon territory.   

Seeking a consensus between 390 ethnic groups, representing a population of 2,779,478 inhabitants, in the 10,268,471 square kilometer area of the Amazon, we were gathered at the World Social Forum in Belém do Pará, Brazil, from January 27 to February 1, 2009.  During this time we held intense meetings and an in-depth debate and analysis about the realities for indigenous peoples who live in the Amazon and in other biomes, giving our support and contributing to the process of the FSM.   

Considering the purposes and principles of the Declaration of the United Nations on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the good faith in the fulfillment of the obligations assumed by the states that have adopted it, 

We affirm the rights of indigenous peoples to be considered different and to be respected as such, and that we contribute to the diversity and wealth of the civilizations and cultures that shape humanity;  

We condemn to all doctrines, policies and practices based on the superiority of certain peoples or nationalities and people who support it by proposing reasons of national origin or racial, religious, ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally reprehensible and socially unjust.   

Indigenous peoples have the right to the free determination of their political condition and they must pursue their cultural, social, and economic development freely.   

Therefore:   

• We demand the demarcation and immediate title of our ancestral territories that have always been used by its legitimate inhabitants.  We denounce and condemn violent intimidation through the assassination of our leaders for territorial defense and rights of indigenous peoples.

• We denounce the furthering of the agricultural border and agro-business, responsible for the violation to our rights referring to the discrimination, the spoils of our territories, deforestation, burning of forests and pastures, contamination of land and rivers and the use of agro and transgenetic chemicals, the widening of monoculture, bio-piracy, the black market for timber, industrial residues and waste, all factors that endanger food sovereignty, the loss of ecosystems and, later on, the loss of our identity and culture.  Furthermore, these repercussions intensify the vulnerability of our indigenous brothers in voluntary isolation, who have been out of contact or in early contact: in their name we demand the integral guarantee of their territories by the part of the states. 

• We denounce to the world that mega projects such as IIRSA and CAP (led by the states and governments) are responsible for the genocide of indigenous peoples and the depredation of the Amazon forests:  we demand the abolition these projects!

• We reject, the process and the levels of political decisions that block and manipulate the participation of the indigenous peoples referred to in the subject of climate change: we demand the widespread diffusion of information and a critical debate between indigenous peoples regarding the mechanics and negotiations under way relative to the collecting and commodification of carbon in indigenous territories. 

• With regards to REDD we understand as principle that all agreements on financial mechanisms for the protection of the forests of our territories should unconditionally recognize the rights of indigenous peoples, in accordance with the Declaration of the United Nations (UNDRIP); our rights are not negotiable.  At the moment we are in the process of gathering information and debating internally among each member of the organization on potential negative impacts or risks that will impose itself on our territories (as in the case of MDL, mechanisms of clean development, in many of our towns). Furthermore, the experiences and interpretations of our indigenous peoples regarding climate changes, according to our world view, is that this interacts with multiples social and environmental factors that must be integrally considered and that cannot be reduced to the market. 

• We reject all mining, petroleum and hydrocarbon exploitation, and equally denounce the continued production of agrocombustibles in the Amazon Basin (palm oil, sugarcane and soy), highly destructive undertakings on our ecosystems.  We refute the model of production supported in the consumerism of “developed” countries and the elites of “developing” countries of our states that depend on the extractive industries. 

• We urge conservationist organizations and all other NGOs that depose imposing attitudes; and moreover we demand that support be through our own indigenous organizations by its legitimate and institutionalized representation.   

Finally, we communicate to the entire world that the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, led by our spiritual guides and inspired by our history, processes and experiences, we maintain and reinforce companies that are respectful of diversity, of the social rights of the peoples and we have renewed our initiatives for the promotion, protection and the demand for our rights, contributing this way to the survival of mankind.   

Through this statement we make a vehement call for the respect of the organizations which are members of COICA, particularly the COIAB for being the host organization, jointly with these other indigenous Brazilian organizations and other indigenous organizations of the region present at World Social Forum, Belém, Brazil 2009.