To help the Amazon thrive, we need to listen to its 29 million people

Spanning nine Latin American countries and nine Brazilian states — 60% of the country’s territory— the Amazon rainforest is one of the regions with the highest biodiversity on the planet.

The Amazon River Basin is also essential for maintaining global climate balance. Still, the discourse in defence of the region too often overlooks the fact that it is also home to 29 million people.

In many circles of discussion, little is heard or questioned about this population's relationship with the Amazon, their experiences or their ancestral knowledge. But herein lies a potential answer to the climate crisis and the sustainable use of the forest.

Indigenous populations often possess vast and under-utilized knowledge; they have lived in harmony with the forest for hundreds of years. Among these populations are the "ribeirinhos" (riverine people), a people born out of the mix of black, indigenous and European populations with a "caboclo'' identity.

In the municipality of Iranduba, located approximately 60km from Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, these communities have been developing through sustainable and community-based tourism. In doing so, they have proved the importance of ancestral wisdom and local culture and upheld their values.

All these local entrepreneurs demonstrate the possibility of generating economic development in the region in harmony with the forest. They show us that the forest is worth more standing than being cut down.

We are approaching the possible point of no return from Amazon.

Development in the Forest needs to be sustainable, and traditional communities and indigenous peoples know how to do that. These populations hold ancestral wisdom and technologies that have been curing, feeding and generating income for thousands of years without destroying nature.

At this moment, the world needs to turn to these populations and listen to them in order to rescue, relearn and return to our nature. Doing so would allow us all to live in harmony with our environment, using only what is necessary and respecting the forest, rivers, oceans and land.

For those who live in the Amazon, the impacts of the climate crisis are already severe despite these populations contributing the least to the advancement of climate change. They are currently experiencing the worst drought in the last century, with severe consequences for the Indigenous populations who have limited access to the state’s amenities and aid.

To talk about the standing Amazon, it is necessary to talk about the people who live within the forest. We must listen to what they have to say. No one knows it better than them.

The Amazon is inhabited, and the main responsibility for keeping it standing are the Indigenous peoples and traditional populations it hosts: riverine, quilombola, extractivist, copaibeiro, rubber tapper and more. They are the ones who know how to manage the forest sustainably, they have the answer in their way of life — not in endless discussions with the political and business elites. The Amazonians have always had the answers; the world just needs to start listening to them.