After journeying for weeks from a glacier in the Andes to Brazil’s tropical coast, a boat carrying dozens of Indigenous leaders was docked on Sunday (November 9) in Belem to attend the COP30 climate summit.

Their main goal was demanding a greater say in how their territories are managed, as climate change escalates and industries including mining, oil drilling and logging press deeper into forests.

A report last week by Earth Insight and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities said that, in the one-third of the Amazon rainforest occupied by Indigenous or local communities, about 17% of those spaces now faced encroachment by oil and gas drilling, mining and logging concessions.

Meanwhile, more than 1,690 environmental defenders were killed or disappeared between 2012 - 2024 in the nations that share the Amazon rainforest, Congo, Indonesia, Mexico and Central America, according to Global Witness.

Participants, who called the expedition Yaku Mama Flotilla although they had swapped boats along the way, will take part in the COP30 climate summit that starts on Monday (November 10) in the Amazonian city.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

BELEM, PARA, BRAZIL (NOVEMBER 9, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

1. (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF BOAT AT SOUZA SOBRINHO PORT

2. (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE FOOTAGE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ON A BOAT WITH HANGING BANNERS

3. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE CHANTING

4. BOAT AT SUNSET

5. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ON BOAT

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INDIGENOUS LEADER FROM THE LOWER MADRE DE DIOS REGION OF PERU, PABLO INUMA FLORES, SAYING:

"We need to have a good dialogue and sit at the table as Indigenous people and engage in good negotiations, so that we obtain clean fuels that don't pollute and stop spills. In this flotilla, we have one goal—no fossil fuels, no illegal mining, no extractivism, no deforestation, and no illegal logging."

7. VARIOUS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE INSIDE BOAT DURING PRESS CONFERENCE

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESPERSON OF YAKU MAMA FLOTILLA, LUCIA IXCHIU, SAYING:

"This journey—to visit and travel along the Amazon River for more than 25 days—for us, the reason to undertake this is to create strategies together as Indigenous peoples. For us, the most important thing is to build solidarity across borders, because right now the situation around the world is very difficult. We have to see the possibility to see the pollution in the Amazon River."

9. BANNER ON BOAT READING (Spanish): “Defending the Amazon is defending life”

10. VARIOUS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ON BOAT WEARING TRADITIONAL GARMENTS

11. BANNER READING (Portuguese): “Amazon free of fossil fuels”

12. SIGNS AND BANNER ON BOAT

13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESPERSON OF YAKU MAMA FLOTILLA, LUCIA IXCHIU, SAYING:

"The most important thing is that Indigenous young people are on the frontlines protecting the rivers, protecting the forests, protecting the jungle. So for me, this is the hope. This is the time for the Indigenous youth, too."

14. BOAT AT SUNSET

15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESPERSON OF YAKU MAMA FLOTILLA, LUCIA IXCHIU, SAYING:

"With everything happening—all the negotiations—we demand to be there because we have to. But we are pretty sure that we have to continue doing this work. We're going to continue defending the land, defending the rivers, defending the territory, and now we are together. And for us, this is very important."

16. (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF BOAT DOCKED AT PORT