23/11/2025
Indigenous Peoples’ collective closing statement at , delivered by Diana Chavez Vargas of Ecuador.
“Thank you Chair,
The Amazon, our home is the next global oil frontier.
Indigenous Peoples are under attack.
We face colonial militarization of our territories, where states and corporations trade our lives for fossil fuels, transition minerals, and large-scale renewables.
We stand in solidarity with our Amazonian relatives and condemn the killing of land defenders. This was mirrored by the heavy militarization of this COP.
Even at the “Indigenous COP” we have been excluded.
We recognize the historic inclusion of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including our rights to Self-Determination; Free, Prior and Informed Consent; and the protection of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation in the Just Transition Work Program text.
While we welcome the inclusion of our rights in the Mutirão, sidelining us to the preamble and not the operational text is unacceptable. Here, “land rights and traditional knowledge” apply exclusively to Indigenous Peoples.
The Mutirão lacks the ambition to live up to its Indigenous name.
The Presidency’s roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and end deforestation must ensure our full participation for its credibility and effectiveness.
There can be NO just transition if our territories remain sacrifice zones.
Solidarity with Indigenous Pacific relatives who face extreme expense and barriers to attend COPs on the other side of the world. They deserved a Pacific COP.
We urge parties to take full advantage of the Pre-COP to witness climate impacts on their land and ocean territories; and to meaningfully support and resource Pacific and Indigenous participation at COP31.
Parties, there is NO true multilateralism without the real inclusion of Indigenous Peoples. Our duty to our future generations requires us to put relationships over ego, money, and power.
It’s time for you to learn to do the same.
Thank you.”
chavezvargas
Photo credit: Jason Boberg, Activate Agency
