Protectors of the Planet’s Biodiversity

The best-protected tropical forests in the world are not those fenced by laws or boundaries, but those that breathe under the care of Indigenous peoples.

In the Amazon —that green heart that beats for the entire planet— nearly one-fifth of the forest has disappeared in the last 50 years, and yet, where memory guides life, the forest still stands.

The Brazilian Constitution recognizes their right to care for and manage the natural resources of their ancestral territories. However, the demarcation process (the official recognition of those lands) moves slowly, like a river that never stops flowing.

Of Brazil’s 733 Indigenous territories, 496 have been formally recognized, while 237 still await justice.

Even so, where Indigenous demarcation has been achieved, the results are undeniable: the forests remain standing, and life flourishes.

Science confirms what ancestral wisdom has always known: peoples who live without breaking the balance of the Earth preserve its fertility.

Between 1990 and 2020, government-recognized Indigenous lands in Brazil lost only 1% of their original vegetation (20 times less than private lands) and, according to the MAAP Project (2023), autonomous territories have lost only one-third of their primary forest, while destruction multiplies beyond their borders.

For these communities, the forest is not a resource — it is a sacred relationship. It is school, nourishment, medicine, and spirit.
Each recognized territory is not merely a space on a map, but a living pact between humanity and nature.

As Ana Carolina Alfinito from Amazon Watch explains; "declaring a land as Indigenous means it cannot be exploited without the free, prior, and informed consent of its guardians."

But recognition is only the beginning: still, about 10% of demarcated territories suffer invasions, illegal mining, logging, and drug trafficking.

And yet, the forest resists.

It resists through song and sowing, through constant vigilance and hope.

In their defense lies a profound lesson: Indigenous peoples not only protect their homes, they protect the planet’s balance.

Their struggle is also ours, a reminder that there can be no sustainable future without ancestral justice.

Under their care, the forest continues to breathe.
And in that breath lies a promise: that we can still heal, if we learn to listen to the voice of the Earth and walk alongside those who never forgot how.

In the following UNESCO article, it becomes clear what the Earth itself has been whispering for centuries: Indigenous peoples are the living shield protecting the world’s tropical forests.

Their presence and way of life, rooted in reciprocity with nature, are today among the most powerful forces against deforestation and climate collapse.

Read the UNESCO article here:
Indigenous Peoples: A Shield Against Deforestation

Green Pulse

They guard the breath the forest keeps,
where wisdom wakes and memory sleeps.
Their lives entwined with root and rain,
protect what others seek in vain.

They do not own, they understand;
the forest lives within their hand.

Each tree a vow, each song a guide,
the Earth endures where they abide.