Satellites don’t see the spirits of the forest. Modern technology is unable to decipher the deepest ancient secrets of the indigenous peoples. They are diverse cosmologies and knowledge passed down from generation to generation, keeping the forest alive. We can relearn from indigenous peoples coexisting with the forest, but our contemporary selfishness leads us to think we are separated from nature, when in fact, we are nature.
We have lost the meaning of connection, vital to maintaining ancestral experiences in indigenous communities and conserving ecosystems, and that causes gaps in progressive deforestation in untouched areas, in infrastructure works irrespective of sacred territories of these peoples, from slash-and-burn agriculture and land conflicts causing migrations.
Indigenous women and men of the Amazon are probably the first people to notice the effects of the climate emergency, with their way of life put in check. This is the concern of the current generation that no longer wants interlocutors to report to the world that living indigenous people are synonymous with a standing forest.
The “Millennial Amazon” room emphasizes the importance of the diversity of people, languages, and cultures of the largest tropical forest on the planet, also constituted by these populations for thousands of years. The maloca inspiration, an “indigenous common hut,” emphasizes the importance of collectivity and invites reflection: it is necessary to have more indigenous peoples involved in making decisions to help postpone the end of the Amazon.
