At The Ocean Race
Summit Itajaí, Brazil, indigenous
leaders, champion sailors and
decision-makers call for better
governance and recognition of ocean
rights.
|
|
|
The Ocean
Race Summit in Itajaí.
Eunice Kerexu, Secretary of
Environmental and Indigenous
Territorial Rights, Ministry
of Indigenous Peoples ©
Sailing Energy / The Ocean
Race |
Speaking earlier today at The Ocean
Race Summit Itajaí, Santa Catarina,
Brazil, Eunice Kerexu -Secretary of
Environmental and Territorial
Indigenous Rights of the Indigenous
People Ministry of Brazil- warned
that indigenous rights and better
governance are critical for the
success of ocean protection
initiatives.
“We have a lot of respect for the
ocean,” said Kerexu, who spoke of
how indigenous people don’t see
nature as a separate entity: “There
is no ‘other’, it's all about “us.”
She noted the general apathy towards
the marine environment, despite its
vital role in the health of the
planet: “Where is our responsibility
with the oceans that offer us more
than 50percent of the oxygen we breathe?”
Kerexu also spoke about the
destruction of vital on-land
habitats, referring to the Atlantic
forest and Amazon forest as “lungs
of the world that are being
destroyed”. She urged the Summit
participants: "Let's talk about
protection, protection and
reforestation of spaces. This
awareness needs to be urgent”.
Speaking to over 150 government,
civil society and private sector
representatives gathered at the
event held at the Ocean Live Park in
Itajaí, Kerexu said she was speaking
as an “indigenous leader, as a
technical expert and now, as a
political leader”
The Ocean Race Summit Itajaí was
held during The Ocean Race stopover
in the Brazilian city. Since the
beginning of April, Itajaí has
hosted The Ocean Race for a 4th
consecutive time. The fleet arrived
in Brazil after the mammoth 12,750
nautical miles Leg 3 from Cape Town,
South Africa, and will set sail for
Newport, USA, on Sunday 23rd April
in the next leg of the
round-the-world Race.
Brazil, one of the world’s most
biodiverse countries, has been in
the spotlight for years and faced
mounting international criticism for
the way its rich natural environment
has been depleted. Thiago Morastoni,
Secretary of Tourism and Events and
Economic Development of Itajaí,
urged the Brazilian government “to
explore and promote the concept and
development of ocean rights. We need
to ensure that our natural resources
and the environment are protected to
ensure a better future for us and
for generations to come."
This is the 10th time that The Ocean
Race has stopped in Brazil, making
the Auriverde nation by far the most
visited country in South America. So
far, over 250,000 people have
visited Ocean Live Park, the
dedicated race village where
visitors can experience the event
up-close and learn about how to
protect the ocean.
Following a moving performance by
children from the Tekoa Tarumá
Guarani Mbya indigenous community,
three panels explored how
governments should ensure the rights
of indigenous peoples; sailors
shared their experiences of racing
around Antarctica through the vast
Southern Ocean; scientists explored
the changes that are occurring in
this critical part of the planet and
what needs to happen to protect it;
and political leaders explained what
they are doing to tackle these
issues.
The Ocean Race Summit Itajaí is part
of a series of high-level events to
promote the recognition of the
inherent rights of the ocean, held
in some of the stopover cities that
are hosting the teams as they
circumnavigate the planet.
The Ocean Race and partners -
including the Government of Cabo
Verde and US-based Earth Law Center
- are working to give the ocean a
voice and gather global support for
the adoption of a Universal
Declaration of Ocean Rights by 2030.
The Summit’s discussions are later
analysed and explored with experts
in international law, policy,
diplomacy and ocean science in a
series of workshops called the
Genova Process (named after the host
city of the Grand Finale - the
finish port of the Race).
Following his speech at The Ocean
Race Summit Cabo Verde, held during
the Race's first stopover in this
edition of the Race, Cabo Verde’s
Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e
Silva addressed the attendees in
Itajaí by video message to reaffirm
his country's commitment to the
conservation and sustainable use of
the ocean and the need for the ocean
to have legally recognised rights.
Representing the Sacred Natural
Sites Brazil Initiative, Érika
Fernandes-Pinto said: “We need to
pay attention to nature’s sacred
sites and recognise different
relations between culture and
nature. Most of the time our society
forgets this, and to understand it,
we need to talk to indigenous people,
original people from their land,
because they remember”.
Addressing the delegates, Vanessa
Hasson, Executive Director of NGO
MAPAS, UN Harmony with Nature
Program, spoke about the importance
of recognising that “we all are
nature and nature is not for us to
use. We need to use the ancestral
knowledge of indigenous communities
to live in harmony with nature.”
Hasson described how, in Brazil,
MAPAS has enabled the recognition of
nature’s rights in five
municipalities, the last one being
the Guajará-Mirim, in the north of
the country. The author of the law
is, for the first time, a member of
the local Warí indigenous community.
Release: The
Ocean Race 1973 S.L.U., Alicante,
Spain