Flotilla Yaku Mama towards COP30
In October/November Seeding Sovereignty joined a historic Indigenous delegation that traveled from the Ecuadorian Andes to Belém, Brazil by river. After nearly a month and more than 3,000 kilometers traveled, the Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla carried a unified call from Amazonian and allied territories to COP30: having a seat at the negotiating table, demanding protection for defenders, ending extractivism on Indigenous lands, and uplifting the role of Indigenous women as life protectors.
We journeyed with 60+ leaders from Latin America and Indonesia, meeting with dozens of riverine communities in Ecuador, Perú, Colombia, and Brazil. Along the way, we gathered stories of resistance and renewal — witnessing the frontlines of oil drilling, illegal mining, and deforestation, while amplifying community-led solutions rooted in ancestral knowledge and ecological stewardship. This voyage reimagines the colonial route of conquest as one of connection, resistance, and climate justice: a movement carrying the heart of the forest directly to the negotiating tables of COP30.
Now that these initial trainings have taken place and drone kits delivered, local leaders need financial support to scale their frontline water and land defense work. The majority of local collectives and leaders are dealing with day to day threats and have a commitment to protect the most biodiverse places on Earth. They need our support to resource their capacity and remove barriers to scale their work and access to resources to travel through vast territories and new technology that accompany their ancestral ways of documentation and response. Your support would directly invest in their leadership and technology needed.
Our journey confirmed the commitment of young people and women to want to learn, develop and share skills for territorial defense. They have concreted initiatives on the ground and a 10K Seed Grant per community can go a long way! We want to give as many grants as we can. Will you join us?
