From November 9 to 20, 2026, world leaders, negotiators, and civil society will gather in Antalya, Turkey, for the UNFCCC COP31, the 31st UN Climate Change Conference. Türkiye is hosting the conference, while Australia is presiding over the negotiations.
Cultural Survival will be there with an Indigenous-led delegation to make sure the voices calling for a real and just transition are heard where decisions are made.
Indigenous Peoples protect a majority of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems and ancestral knowledge that is key to tackling the acceleration of climate change. Yet, Indigenous people remain underrepresented in the rooms where climate decisions are made, and underfunded in the solutions that follow. Too frequently, human, civil, cultural, and territorial rights of Indigenous communities are violated amidst the quest for clean energy, from transition minerals to large-scale infrastructure. COP31 should be a chance to change that.
One thing is certain: There can be no just transition without healthy territories, and no healthy territories without respecting the rights and authority of the communities who protect them.
Cultural Survival’s delegation includes:
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Alicia Moncada (Wayuu), Director of Advocacy and Communications
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Edson Krenak (Krenak), Brazil Program Manager
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Djalma Ramalho (Aranã Caboclo), Brazil Project Associate
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Edison Andrango (Kichwa Otavalo), Indigenous Rights Radio Assistant
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Marita Calderón (Quechua descendant), Executive Assistant
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Newiwe Xavante (A’uwẽ-Xavante), member of the Youth for Climate Project (CS/IPAM) and youth leader of the A'uwe Xavante Peoples
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Thais Pellosi, Executive assistant
Together, they bring international experience in advocacy, communications, and territorial defense, as well as voices from Brazil's Indigenous movement. Our delegation will push for climate action grounded in human and nature’s rights.
“The race for transition minerals cannot repeat the same extractive logic that fueled the climate crisis. In Brazil, we see lithium mining in the Jequitinhonha Valley and megaprojects like the FICO railway advancing on Indigenous territories without Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Indigenous Peoples must be at COP31 because a transition that violates our rights is neither just nor a solution.” — Alicia Moncada (Wayuu), Director of Advocacy and Communications, Cultural Survival.
“It is vital that Indigenous people, and in our case the Xavante, are always present so we can get closer to these realities. They directly shape our policies and our survival. A well-connected and knowledgeable person is a symbol of strength and resistance.” — Newiwe Xavante (A’uwẽ-Xavante), Youth Leader
“At COP31, we must challenge the illusion that green industrialization, mining, and infrastructure automatically deliver justice and fix the climate problem. Indigenous Peoples are seeing their territories becoming sacrifice zones for someone else’s just transition. Our effective participation in climate solutions requires: full independent information, good-faith FPIC, resources, and recognition of our decision-making authority. A just transition is not about infrastructure or managing Indigenous consent, but about justice, about respecting Indigenous self-determination and territorial futures.” — Edson Krenak (Krenak), Brazil Program Manager
Our delegation will:
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Meet with State delegations regarding our campaigns with the A’uwẽ-Xavante Peoples to stop the fragmentation of the Ro’ (ancestral territories) and with the communities of the Jequitinhonha Valley defending their rights and the river rights in the context of lithium extraction.
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Share our recommendations for a real Just Transition.
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Host and join side events and panels.
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Join Indigenous caucus spaces and coordinate with Indigenous and allied leaders
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Report on key developments from the ground, in real time.
Join us at these events:
November 9, 12:30 - 13:30
Indigenous Peoples at the Triple Convergence of Mineral Demand for Energy Transition, AI and Militarization
Side Event
Location: Indigenous Peoples Pavilion
Organizers: SIRGE, IWGIA, Cultural Survival, Batani
November 11, 15:00 - 16:30
Indigenous-led Climate Solutions for Protecting the Amazon
Side Event
Location: Side Event Room 4 - ASIK VEYSEL
Organizers: A’uwẽ-Xavante Peoples, Cultural Survival, ORAU and AIDESEP.
November 12, 9:00 - 9:30
A’uwẽ-Xavante Indigenous Dreams against Deforestation in Brazil
Press conference
Location: Press Conference Room 2, Area D4 (also available online)
Organizers: Cultural Survival
November 17, 10:30 - 12:00
From Brazil to Ethiopia: Scaling Solutions for the Forest Emergency
Side event
Location: German Pavilion, Blue Zone
Organizers: Project Networks4conservation (Rede Cerrado, Rede Ecovida, ASA), Cultural Survival and Rainforest Foundation Norway
November 17, 15:30 - 16:30
Whose Health, Whose Transition? The Health Impacts of Green Infrastructure on Indigenous Peoples, Quilombola and Other Local Communities
Side Event
This event will open with ‘Let the Territories Dream’, an Indigenous artistic intervention amplifying the A’uwẽ-Xavante and Jequitinhonha Valley struggles.
Location: WHO Health Pavilion (also available online)
Organizers: Wara Association, Cerrado Network Brazil, Cultural Survival
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