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Sacred Planet with Gulnaz Khan (2025) Season 1 Episode 1- The Heart of the World
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00:01Our planet is at a breaking point, with rising temperatures and uncontrolled
00:07extraction pushing nature to its limits. Indigenous people make up 5% of the
00:13world's population, but safeguard most of Earth's remaining biodiversity.
00:21The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one of the highest coastal mountain ranges
00:26in the world. It's an incredibly diverse biome stretching from the Caribbean
00:31coast all the way up to its glacial peaks. The indigenous Tyrona peoples have
00:36stewarded over this land for millennia and consider it the heart of the world.
00:43We're about to embark on a sacred journey into a pristine and fragile world,
00:49rarely seen by outsiders and increasingly under threat.
00:56I'm Golmaz Khan. As a journalist, I'm reporting on how climate change is endangering humanity's
01:15most sacred sites and traditions, as well as how faith-based communities around the globe are
01:22tackling this humanitarian and existential crisis with innovative solutions.
01:27The Tyrona people of the Sierra Nevada number around 50,000 and are made up of four indigenous groups.
01:54The Kogi, Wiwa, Kanquamo, and the largest among them, the Arawako.
02:02The Arawako call themselves the elder brothers of humanity, tasked with an ancient responsibility
02:09to guide the rest of the world, their younger brothers, back into balance with nature.
02:14And that really is central in the Arawako belief that this is the heart of the world.
02:21It is the beating heart that supplies blood, life to the rest of the planet.
02:29The Mamos are the highest spiritual leaders in the Sierra and believe they have a cosmic connection
02:35with nature. But they fear that because of humanity's actions, the planet is sick and its heart is failing.
02:43Well, when we know they're Heaven, they think that they're crying, they're not having to suffer wrath, nor do they answer one.
02:46We are not freakin' many questions either in��ушка, or a sense of
03:04God. You're not saying that we're being a design is up toハ�ako religious leaders in теперьland.
03:06he had his wife and he came together.
03:11As he said,
03:13he was a woman.
03:17He was a man and a man.
03:23But he was a man.
03:25He was a man that was in a field of치.
03:30He had to find his mother.
03:32.
04:02We don't have any questions.
04:04Why are we talking about these children?
04:08I'm not sure I've been talking about it.
04:13I've just been talking about it.
04:16I've been talking about it.
04:18I'm telling you how to write this story.
04:22I've been talking about it.
04:26I've been talking about it.
04:29The Arawako call the Sierra Nevada the heart of the world because they believe it's the
04:54origin of all life.
04:56They understand the natural world as an interconnected web, and like a living body, every part serves
05:03a vital function.
05:05Glaciers feed rivers, forests regulate climate, coastal wetlands depend on water from the highlands.
05:12When one zone is disrupted, the entire system begins to unravel.
05:18To keep this balance intact, mamos make pagamentos, ritual offerings that renew the connections
05:25among the mountains, sea, and everything in between.
05:30They'll carry the shells they collect here up to the high-altitude lakes, physically and
05:35symbolically linking the lowland coast to the icy peaks, a reminder that the health of one
05:42depends on the other.
05:44And it is the sacred duty of the mamos to carry out that task.
05:53In the face of warming temperatures, the Arawako are sounding the alarm through sacred rituals
05:59and political resistance.
06:03Mamo Camilo and his son, Mamo Emilio, have invited me to the village of Katenzama.
06:09Today the community is gathered in the Kuduko, preparing pagamentos for a pilgrimage that's
06:14rarely open to outsiders.
06:17Jaisen Perez Villafaña is my guide and translator for this unique experience.
06:44We're seeking permission to join the Mamos on their six-day, 56-mile pilgrimage through an extremely remote territory.
06:52And to confront the question looming over us all, what happens when Earth's most vital ecosystems begin to die?
07:01What's up, Cauco?
07:06Mamos Camilo?
07:09Mamá.
07:10Mamos Emilio?
07:14Mamá.
07:16Y la comunidad está desarrollando la actividad.
07:20Entonces ahí está donde se preparan los caracoles del mar.
07:26Se pulveriza, que está allá, en las hojas de maíz.
07:28La soja de maíz se convierte en el elemento o el vehículo para llevar y con esto mismo poder alimentar en las montañas.
07:39And the battery cool.
07:42That's the camera.
07:43And the consumer.
07:46When they may sorry.
07:47You create.
07:48You come to see.
07:50Quimk.
07:51Chamo.
07:52Organica.
07:53Jujur.
07:54Guna.
07:55Kino.
07:56Nangeri.
07:57Hey.
07:58May.
07:59I'm a.
08:00I'm a.
08:01I'm a.
08:02I'm a.
08:03I'm a.
08:04I'm.
08:05I'm.
08:06Intentionamentos are fibers that act as vessels, infused with thoughts of harmony and healing,
08:18gratitude and hope.
08:20The Mamos then transmit those messages to the earth through ceremony.
08:24The Mamos then transmit those messages to the earth through the ceremony.
08:47Take the right hand, 4, and put this hand, 4.
09:02It's the food and the permission that you will ask
09:07to the mountains, to the lakes,
09:10to the wind, to the sun,
09:13to be able to travel.
09:17So that's the permission.
09:21And then I'll give it to my mom.
09:24My mom's name is Kipana.
09:43Mamo Camilo has given his blessing for us to join the pilgrimage, led by his son, Mamo Emilio.
10:04It's a rare invitation, but only a first step.
10:08As we move toward the highlands, we'll need to seek permission again and again,
10:14from other Mamos who watch over this territory, and from the mountains themselves.
10:20One of the things that Mamo Camilo talked about today was the ways in which we're exploiting the earth
10:35are equivalent to wounds on the great mother's body.
10:38The Sierra Nevada is home to Latin America's largest open-pit coal mine,
10:53which exports 25 to 30 million tons of coal all over the world each year.
11:13Nearly 20% is shipped to North America,
11:16including two-thirds of the coal imported into the United States.
11:20Large-scale extraction doesn't just poison the land, air, and water.
11:26Coal burning is also the largest single source of human-driven CO2 emissions.
11:33And this is just one of hundreds of mining concessions
11:37that have been granted by the Colombian government within Indigenous territory.
11:42It's a very challenging instance,
11:47so it's not to be done, it's been a wider quality building
12:04that their own homes have much more то,
12:06Beyond mining, the Sierra is also under threat from widespread deforestation,
12:17driven by agriculture and large-scale infrastructure projects.
12:23While Jaison and Mamo Emilio make final preparations for the week-long journey to the
12:28glacial lakes, I'm heading to Santa Marta to better understand the environmental threats
12:34facing the Sierra and how the Arahuaco have confronted these challenges.
12:40I'm meeting with Bibiana Salamanca, a biologist and agroecologist who has worked with indigenous
12:47communities for many years, restoring ecosystems and recovering biodiversity.
13:04And here, a manglar that tries to survive all the urbanization.
13:08In the urban area, everyone wants to make their buildings in the manglares.
13:15And then, these barriers of protection to climate change will disappear.
13:22Really, the work that the indigenous communities do here in this place is very important,
13:29because it's the defense of the sacred places and the coastal barriers,
13:34which are scientifically proven spaces that regulate all the impacts of climate change.
13:43In 2018, after years of lobbying, the four indigenous groups secured a presidential decree,
14:06formally recognizing their ancestral territories within the Sierra.
14:10The Linea Negra, or Black Line, is a crucial legal designation,
14:17encompassing more than 300 sacred sites that also hold environmental significance.
14:27Bibiana is introducing me to her colleagues, Margarita Villafaña and Alfonso Torres,
14:33whom she collaborated with on the Linea Negra project.
14:40So what was the motivation behind the establishment of the Black Line?
15:03Why was it important for the four indigenous groups to come together and get this legally recognized?
15:09Families, can be raised, and be clear, and live?
15:11For that particular village in sefully wanted to get them,
15:13Because the brothers of the Republic has been raised,
15:14And they have to be raised in the land.
15:15What is written in seally,
15:16What is written in the world,
15:17For the world of the brothers of the brothers,
15:20Then the brothers of the brothers,
15:21They have to be raised,
15:23They have to be raised in the land.
15:24So what is written in the past,
15:25They have to act as they are raised,
15:28No es para quitarle tierra a ninguno, sino es para proteger, es para preservar, y para
15:39que tanto el indígena como los hermanos menores que viven a su alrededor podamos pensar en
15:48la preservación de la sierra.
15:50La línea negra's impact was almost immediate.
15:57As it was being announced, developers in Santa Marta were breaking ground on an 18-story
16:02high rise on a coveted piece of seafront property.
16:07The proposed construction would level an important Arawaco site, the sacred rock of Jatematuna.
16:15As soon as the Arawaco heard about the initial damage, they sprung into action, appealing
16:21to the courts to prevent any further destruction.
16:24La protección de Jatematuna y que se haya evitado la construcción de ese edificio es un hito para
16:33nosotros.
16:34La primera vez que sucede en Santa Marta, que separa una obra de millones de pesos para
16:41proteger un espacio sagrado, que es una barrera importante para la regulación del cambio climático.
16:50For the Arawaco, protecting the Sierra isn't just a legal fight, it's spiritual.
16:57We're heading to Nabusimake, the sacred heart of the Arawaco world, where Haisen and Mamo
17:03Emilio have finished their preparations.
17:06This is where the pilgrimage begins.
17:09But to understand the significance of this journey, we first need to understand the struggle.
17:16As the roots of the Arawaco resistance begin here.
17:23The Nabusimake is important because the sun is born, it's a Nabusimake, which is important
17:35for all the indigenous community.
17:37It's a Nabusimake, which for me is like a sacred thing.
17:43Me llamo María Teresa, y en la lengua me llamo Seucumekan.
17:52La cultura Arawaca significa muchas, muchas cosas.
17:57Espiritualmente saneamos todas las cosas, y también de artesanía, eso nos corresponde
18:08apenas que nazca.
18:10Y en la lengua, y en la lengua, y en la lengua, y en la lengua, y en la lengua.
18:27Today, Nabusimake is the thriving capital of Arawaco culture, but that wasn't the case
18:33prior to 1982.
18:37In the 20th century, the Arawaco asked the Colombian government to send them teachers,
18:43so the children could learn how to read, how to speak Spanish.
18:47But instead, they sent Catholic missionaries who arrived in 1916.
18:53And through that process, they built a monastery.
18:56And were sent there for boarding school, and it hugely impacted the culture.
19:03In the 20th century, the Arawaco were prohibited from speaking their language or practicing their
19:04culture.
19:05In the 20th century, the Arawaco were prohibited from speaking their language or practicing their
19:10culture.
19:17In the 20th century, the Arawaco were prohibited from speaking their language or practicing
19:24their culture.
19:26Under the Capuchin missionaries, the Arawaco were prohibited from speaking their culture.
19:33When they were population.
19:34In the 20th century, the Arawaco was donated to the government of Arawaco.
19:35So much more than that.
19:38And they couldn't do it.
19:40They couldn't do it.
19:41They couldn't do it.
19:42They couldn't do it.
19:44They couldn't do it.
19:45I couldn't do it.
19:46They couldn't do it.
19:47But, we, I wasn't sure, we joined them.
19:49We ate a little house for our families, and we got to wait for our families.
19:58Or we had a little help, and we could do it, and we couldn't have a little help.
20:03In 1982, the indigenous community united to evict the Capuchins.
20:17The Capuchin expulsion was a really important moment in our Oahuaco history because within
20:36two years, the four indigenous groups in the Sierra Nevada came together and started a
20:42campaign to establish an indigenous reserve.
20:46And that turned into an ongoing, decades-long initiative to protect and restore their ancestral
20:54lands, but also to start reclaiming those spaces and using them as their own.
21:12And this is a native land, what do you leave to the community?
21:24Indígena.
21:24And I...
21:41Good morning. How are you?
21:43How are you?
21:44Good, thank you.
21:46We are going?
21:48Yes.
21:49How are you?
21:50Come on, come on.
22:00Good night.
22:01My name is Emilio, who will prepare you to go up to the sea.
22:05Okay.
22:06You're welcome.
22:07Nothing.
22:08Yeah.
22:09Today, we're setting off from Nabusi Makay with Hyson, Mamo Emilio, and members of their community as they begin their journey to the sacred lagoons 12,000 feet above sea level.
22:29This deeply spiritual trek has been carried out for generations and acts as a rebalancing ritual, performed when Earth is showing signs of distress.
22:44The Mamos will bring the pagamentos from the coast to the high mountains, fulfilling their duty to restore the natural world.
22:52It's a six-day, 56-mile hike through an extremely remote territory.
23:00Here, the effects of climate breakdown aren't theoretical, but a daily visible truth.
23:06Our first leg takes us 16 miles to the village of Yechiki, where we seek permission from the local Mamo to continue.
23:25The path is unforgiving, and the physical demands are intense.
23:32But what's more striking is what's not here.
23:35No roads, no wires, no evidence of the world below.
23:40Earth's wild places are disappearing.
23:45But we are witnessing something virtually untouched, part of what scientists have called the most irreplaceable nature reserve on Earth.
23:54Home to thousands of unique plant and animal species.
23:59Every couple hours, the landscape is changing dramatically.
24:00Gracias.
24:01And you're seeing that in real time.
24:02And because of these very specific microclimates, the landscape is changing dramatically.
24:06Gracias.
24:07And you're seeing that in real time.
24:08And because of these very specific microclimates, it fosters a kind of biodiversity that we're
24:09seeing.
24:10that's really special.
24:11Different types of plants, animals, animals, animals, animals, animals, animals.
24:15That you won't find anywhere else.
24:16It also means it's incredibly ecologically sensitive.
24:21And you're seeing that in real time.
24:22Every couple hours, the landscape is changing dramatically.
24:25Gracias.
24:26And you're seeing that in real time.
24:28You're seeing that in real time.
24:29And you're seeing that in real time.
24:30And you're seeing that in real time.
24:31You're seeing that in real time.
24:32And you're seeing that in real time.
24:33And because of these very specific microclimates, it fosters a kind of biodiversity that's really
24:37special.
24:38Different types of plants, animals that you won't find anywhere else.
24:42It also means it's incredibly ecologically sensitive.
24:47These are very small zones where certain flora and fauna thrive.
24:53So even small variations in temperature, weather extremes could wipe them out.
25:23The Mamos don't bring much on the journey, but they always carry their Poporos, a sacred tool made from a hollowed gourd and filled with powdered lime from seashells.
25:44The substance increases the stimulating effects of chewing coca leaves.
25:49This daily practice is a form of meditation and helps Arawako men connect with the spiritual realm and the teachings of their ancestors.
26:08We arrive in Yechiki as the light fades. Up here, modernity feels far away, but its shadow is long.
26:17The ice is melting. The seasons are shifting. The damage reaches even where the infrastructure doesn't.
26:25And yet, there's still joy. There's still time.
26:30But our time is not unlimited. Since the end of the first industrial revolution in the 1840s, the Sierra Nevada has lost 92% of its glacial cover.
26:44And if current warming trends continue, Colombia's remaining glaciers will vanish entirely within a generation.
26:54The Arawako recognized this shift long before the data confirmed it, and have been trying to warn younger brother ever since.
27:02The Arawako recognized the
27:16Arawako recognized the power of the land of the city.
27:20but for the sake of this country,
27:27I am not going to do whatever I want to do.
27:30But I am not going to do it.
27:32I am not going to be able to do it.
27:39I am not going to be able to be able to do it.
27:45Mamo Arturo of Yachiki has called a gathering to understand who we are and why we've come.
28:06Before we can go further, he'll decide if the Sierra will accept us.
28:11If it doesn't, the pilgrimage ends here.
28:14The mountains always have the final word.
28:19My name is Gulmaz Khan and I'm a journalist from the United States.
28:25I think the climate crisis stems from our disconnection from nature, that it's a crisis of conscience, of spirituality,
28:33and that the Arawaka way of life, their relationship of respect and reciprocity with nature is something that the world can learn a lot from.
28:44And so my intention here is to capture that message.
28:48And what?
28:49Okay.
28:50So, now we're bringing the number, the distributors.
28:51What?
28:53Yeah, we're bringing a lot to ourselves.
28:55to get the right person.
29:02The people who retired the government
29:08the government is now doing it,
29:12and we are doing it.
29:15We have the people that work.
29:19We are doing it.
29:20My name is Gul Nas to transmit the message of Mamu.
29:27When you have a visit,
29:31someone who has the same purpose of protecting our house,
29:37they are welcome to this space.
29:42So, I thank you for the visit that has arrived here.
29:50On day three of our pilgrimage,
29:55we travel 10 miles from Yechiqui to the community of Mamancana.
30:02The Spanish first invaded Tairona territory in 1525
30:07and launched a brutal campaign against its people.
30:11They burned villages, destroyed sacred sites,
30:14and enslaved the survivors.
30:19The Arawaka retreated higher into the mountains,
30:22on the same trails we are now following,
30:25into territory too distant and harsh for the conquistadors to follow.
30:31Their survival was shaped by geographic isolation
30:34and centuries of cultural resistance.
30:38Across 500 years of outside pressure,
30:43they preserved their languages, their ceremonies,
30:46and their responsibility to guard the heart of the world.
30:50By the way, a family of Mamu was surrounded by the people,
30:56and they were surrounded by the people,
30:57and they were surrounded by the people who grew up,
30:59and they were surrounded by the people who grew up with their lives.
31:02Anakba, Ange-Wing Kweirina Nunga, Ange-Wa Kinking-Bia Ajo-Nuk Nare Guizorizh Nika.
31:11Zasariya-kwari, Mokwari-wasa, Vena Karina Nunga.
31:17Nika Singheakri, Ani Chungunusie, Zasana Kwa, Kana Nabi.
31:24Zasana kwa Rqanan Nuga.
31:26We've arrived in Mamankana, the last village before the sacred lakes.
31:43After days of physical and emotional depletion,
31:46we still don't know whether we'll reach our final destination.
31:50Like every other step of the journey so far, we'll need to be invited in.
31:55We are outsiders seeking entry into a precious and delicate world
32:01where every football has an impact.
32:25Today, we're meeting with Mamo Gregorio, the leader of this community and the guardian of our journey's ultimate destination.
32:43Step 5, the leader of the owner of the community says to the local community.
32:48We don't really know if we're in the area of the world and we're in the area of the area.
32:53But as we've already been able to plan for our missionaries,
32:55we're going to be part of the community in which we can find.
32:58The community of Mamo is closer and closer to the city of Mamo.
33:01This cleansing ceremony acts as a kind of passport.
33:29We are seeking permission to enter a place of deep spiritual significance.
33:34We all carry negative energy. It's human.
33:38And this ceremony is about releasing that so we don't pollute the sacred landscape.
33:59We don't have to worry about it.
34:02We don't have to worry about it.
34:05We don't have to worry about it.
34:24We don't have to worry about it.
34:28We don't have to worry about it.
34:30We don't have to worry about it.
34:32We don't have to worry about it.
35:00Outsiders are rarely permitted in this territory to protect both the ecological balance and the spiritual integrity of the land.
35:09Many others have been turned away before, and our entire journey now hangs in the balance.
35:15They're now consulting with each other and with the earth to decide whether we should be allowed in.
35:22We don't have to worry about it.
35:29So, we have to communicate with them, after the consultation they were receiving, the message, the purpose of each one.
35:39So, if it's true, the sacred Sagrada Laguna of Seicundiva invites them to come to us to be able to talk.
35:54With permission granted, it's time to begin our journey to the glacial lakes, where the mamos will offer their pagamentos from the coast.
36:13The final stretch takes three hours, seven miles through thin air and ending with a sharp ascent.
36:28This land was forged over millions of years, and our species put it at risk in less than 200.
36:39We humans are exceptionally powerful and exceptionally short-sighted.
36:45We're not just endangering the planet.
36:48We're dismantling the conditions of our own survival.
37:00We've finally reached the sacred lakes.
37:03Exhausted, humbled, and aware that we're merely guests in a story far older than us.
37:11This is one of the rarest privileges I've had as a journalist.
37:17To the Arauaco, the glaciers are the head of the Sierra's living body, the origin of water, knowledge, and life.
37:26The lagoons, which flow directly from this sacred source, holds the memory and wisdom of their ancestors,
37:33making it an especially powerful place for the mamos to seek guidance.
37:41On a sick planet, can the message from the lagoon offer any hope?
37:56We're welcome to this sacred space between the mountains, the Laguna Atisekundiva.
38:03These are the places where we take the decisions for the well-being of all species that exist within the Earth.
38:13As a man who is there is, the forest is only one, but not a man who has lost health.
38:21We're always people for a lot of reasons.
38:23We have to say, as I said, they haven't needed money for us.
38:28We have to make the sense of our own, and we're going to have to make them specifically.
38:32The Mamos now unwrap the pagamentos and place them around the lake.
39:02Including the seashells gathered 259 miles away on the shores of Katansama.
39:09In return, they'll collect natural elements here to carry back to the sea and complete the cycle.
39:18The message from the lagoon isn't just a warning.
39:22It's an invitation to recognize conservation as a collective act.
39:26Colombia alone holds nearly 10% of the planet's biodiversity.
39:33But in the past 50 years, Latin America and the Caribbean have seen a 94% decline in wildlife populations.
39:42The sharpest drop anywhere on Earth.
39:45The Sierra is a bellwether.
39:49What happens here, glacial melt, species extinction, ecosystem collapse, is a preview of our shared future.
39:57And will impact the well-being of billions.
40:00Well, how long that we are in...
40:15We are not a champ.
40:18We are the streams.
40:21So we must sacrifice...
40:22The Mamos have their language for speaking to the earth.
40:52Now they're asking us, younger brother, to find our own.
41:03Over the last century, illegal logging and fumigation have devastated more than 70% of the Sierra Nevada's forests.
41:12Between 1975 and 1980, over 150,000 hectares were cleared for marijuana cultivation alone.
41:21In the last 20 years, the Arahuaco have been working with the Colombian government to purchase land and build new settlements, preserving their culture and restoring nature.
41:35Established in 2009 on the remains of a cocaine and marijuana farm, the village of Conti Norwa is showing the world what true restoration looks like.
41:48The way the most effective that has been defined through the Mamos has been the purchase of land.
41:55The purchase of land also ensures a formality and a legality that evites future conflicts.
42:04My name is Ati Gunavib Vivian Mislim Villafaña Izquierdo.
42:11I'm 26 years old.
42:12I'm part of the Pueblo Arhuaco of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta.
42:16I'm a politologist.
42:16I work on topics related to climate change in international scenarios.
42:20I work on topics related to climate change in international scenarios.
42:25Speaking of territory and territorial recovery, it's important to understand how the people of the Sierra Nevada
42:33are related to the Linea Negra, with the places located within the Linea Negra.
42:38I speak of the program Cordor Ambiental and Tradicional of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta.
42:44The president of that time established that would be defined 10 facilities.
42:48The land would be established with indigenous communities.
42:50This is what gives place and gives life to the concept of the Pueblo Talanquera.
42:54Reasentar families indigenous communities is also talking about a recovery, a recovery, a recovery, a recovery,
43:00of these facilities that are in danger.
43:04But Cantinura is an example, very concrete, of how it has been achieved.
43:20Talanqueras are Arawaco communities that are being established as buffer zones between modern development and their most sacred sites.
43:29So it's protecting the most ecologically sensitive areas
43:33is from the encroachment of development, of agriculture, of all these other threats.
43:39These towns have been bought in various locations and it's a bit of a mix between traditional Arawaco culture
43:47with some maybe modern elements thrown in.
43:50Many times when they have received these facilities, they have been sent by indigenous families,
44:05and the facilities are in a critical state.
44:08They were full of cuisine, where the cocaine was used to be exported.
44:15Also, there were large extensions of marijuana, which were part of the economy of the region and the country.
44:22And also, there was a point, and so we interpret them the MAMOs,
44:29that the level of violence that had been with the land that had stopped being fertile.
44:33So, we don't talk about restoration or recovery, we don't talk about restoration.
44:39We talk about saneement.
44:42What are the areas that have been organized?
44:48Well, the people of Salanquera have guaranteed the success of a very important percentage of crop vegetables,
44:57but they also have guaranteed the recovery of aquiferes previously contaminated.
45:04So they have also shown that effective governance within these territories,
45:10which has been projected to be a replica of these models of the Pueblo Talanquera.
45:18Kontinorwa is a powerful example of effective indigenous-led conservation.
45:25Today, the Arawako are looking to expand on this success story by incorporating new strategies and technologies.
45:35Ten years ago, more or less, we started embracing the solar panels technology.
45:42You said potentially that selling the energy produced from solar could just help you buy more land.
45:51It is an option that has been explored by some of the leaders in the community,
45:55and I think it can be a good possibility to have the autonomy that we wish, that we want,
46:01and use that fund to buy or protect more areas.
46:07I think what's so remarkable about the adoption of solar energy in Arawako communities is that it's directly tied to a land-backed solution.
46:16So communities are talking about selling solar energy and then using that money to buy back more land,
46:23and using passive conservation to bring back the health of the land.
46:28And as we see here, the biodiversity, the forest health has dramatically improved in just over a decade.
46:36So it's a really remarkable solution.
46:38And I think the MAMOs, the Arawako communities have reflected about the detrimental impacts of coal mining.
46:47And clean energy is an antidote to dirty energy.
46:53For many sectors of the country and the world,
46:57to talk about indigenous communities and their ways of living,
46:59to talk about failure,
47:01and to talk about a blockage of development,
47:03the development of the country's potential.
47:05The use of solar energy to sustain the economy of Arawako
47:11is an effective way to generate that response.
47:16What do you hope is the future for your community?
47:21Well, that's a good question.
47:25I think if we can say that within 100 years,
47:31we talk about Arawako people with our vision that being strong,
47:37this is my dream, this is what I aim for,
47:41to keep our community and our language alive.
47:45And by extension, the heart of the world, right?
47:49The planet.
47:50Yes.
47:51Over the last few decades,
47:54Arawako leadership has played a crucial role
47:57in championing indigenous rights
48:00and increasing the protected areas of the Sierra by 31%.
48:04Today, their achievements are garnering recognition beyond their ancestral territory,
48:18and their voices now resonate in the global arena.
48:21My name is Leonor Salabata Torres.
48:27I'm Arawaka.
48:28I'm the first indigenous woman
48:32to the permanent representative of Colombia
48:35against the United Nations.
48:37Hello, Leonor.
48:40Hello, Leonor.
48:41How are you?
48:42Very well.
48:43You too?
48:44Well, thank you very much.
48:47Humanity must learn from many indigenous cultures.
48:53And that's why I believe that indigenous peoples
48:57can contribute to humanity.
48:59That's why I'm here.
49:01Because I believe that ancestral knowledge, traditional knowledge
49:06can help.
49:10So you've had a long and successful career advocating for numerous causes
49:15and, you know, growing up and living in Colombia.
49:18So how does it feel now to have a voice on the global stage?
49:22The indigenous cultures that we have in the Sierra Nevada
49:26and that we have in Colombia
49:27and in other parts represent the ancestrality of humanity.
49:34That's why we have the duty and also the right to be in an organization
49:41like the United Nations,
49:43in which human rights primers.
49:47So we're in an organization like that
50:02and that's why we do not have an indigenous voice.
50:07We need to be like,
50:10I want to be like,
50:12I want to be like this.
50:16Why is the climate crisis also a human rights issue, not just for indigenous groups, but
50:46for everyone?
51:16Why are we going to adapt to the ecological imbalance?
51:21What are we going to do when the waters are diminishing, when the rain is different, when we don't know
51:32when we have to sow?
51:34That's why it's very necessary that indigenous peoples, with our experience, with our knowledge,
51:44with our way of living in peace with nature, we can also provide humanity to, I don't know,
51:54mitigating, that we can adapt a little bit better to the current crisis that we have.
52:04And I think that can help us, and among all, we can help save the land.
52:14The 80% of the biodiversity of the world is in indigenous territories.
52:23That's why it's very important that those sacred areas that indigenous peoples in the world
52:33recognize, delimiting them, recognize them, respect them, and send them to indigenous cultures
52:43is really strengthening the environment that is living in those places.
52:50The Arawako have protected the heart of the world for centuries, not just because it's sacred to them,
53:01but because it's essential to our collective survival.
53:06Each in their own way, indigenous peoples around the world safeguard more of the earth than
53:12all the national parks and forests on the planet.
53:17Their invaluable work doesn't always get the recognition it deserves,
53:21but remains one of our greatest strengths in the fight against climate change.
53:26The future doesn't belong to those who extract the most, consume the fastest, or build the tallest.
53:34It belongs to those who can adapt, who can recognize that the systems we've relied on are failing,
53:40and that a different way is possible.
54:10This program is available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video.
54:40Thank you all for listening.
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