GULNAZ KHAN: Our planet is at a breaking point, with rising temperatures and uncontrolled extraction pushing nature to its limits.

Indigenous people make up 5% of the world's population, but safeguard most of Earth's remaining biodiversity.

♪ The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one of the highest coastal mountain ranges in the world.

It's an incredibly diverse biome, stretching from the Caribbean coast all the way up to its glacial peaks.

The Indigenous Tayrona peoples have stewarded over this land for millennia and consider it the heart of the world.

We're about to embark on a sacred journey into a pristine and fragile world, rarely seen by outsiders and increasingly under threat.

♪ [Vocalizing] ♪ I'm Gulnaz Khan.

As a journalist, I'm reporting on how climate change is endangering humanity's most sacred sites and traditions, as well as how faith-based communities around the globe are tackling this humanitarian and existential crisis with innovative solutions.

♪ ♪ ♪ [Birds calling] GULNAZ: The Tayrona people of the Sierra Nevada number around 50,000 and are made up of 4 Indigenous groups: the Cogi, Wiwa, Kankuamo, and the largest among them, the Arhuaco.

♪ The Arhuaco call themselves the Elder Brothers of Humanity, tasked with an ancient responsibility to guide the rest of the world, their younger brothers, back into balance with nature.

And that really is central in the Arhuaco belief that this is the heart of the world.

It is the beating heart that supplies blood, life to the rest of the planet.

♪ The Mamos are the highest spiritual leaders in the Sierra, and believe they have a cosmic connection with nature.

But they fear that because of humanity's actions, the planet is sick and its heart is failing.

[Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] [Blows conch horn] GULNAZ: The Arhuaco call the Sierra Nevada "the heart of the world" because they believe it's the origin of all life.

They understand the natural world as an interconnected web, and like a living body, every part serves a vital function.

Glaciers feed rivers.

Forests regulate climate.

Coastal wetlands depend on water from the highlands.

When one zone is disrupted, the entire system begins to unravel.

To keep this balance intact, Mamos make pagamentos, ritual offerings that renew the connections among the mountains, sea, and everything in between.

They'll carry the shells they collect here up to the high altitude lakes, physically and symbolically linking the lowland coast to the icy peaks, a reminder that the health of one depends on the other.

And it is the sacred duty of the Mamos to carry out that task.

[Birds chirping] In the face of warming temperatures, the Arhuaco are sounding the alarm through sacred rituals and political resistance.

Mamo Camilo and his son Mamo Emilio have invited me to the village of Kutunsuma.

Today, the community is gathered in the caduco, preparing pagamentos for a pilgrimage that's rarely open to outsiders.

Jaison Perez Villafaña is my guide and translator for this unique experience.

[In Spanish]: Puedes explicar un poco de el caduco?

[In Spanish]: El caduco es el espacio donde nos reunimos, toda la comunidad, para desarrollar actividades ceremoniales para alimentar las montañas.

GULNAZ: We're seeking permission to join the Mamos on their 6-day, 56-mile pilgrimage through an extremely remote territory and to confront the question looming over us all.

What happens when Earth's most vital ecosystems begin to die?

[Jaison speaks Iku] People: [Indistinct] [Speaks Iku] [Indistinct chatter] [Speaks Iku] Gulnaz: [Indistinct] [In Spanish]: Y la comunidad que está desarrollando la actividad.

Entonces ahí está donde se prepara los caracoles del mar, se pulverizan, que está allá en las hojas de maíz.

Las hojas de maíz se convierten en el elemento o el vehículo para llevar.

Con esto mismo poder alimentar en las montañas.

[Jaison speaks Iku] [Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] GULNAZ: Intencionamientos are fibers that act as vessels, infused with thoughts of harmony and healing, gratitude and hope.

The Mamos then transmit those messages to the Earth through ceremony.

[Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] JAISON [in Spanish]: Coge en la mano derecha, cuatro, ahora con esta mano, cuatro.

[Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] JAISON [in Spanish]: Es el alimento y el permiso que vas a pedir a las montañas, a las lagunas, al viento, al sol para poder viajar.

Así adelante, ese permiso... y luego le entrega al mamo.

[Speaks Iku] [Birds calling and chirping] [Speaks Iku] JAISON [in Spanish]: Te va preparar para que puedas viajar.

[Speaks Iku] GULNAZ: Mamo Camilo has given his blessing for us to join the pilgrimage, led by his son Mamo Emilio.

It's a rare invitation, but only a first step.

As we move toward the highlands, we'll need to seek permission again and again: from other Mamos who watch over this territory and from the mountains themselves.

[Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] GULNAZ: One of the things that Mamo Camilo talked about today was the ways in which we're exploiting the Earth are equivalent to wounds on the Great Mother's body.

♪ [Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] ♪ GULNAZ: The Sierra Nevada is home to Latin America's largest open-pit coal mine, which exports 25 to 30 million tons of coal all over the world each year.

Nearly 20% is shipped to North America, including 2/3 of the coal imported into the United States.

Large-scale extraction doesn't just poison the land, air, and water.

Coal burning is also the largest single source of human-driven CO2 emissions.

And this is just one of hundreds of mining concessions that have been granted by the Colombian government within Indigenous territory.

[Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] ♪ GULNAZ: Beyond mining, the Sierra is also under threat from widespread deforestation, driven by agriculture and large-scale infrastructure projects.

While Jaison and Mamo Emilio make final preparations for the week-long journey to the glacial lakes, I'm heading to Santa Marta to better understand the environmental threats facing the Sierra and how the Arhuaco have confronted these challenges.

I'm meeting with Bibiana Salamanca, a biologist and agroecologist who has worked with Indigenous communities for many years, restoring ecosystems and recovering biodiversity.

BIBIANA [in Spanish]: La erosión costera es un problema mundial y aquí en Santa Marta está comiéndose toda esta playa... y aquí un manglar que trata de sobrevivir toda la urbanización.

En las zonas urbanas todo el mundo quiere hacer sus edificios en los manglares y entonces estas barreras de protección al cambio climático van desapareciendo.

Realmente el trabajo que hacen las comunidades indígenas aquí en este lugar es muy importante, porque es la defensa de los sitios sagrados y las barreras costeras que son espacios científicamente comprobados de que regulan todas las afectaciones del cambio climático.

♪ Los mejores esfuerzos de conservación están representados en las comunidades indígenas, y esto ha sido un éxito en la protección de los ecosistemas.

GULNAZ: In 2018, after years of lobbying, the 4 Indigenous groups secured a presidential decree, formally recognizing their ancestral territories within the Sierra.

The Linea Negra, or Black Line, is a crucial legal designation, encompassing more than 300 sacred sites that also hold environmental significance.

BIBIANA: Hola, Margarita!

GULNAZ: Bibiana is introducing me to her colleagues, Margarita Villafaña and Alfonso Torres, whom she collaborated with on the Linea Negra project.

MARGARITA [in Spanish]: Para que la resolución #1500 se pudiera expedir, hubo un trabajo previo que fue el recorrido que se hizo en cada uno de los sitios reconociendo y registrando cada uno de los lugares dando la vuelta por toda la Sierra Nevada.

GULNAZ: So what was the motivation behind the establishment of the Black Line?

Why was it important for the 4 Indigenous groups to come together and get this legally recognized?

[In Spanish]: Al hermano menor, hay que escribir.

Lo que no está escrito no vale, para el mundo del hermano menor.

Entonces los mamo dijeron, hay que escribir.

Esta demarcación no es para quitarle tierra a ninguno sino es para proteger, es para preservar y para que tanto el Indígena, como los hermanos menores que viven a su alrededor podamos pensar en la preservación de la Sierra.

GULNAZ: The Linea Negra's impact was almost immediate.

As it was being announced, developers in Santa Marta were breaking ground on an 18-story high-rise on a coveted piece of seafront property.

The proposed construction would level an important Arhuaco site, the sacred rock of Jate Matuna.

As soon as the Arhuaco heard about the initial damage, they sprung into action, appealing to the courts to prevent any further destruction.

BIBIANA [in Spanish]: La protección de Jate Matuna y que se haya evitado la construcción de ese edificio es un éxito para nosotros.

La primera vez que sucede en Santa Marta que se parra una obra de millones de pesos para proteger un espacio sagrado que es una barrera importante para la regulación del cambio climático.

GULNAZ: For the Arhuaco, protecting the Sierra isn't just a legal fight, it's spiritual.

We're heading to Nabusimuke, the sacred heart of the Arhuaco world, where Jaison and Mamo Emilio have finished their preparations.

This is where the pilgrimage begins.

But to understand the significance of this journey, we first need to understand the struggle.

Because the roots of Arhuaco resistance begin here.

♪ MARIA [in Spanish]: Nabusimuke es importante porque nace el sol, dicen.

Nabusimuke es importante para toda la comunidad indígena.

Siempre Nabusimuke para mi es como una cosa sagrada.

Me llamo Maria Tereza y en la lengua me llamo Seukumekan.

♪ La cultura arhuaca significa muchas muchas cosas.

Espiritualmente sanamos todas cosas y también de artesania, eso nos corresponde a pena que nazca.

[Maria speaks Iku] ♪ GULNAZ: Today, Nabusimuke is the thriving capital of Arhuaco culture, but that wasn't the case prior to 1982.

In the 20th century, the Arhuaco asked the Colombian government to send them teachers so the children could learn how to read, how to speak Spanish, but instead they sent Catholic missionaries who arrived in 1916.

And through that process, they built a monastery, children were sent there for boarding school, and it hugely impacted the culture.

♪ [In Spanish]: Y a dónde vamos ahora?

[In Spanish]: Por allá en la misión a donde yo me crié.

Yo estuve 6 años allí.

♪ Todos los domingos a la iglesia, todos los días a rezar, cantar.

♪ GULNAZ: Under the Capuchin missionaries, the Arhuaco were prohibited from speaking their language or practicing their culture.

MARIA [in Spanish]: Yo cuando chiquita, me ponía a tejer mochilas chiquitas escondida de las hermanas, porque las hermanas no quería que uno tejería mochilas, ni hablara en lengua.

♪ Pero nosotros, no se, como indígena nos uníamos, nos sentábamos así reunidas y nos poniamos a echarnos cuentecitos de antes que nos contaban los abuelos.

Alguien era vigilante, si viene la hermana allí, que nos contara de una.

Ya viene una hermana-- "Callense!"

Mucha hambre pasaba aquí, mucha hambre, mucha hambre.

♪ GULNAZ: In 1982, the Indigenous community united to evict the Capuchins.

MARIA [in Spanish]: Y cuando salen, se una toda la comunidad.

Le hacían parrandas, como una fiesta de l'alegria.

Hicieron fiestas pa'lla y pa'ca.

♪ GULNAZ: The Capuchin expulsion was a really important moment in Arhuaco history because within two years, the 4 Indigenous groups in the Sierra Nevada came together and started a campaign to establish an Indigenous reserve.

And that turned into an ongoing, decades-long initiative to protect and restore their ancestral lands, but also to start reclaiming those spaces and using them as their own.

MARIA [in Spanish]: La comunidad quiere seguir con la cultura.

Yo tengo muchos años de seguir en las luchas indígenas, recuperar la tierra.

Como esto es tierra nativo, que se lo deje a la comunidad, indígena.

♪ GULNAZ: [In Spanish]: Buenos días, Jaison, como estas?

JAISON [in Spanish]: Bien, bien, gracias.

Nos vamos?

[In Spanish]: Si.

[In Spanish]: OK, bien.

[Speaks Iku] ♪ [Jaison speaks Iku] JAISON [in Spanish]: Gulnaz, Mamo Emilio, que te va preparar para poder subir a la Sierra.

OK. [Indistinct] ♪ GULNAZ: Today, we're setting off from Nabusimuke with Jaison, Mamo Emilio, and members of their community as they begin their journey to the sacred lagoons 12,000 feet above sea level.

This deeply spiritual trek has been carried out for generations and acts as a rebalancing ritual, performed when Earth is showing signs of distress.

♪ The Mamos will bring the pagamentos from the coast to the high mountains, fulfilling their duty to restore the natural world.

♪ It's a 6-day, 56-mile hike through an extremely remote territory.

Here, the effects of climate breakdown aren't theoretical, but a daily visible truth.

[Water rushing] [Horses clopping] [Water rushing] Our first leg takes us 16 miles to the village of Jechikin, where we seek permission from the local Mamo to continue.

♪ The path is unforgiving and the physical demands are intense.

But what's more striking is what's not here.

No roads, no wires, no evidence of the world below.

Earth's wild places are disappearing.

But we are witnessing something virtually untouched.

Part of what scientists have called the "most irreplaceable nature reserve on Earth," home to thousands of unique plant and animal species.

♪ Every couple hours, the landscape is changing dramatically.

Gracias.

And you're seeing that in real time.

And because of these very specific microclimates, it fosters a kind of biodiversity that's really special.

Different types of plants, animals, that you won't find anywhere else.

It also means it's incredibly ecologically sensitive.

♪ These are very small zones where certain flora and fauna thrive.

So even small variations in temperature, weather extremes could wipe them out.

♪ ♪ [Water splashing] [Mamo Emilio speaks Iku] GULNAZ: The 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.

The substance increases the stimulating effects of chewing coca leaves.

This daily practice is a form of meditation and helps Arhuaco men connect with the spiritual realm and the teachings of their ancestors.

♪ [Water splashing] We arrive in Jechikin as the light fades.

Up here, modernity feels far away, but its shadow is long.

The ice is melting.

The seasons are shifting.

The damage reaches even where the infrastructure doesn't.

And yet, there's still joy.

There's still time.

♪ But 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.

And if current warming trends continue, Colombia's remaining glaciers will vanish entirely within a generation.

The Arhuaco recognized this shift long before the data confirmed it and have been trying to warn younger brother ever since.

[Mamo Emilio speaks Iku] ♪ ♪ ♪ GULNAZ: Mamo Arturo of Jechikin has called a gathering to understand who we are and why we've come.

Before we can go further, he'll decide if the Sierra will accept us.

If it doesn't, the pilgrimage ends here.

The mountains always have the final word.

My name is Gulnaz Khan, and I'm a journalist from the United States.

I think the climate crisis stems from our disconnection from nature, that it's a crisis of conscience, of spirituality, and that the Arhuaco way of life, their relationship of respect and reciprocity with nature, is something that the world can learn a lot from.

And so my intention here is to capture that message.

JAISON [in Spanish]: Entonces, ahora le entrega al mamo.

[Speaks Iku] [In Spanish]: Bueno, Gulnaz, para transmitir el mensaje del mamo... cuando se tiene una visita de alguien que tiene el mismo propósito de proteger nuestra casa-- entonces de esa forma son bienvenidos a este espacio.

Entonces les agradece la visita, que han llegado hasta acá.

[Bird calling] GULNAZ: On day 3 of our pilgrimage, we travel 10 miles from Jechikin to the community of Mamunkuna.

♪ The Spanish first invaded Tayrona territory in 1525 and launched a brutal campaign against its people.

They burned villages, destroyed sacred sites, and enslaved the survivors.

♪ The Arhuaco retreated higher into the mountains, on the same trails we're now following, into territory too distant and harsh for the conquistadors to follow.

♪ Their survival was shaped by geographic isolation and centuries of cultural resistance.

♪ Across 500 years of outside pressure, they preserved their languages, their ceremonies, and their responsibility to guard the heart of the world.

♪ [Mamo Emilio speaks Iku] ♪ GULNAZ: We've arrived in Mamunkuna, the last village before the Sacred Lakes.

♪ After days of physical and emotional depletion, we still don't know whether we'll reach our final destination.

Like every other step of the journey so far, we'll need to be invited in.

We're outsiders, seeking entry into a precious and delicate world where every footfall has an impact.

[Rain pours] [Thunder rumbles] [Mamo Emilio speaks Iku] ♪ GULNAZ: Today, we're meeting with Mamo Gregorio, the leader of this community and the guardian of our journey's ultimate destination.

[Speaks Iku] JAISON [in Spanish]: Entonces primero que todo hace preferencia la no entrada de personas particulares o ajenas a la cultura.

La mismas montañas dijeron el 'no' de la visita de hermanitos menores.

Entonces está cerrado hoy la visita.

Para ellos, tenemos que descargar toda esas energías que trajimos de allí abajo.

Cuantos?

Siete.

Siete.

GULNAZ: This cleansing ceremony acts as a kind of passport.

We are seeking permission to enter a place of deep spiritual significance.

We all carry negative energy.

It's human.

And this ceremony is about releasing that so we don't pollute the sacred landscape.

[Mamo Gregorio speaks Iku] ♪ [Paper rustling] [Indistinct chatter] ♪ [Indistinct] JAISON [in Spanish]: Entonces entre los mamos, van a sentarse y apoyarse para también entender la misión del pagamento que se va hacer y así mismo el equipo de trabajo que viene acompañando.

♪ GULNAZ: Outsiders are rarely permitted in this territory to protect both the ecological balance and the spiritual integrity of the land.

Many others have been turned away before, and our entire journey now hangs in the balance.

They're now consulting with each other and with the Earth to decide whether we should be allowed in.

♪ JAISON [in Spanish]: Entonces, habría que comunicarle, después de la consulta que estuvieron, recibiendo el mensaje, el propósito de cada uno... entonces, si bien es cierto, la laguna sagrada de Seykundiwa los invita a llegar allá, para poder conversar.

Entonces le permite el permiso para seguir el paso.

♪ GULNAZ: With permission granted, it's time to begin our journey to the glacial lakes, where the Mamos will offer their pagamentos from the coast.

♪ JAISON [in Spanish]: Vamos?

Los invito para la Sierra, para la laguna.

♪ GULNAZ: The final stretch takes 3 hours, 7 miles through thin air and ending with a sharp ascent.

♪ This land was forged over millions of years, and our species put it at risk in less than 200.

♪ We humans are exceptionally powerful and exceptionally short-sighted.

We're not just endangering the planet.

We're dismantling the conditions of our own survival.

♪ We've finally reached the Sacred Lakes.

Exhausted, humbled, and aware that we're merely guests in a story far older than us.

This is one of the rarest privileges I've had as a journalist.

♪ To the Arhuaco, the glaciers are the head of the Sierra's living body, the origin of water, knowledge, and life.

The lagoons, which flow directly from this sacred source, holds the memory and wisdom of their ancestors, making it an especially powerful place for the Mamos to seek guidance.

♪ On a sick planet, can the message from the lagoon offer any hope?

JAISON [in Spanish]: Bienvenido a este espacio sagrado entre las montañas a la laguna Ati Seykundiwa.

Son los lugares donde se toman las decisiones para el bienestar de todas las especies que existen dentro de la Tierra.

[Speaks Iku] [In Spanish]: Entonces nos toca ese pagamento aquí, para que ese mensaje se transmita a los distintos lugares, a las distintas montañas, a las distintas lagunas.

♪ GULNAZ: Gracias.

The Mamos now unwrap the pagamentos and place them around the lake, including the seashells gathered 259 miles away on the shores of Kutunsuma.

In return, they'll collect natural elements here to carry back to the sea and complete the cycle.

♪ The message from the lagoon isn't just a warning.

It's an invitation to recognize conservation as a collective act.

♪ Colombia alone holds nearly 10% of the planet's biodiversity.

But in the past 50 years, Latin America and the Caribbean have seen a 94% decline in wildlife populations.

The sharpest drop anywhere on Earth.

♪ The Sierra is a bellwether.

What happens here-- glacial melt, species extinction, ecosystem collapse--is a preview of our shared future and will impact the well-being of billions.

♪ [Mamo Emilio speaks Iku] ♪ ♪ GULNAZ: The Mamos have their language for speaking to the Earth.

Now they're asking us-- younger brother-- to find our own.

♪ Over the last century, illegal logging and fumigation have devastated more than 70% of the Sierra Nevada's forests.

Between 1975 and 1980, over 150,000 hectares were cleared for marijuana cultivation alone.

♪ In the last 20 years, the Arhuaco have been working with the Colombian government to purchase land and build new settlements, preserving their culture and restoring nature.

♪ Established in 2009 on the remains of a cocaine and marijuana farm, the village of Kuntinurwa is showing the world what true restoration looks like.

ATI [in Spanish]: La manera más efectiva que se ha definido a través de los mamos ha sido la compra de tierras.

Las compras aseguran también una formalidad y una legalidad que evita conflictos futuros.

♪ Mi nombre es Ati Gunabip Viviam Mislin Villafaña Izquierdo.

Tengo 26 años.

Soy parte del pueblo Arhuaco de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

Soy politóloga y trabajo a temas relacionados al cambio climático en escenarios internacionales.

[Indistinct] Hablar de territorio y de recuperación territorial es importante entender cómo los pueblos de la Sierra se relacionan con la Línea Negra, con los predios ubicados dentro de la Línea Negra.

Hablo del programa Cordón Ambiental y Tradicional de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

El presidente de ese momento estableció que serían definidos 10 predios establecidos de la mano conjunto con indígenas.

Es lo que le da lugar y le da vida al concepto de pueblo talanquera.

Reasentar familias indígenas es también hablar de una recuperación, una restauracion exitosa, de estos predios que están en peligro.

Kuntinurwa es un ejemplo muy concreto de cómo se ha logrado eso.

♪ GULNAZ: Talanqueras are Arhuaco communities that are being established as buffer zones between modern development and their most sacred sites.

So it's protecting the most ecologically sensitive areas from the encroachment of development of agriculture, of all these other threats.

These towns have been bought in various locations and it's a bit of a mix between traditional Arhuaco culture with some maybe modern elements thrown in.

♪ [Tools rustling] ATI [in Spanish]: Bien, muchas veces cuando se han recibidos esos predios a través de la compra se han reasentado familias indígenas, los predios se encuentran en estado crítico.

Estaban llenos de cocinas donde se hacía y se empastaba la cocaína que luego sería exportada.

También habían grandes extensiones de cultivo de marihuana que era parte de la economía de la región y del pais... y también era al punto tal, y así lo interpretan los mamos, que el nivel de violencia que se tenía con la tierra, que había dejado de ser fértil.

Entonces sembrar, restaurar, y nosotros no hablamos de restauración o recuperación, nosotros hablamos de saneamiento.

♪ Bueno, los pueblos talanquera han garantizado la recuperación exitosa de un porcentaje muy importante de cobertura vegetal, pero también han garantizado exitosamente la recuperación de acuíferos, anteriormente contaminados.

Entonces han sido muestra también de esta gobernancia efectiva dentro de estos territorios, por lo cual, se ha proyectado hacer una réplica de estos modelos de pueblos talanquera.

♪ GULNAZ: Kuntinurwa is a powerful example of effective Indigenous-led conservation.

Today, the Arhuaco are looking to expand on this success story by incorporating new strategies and technologies.

♪ [Ati speaks English] GULNAZ: You said potentially that selling the energy produced from solar could just help you buy more land.

[Ati speaks English] GULNAZ: I think what's so remarkable about the adoption of solar energy in Arhuaco communities is that it's directly tied to a Land Back solution.

So communities are talking about selling solar energy and then using that money to buy back more land and using passive conservation to bring back the health of the land.

And as we see here, the biodiversity, the forest health has dramatically improved in just over a decade.

So it's a really remarkable solution.

And I think the Mamos, the Arhuaco communities have reflected about the detrimental impacts of coal mining.

And clean energy is an antidote to dirty energy.

ATI [in Spanish]: Para muchos sectores del país y del mundo, hablar de comunidades indígenas y sus formas de vida es hablar de atraso y hablar de un bloqueo al desarrollo, el potencial de desarrollo del país.

La utilización de energía solar para sostener la economía arhuaca es un forma efectiva de generar esa respuesta.

GULNAZ: What do you hope is the future for your community?

[Speaks English] And by extension, the heart of the world, right?

The planet.

Yes.

♪ GULNAZ: Over the last few decades, Arhuaco leadership has played a crucial role in championing Indigenous rights and increasing the protected areas of the Sierra by 31%.

♪ Today, their achievements are garnering recognition beyond their ancestral territory, and their voices now resonate in the global arena.

♪ LEONOR [in Spanish]: Mi nombre es Leonor Zalabata Torres, soy Arhuaca.

♪ Soy la primera mujer indígena, representante permanente de Colombia antes las Naciones Unidas.

♪ Hola, Leonor.

Cómo estás?

Muy bien, y tú?

[In Spanish]: Bueno, muchas gracias.

♪ La humanidad debe aprender de muchas culturas indígenas y por eso creo, que los pueblos indígenas podemos contribuirle a la humanidad, por esto estoy aqui, porque creo que los conocimientos ancestrales, los conocimientos tradicionales pueden ayudar.

♪ GULNAZ: So you've had a long and successful career advocating for numerous causes and, you know, growing up and living in Colombia.

So how does it feel now to have a voice on the global stage?

[In Spanish]: Las culturas indígenas que tenemos en la Sierra Nevada y que tenemos en Colombia y en otras partes, representamos la ancestralidad de la humanidad.

Por eso tenemos el deber y también el derecho de estar en un organismo como Naciones Unidas, en donde los derechos humanos priman.

Un presidente de la república quiso que estuviéramos una voz indígena aqui.

[Mamo Gregorio speaks Iku] [In Spanish]: Muchas gracias.

Gracias.

Es un mensaje espiritual de la Sierra y el hecho de estar en este momento en esta embajada, significa para ellos, tener una voz en el mundo.

Why is the climate crisis also a human rights issue, not just for Indigenous groups, but for everyone?

[In Spanish]: Los derechos humanos, cuales son?

Pues los mismos que tenemos los pueblos indígenas.

El derecho a respirar aire, el derecho a tomar agua, y el derecho que como personas somos iguales.

♪ En este momento estamos frente a una situación de crisis climática-- es necesario ver cómo nosotros vamos a adaptarnos al desequilibrio ecológico.

Que vamos a hacer cuando las aguas se están disminuyendo, cuando las lluvias son diferentes, cuando no sabemos cuando tenemos que sembrar, y por eso es muy necesario que los pueblos indígenas tambien, con nuestra experiencia, con nuestros conocimientos, con nuestra forma de vivir en paz con la naturaleza podamos también aportarle a la humanidad para, no se, mitigar, poder adaptarnos, que se pueden adaptar un poco mejor al actual crisis que hay... y creo que eso nos puede ayudar, entre todos podemos ayudar a salvar la Tierra.

♪ El 80% de la biodiversidad del mundo está en los territorios indígenas.

♪ Por eso es muy importante que esas áreas sagradas que los pueblos indígenas en el mundo reconocen, delimitarlas, reconocerlas, respetarlas y devolverlas a las culturas indígenas es realmente fortalecer el ambiente que se vive en estos lugares.

♪ GULNAZ: The Arhuaco have protected the heart of the world for centuries, not just because it's sacred to them, but because it's essential to our collective survival.

♪ Each in their own way, Indigenous peoples around the world safeguard more of the Earth than all the national parks and forests on the planet.

♪ Their invaluable work doesn't always get the recognition it deserves, but remains one of our greatest strengths in the fight against climate change.

The future doesn't belong to those who extract the most, consume the fastest, or build the tallest.

It belongs to those who can adapt, who can recognize that the systems we've relied on are failing and that a different way is possible.

♪ [Mamo Camilo speaks Iku] ♪ This program is available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video ♪