Reforesting Minds, Healing the Earth: Cristiane Gomes Julião on the Power of Indigenous Women’s Leadership

Image: Cristiane Gomes Julião speaking.

Cristiane Gomes Julião is a prominent Indigenous leader of the Pankararu People in Brazil’s Caatinga biome, she is co-founder of the National Coordination of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry (ANMIGA), and a leader of the Women's Movement of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities for Brazil (GATC). In this conversation, she reflects on her commitment to advancing Indigenous rights and climate justice, the outcomes of the recent Indigenous Women’s March in Brazil, and her expectations for COP30.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you become an Indigenous Peoples leader?

“I was raised under the strong influence of the Catholic Church, where I learned the principle of ‘doing good’ for everyone — a value that continues to guide me today. But as I grew older, I realized that the notion that “everyone is equal under the eyes of the law” was not true for Indigenous Peoples. We were constantly denied justice. That frustration drove me to study geography, to better understand how land ownership laws were applied to us - and more often, how they were ignored.

My work began in the São Francisco river basin, a vast area spanning six Brazilian states, which sustains diverse ecosystems and millions of people. I began to translate government policies into language that communities could understand. I didn’t set out to be a leader, but became a bridge between the Federal Government and Indigenous Communities.

Leadership, for me, is about listening: actively seeking what Communities want and carrying their voices to political spaces. It’s what my father, a leader himself, taught me. Over time, I learned that laws are written to be universal - but in practice they are enforced unevenly - with Indigenous Peoples often denied the protections that laws guarantee. My role is to help communities understand this gap, and turn complex legal and political language into tools they can use to defend their rights. The real test of doing good for everyone is cutting through the complexity of regulations and making them work in our daily realities.

What threats do Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples face today?

Indigenous Peoples’ constitutional rights - to territory, food, and security - have been consistently violated since colonial times. Laws that should protect us are selectively applied: we are forced to obey, while those who invade and exploit our lands act with impunity. This double standard generates violence. Indigenous women, in particular, face gender-based violence, including sexual violence, rooted in the colonial idea that our bodies are disposable.

The rise of agribusiness, fueled by corporate money and political alliances, has intensified these threats. Powerful vested interests often treat Indigenous Peoples as obstacles to profit, criminalizing us simply for existing. When our leaders are murdered it sometimes makes headlines, but daily violence - land grabs, intimidation, assaults - remains invisible as it leaves no visible corpses.

Image: The 4th Indigenous Women’s March, Brazil, August 2025.

Why is defending Indigenous territories essential for our collective survival?

Our territories hold immense wealth - minerals, food, water and forests. The pursuit of these goods and resources fuels land invasions and violence designed to erase our existence, so that our land rights no longer stand. Nations are only now beginning to grasp that the true riches lie in the biodiversity that’s safeguarded by generations of Indigenous knowledge.

Indigenous lands are the planet’s frontline defense against deforestation, desertification, and drought - safeguarding climate stability, biodiversity, and food and water security. A healthy climate and biodiversity cannot be separated. They are two sides of the same coin. Yet many governments and corporations continue to put these issues into separate boxes, ignoring that climate stability, ecosystem health and justice, are interconnected.

What role does storytelling play in your knowledge system?

Our history is not written on paper but lives in perpetual action: through ritual, art, dance, and storytelling - our living archives. Storytelling binds generations, nurtures belonging, and strengthens community.

The foundation of Indigenous leadership is listening. To tell stories, we must first listen - to hear the lessons of the shifting seasons, which are the voice of nature herself.

In my territory, we listen to elders, to each other, and to nature itself. This fuels empathy and action, guiding us back when we lose our way. As Indigenous women say, healing Mother Earth begins with listening to her voice and reforesting our minds with positive feelings and ideas to protect her.

Image: Emberá Indigenous Women from Panamá (including Sara Omi, leader of the GATC Women’s Movement (left)) preparing for the Indigenous Women’s March.

How can we overcome the critical challenge of ensuring climate finance reaches Indigenous Peoples directly?

Human flourishing depends on a flourishing environment. Whether we like it or not, we are all sustained by nature and depend heavily on Indigenous Communities - the custodians of its richest ecosystems.

Structural barriers block funding from reaching Indigenous Communities, weakening our potential ability to protect nature. Today, many of us risk our lives simply by leaving our territories. Resources are needed for security, reforestation, and cultural survival.

Nations receive both funding and the autonomy to allocate it. We need to recognize Indigenous Peoples as a nation in its own right, deserving direct access to finance - not filtered through bureaucracies that erode our autonomy. Direct finance is about justice: giving us the means to continue protecting the ecosystems that humanity depends on.

Recently the 4th Indigenous Women’s March united thousands of women across Brazil. What was its impact?

The March is a dream we built together. It began decades ago with the idea of giving Indigenous women a collective voice. Since 2015, we’ve strengthened this movement, holding our first march in 2019, and subsequently holding marches every two years. This year, thousands of women from across Brazil’s six biomes gathered in the capital, Brasilia, to march under the theme: ‘Our Body, Our Territory: We Are the Guardians of the Planet for the Healing of the Earth.’

The mobilization began with the first National Conference of Indigenous Women, where a National Policy Plan for Indigenous Women and Girls was finalized. 49 priority proposals were voted upon, as a framework to protect our territories and our way of life. The proposals comprise five critical areas:

1. Strengthening women’s role in managing territories, including through Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTAs).

2. Combating gender-based violence.

3. Improving access to health, especially mental, and sexual health.

4. Strengthening education and transmission of ancestral knowledge.

5. Tackling climate impacts, for example, through nature restoration.

On the final day, more than five thousand women walked to the Brazilian National Congress to present the Plan. Since then, Brazil’s government has formed a working group to formalize its use as a policy framework. International allies, such as UN Women and Germany’s development agency, GIZ, also support the framework, showing that the defence of Indigenous women and territories is a global cause.

Image: The National Policy Plan for Indigenous Women and Girls is presented at Brazil’s Parliament.

What are your hopes for COP30?

COP30 is a chance to build genuine spaces for dialogue and action. The National Plan is a huge step, its spirit of dialogue, ancestral knowledge, and solidarity provides a model we will carry into the COP. We are also preparing the People’s Summit, where Indigenous women will play a leading role.

However, accessibility remains a challenge - Belém is expensive, limiting participation. True climate justice requires inclusion, so resources must be provided to ensure Indigenous Peoples can attend.

My hope is that COP30 will not only hear our voices but act on them. We must listen to the sensitivity of the Earth, and to our hearts. Only then can we build a future where humanity and nature flourish together.

Cristiane Gomes Julião, an Indigenous woman from the Pankaru people is a co-founder founder of the ANMIGA network (the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry) and a political representative of APIB (the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil) which is part of the Women’s Movement of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC). The GATC was recently welcomed as a new partner into the Race to Resilience. Through this step, the GATC joined a coalition of 44 partners and over 680 organizations working across 164 countries - amplifying Indigenous women’s leadership on a global stage of influence and impact.