Born in the Amazon rainforest, Sonia Guajajara never expected she would one day make history as the first-ever Indigenous woman to become a minister in Brazil.

But that is what happened in January 2023, when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appointed Guajajara as Minister of Indigenous Peoples. Guajajara, 50, is the first person to hold that role.

Her remarkable journey from activist leader to minister is considered a milestone for Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples, giving them an unprecedented voice in protecting nature and shaping policy about their rights, territory and future.

“Just a few years ago, no one could have imagined an Indigenous minister in Brazil. My appointment enables Indigenous Peoples to dream,” Guajajara tells the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) during an interview in her Brasília office. “Now we can speak for and represent ourselves. We understand that it is time to make a statement: It is time to put our foot down.”

Guajajara’s appointment is the latest step in a career that has seen her increase Indigenous Peoples’ representation in Brazilian politics, oversee the official recognition of Indigenous territory and champion Indigenous rights at major conference s, such as the annual UN Climate Change Summit.

To honour her activism, commitment and political achievements, Guajajara has been named a 2024 Champion of the Earth – the United Nations’ highest environmental honour – in the Policy Leadership category. She is one of six laureates in 2024.

"Sonia Guajajara is a trailblazer for Indigenous rights and a much-needed guardian for the Amazon,” says Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Her decades-long effort to protect the rainforest embodies environmental leadership at its best and is an inspiration for environmental defenders everywhere.”

Threats to land and life

Indigenous Peoples own, use or manage at least a quarter of the world’s land. In areas held or managed by Indigenous communities, nature has generally deteriorated less rapidly than in other lands, experts say .

This is vital in the Amazon – the world's largest tropical forest and a critical carbon sink and home to nearly half of Brazil’s Indigenous population, around 867,900 people .

Despite its global significance as a bulwark against the climate crisis, and its importance to the lives of Indigenous Peoples, the Amazon faces growing dangers from climate change, deforestation, mercury pollution and forest fires.

While deforestation in the Amazon has reportedly slowed (link in Portuguese) since Lula took office in 2023, Indigenous Peoples continue to come under attack from illegal loggers, gold miners and drug traffickers, reports the Indigenist Missionary Council – Cim i.

Guajajara says the government is carrying out operations to “remove invaders from within Indigenous territories”, such as the Yanomami reservation, and that more raids are planned.

The plight of the Yanomami people, who live in Brazil’s largest Indigenous reserve, is the most high-profile example of the nation’s fight against illegal mining and environmental destruction in protected areas.

“With these operations, we want to hand the territory back to Indigenous Peoples so they can live in dignity and according to their own customs,” Guajajara explains.

Brazil has recognized 13 territories as Indigenous land in the last two years. Guajajara says that is nearly the total number approved in the preceding decade.

The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples says over 520 Indigenous territories are officially recognized, with nearly 270 more in different stages of the demarcation process. Indigenous territories cover 14 per cent of Brazil's land mass, according to Guajajara.

She would like to see the process accelerated but says it faces opposition from lawmakers who support business interests and consider protected Indigenous areas “unproductive and unprofitable.

“We need to be valued more as Indigenous People,” she says. “When Indigenous rights are at risk, it is not just biodiversity and the environment that are threatened, but also humanity.”

Inspiration and influence

Gujajara worked in teaching and nursing before dedicating herself fully to activism in the early 2000s, with key roles in organizations such as the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, as well as The Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.

In these positions, Guajajara says she sought to not only raise awareness of Indigenous issues and influence policy, but to build alliances and train other indigenous leaders.

“Now, people look at me not just as a minister of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, but as a minister of the Indigenous Peoples of the world,” Guajajara says.

In 2018, she became the first Indigenous person to appear on a presidential ticket. While that run was unsuccessful, in 2022, Guajajara was one of two Indigenous women elected to the National Congress as part of the Bancada do Cocar (Headdress Caucus), which works to advance Indigenous rights.

As minister, she is striving to increase Indigenous participation in politics, implement Indigenous-focused policies and protect biodiversity in the face of the climate crisis and illegal logging and mining.

In the Amazon and across Brazil, Indigenous Peoples are dealing with grave threats, such as droughts, forest fires and malnutrition. They are also subject to violence, intimidation, criminalization, and murder for protecting their land and the environment, says the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights.

The priority for Guajajara as minister is to establish more territory as Indigenous land, which grants legal protections under Brazil’s constitution.

“Demarcating Indigenous territories and respecting rights is key to combating the climate crisis,” Guajajara says. “Indigenous People are the greatest guardians of the planet; we are the barriers that prevent greater destruction.”

Guajajara is already looking ahead to next year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in the Brazilian city of Belem. It is the first time a COP will be held in the Amazon and Guajajara is focused on ensuring that Indigenous delegates are not just heard but included in decision-making.

“We must continue to communicate the importance of Indigenous Peoples and territories – for Brazil, for the world, for the climate,” she says.