Reflections on Indigenous Youth Leadership, Politics, and Collective Impact
Luiz Guajajara is an Indigenous campaigner, member of the INUTW communications team, Brazilian spokesperson during COP30, from the Guajajara People of Maranhão, Brazil, from the Arariboia Indigenous Land. Trained as a civil engineer, Luiz has spent the past several years working in Indigenous communications and political advocacy, moving between community spaces and international forums.
He has worked with the Brazil’s Indigenous People Articulation (APIB) during the pandemic years, later joining Indigenous Peoples Rights International as a communicator. In 2023, he participated in COP28 in Dubai, and in the following year began his work as an international advisor with The National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry (ANMIGA). Since then, he has represented Indigenous women’s movements and youth leadership spaces at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Climate Week in New York, the Biodiversity Conference in Cali, the G20 in Rio de Janeiro, and COP30 in Belém.
Luiz’s work focuses on youth leadership, Indigenous political participation, and campaign strategy, grounded in territory, ancestry, and responsibility to future generations.
In this feature, Luiz reflects on Indigenous youth leadership, political organizing, and the collective work behind building long-term change.
Entering Political Spaces as Indigenous Youth
As an Indigenous youth engaging in national and international political spaces, what were the main tensions you encountered between institutional politics and Indigenous ways of organizing, decision-making, and leadership?
“As an Indigenous young person, we feel many tensions. And the first one, the main one for me, is the difference in pace and method. Institutional politics, as we know, demands urgency, documents, technical language. It’s always ‘now it has to be done, now it has to be done.’ Meanwhile, in the territory, decisions are shaped more by listening with care, collective responsibility, and the community’s own time.
There is a difference in logic and in leadership, because many times the system we enter and participate in wants an individual spokesperson. For us, our strength comes from the collective. So what I did, basically, was to occupy that space as a bridge, without disconnecting from the base, of course. I always enter these systems with prior alignment, with positions built together with the community, and I always make sure to give feedback afterward.
For me, participation is not just about adapting to this system. It is about challenging it with a truth rooted in the territory.
And there are many tensions: physical, political, and emotional safety, internal tensions within the movement, and identity tensions that come with being Indigenous. There is also the question of intersectionality, of being Indigenous and being young. Sometimes we are not given the same credibility as older people, even when we are prepared and knowledgeable.
There is also tension between producing technical outputs and sustaining spirituality and care within an international agenda that is very productivity-driven. And there is tension between hope and exhaustion. You see doors opening and feel that you are making history, but you also feel the wear, the pressure, the fear of failing, and the need to constantly prove that you belong there and deserve to be there.”
Visibility, power, and accountability
Many Indigenous young people worry about being co-opted or tokenized when entering policy spaces. How did you navigate visibility and power while staying accountable to your community, values, and collective struggles?
“So I learned to treat visibility as a tool, not as a goal. It can open doors. It can also turn into a showcase. So I follow very clear rules. I don’t speak above the collective. I speak from my community, and from the networks built with organizations like ANMIGA and now INUTW.
I always give feedback about what was discussed and what is being contested. And I set limits when an invitation is only for photos, for speeches without consequences. I question it, I set conditions, I ask for concrete commitments, and I refuse, depending on the situation. And for me, real power is when our presence comes together with influence and real results for the territory.”
Campaigning, Territory, and Political Narratives
Campaign work rooted in territory
Your work as a campaigner, through INUTW and ANMIGA, connects territorial realities with global advocacy spaces. How do you ensure that campaigns remain grounded in community priorities rather than institutional agendas?
“The first thing, what we always do, always, always, is start with listening. I always go to the community. Like I just said, I am always present in grassroots meetings and events. And the first moment and the last moment are both about listening. Before starting a project, for example, we talk with the leadership, with the chief, with the spiritual leaders, and we listen to what they want. It’s like doing a real diagnosis. From there, we evaluate ideas, build them together, implement them, and carry them out. And in the end, we listen again to understand the feedback and the results.
So before thinking about a narrative or a campaign piece, I understand what the real priorities are for the communities, and what risks they are facing in their daily lives. After that, we translate it into a language that the world and the system can understand, without removing the context and without reducing our agenda, our message, or what we are fighting for.
In practice, I always make sure there is real participation from leadership and youth throughout the process, and that the communities benefit in concrete ways, so it’s not a one way process. I keep coherence between what I say and what I do. And when a campaign is born from the territory, it gains legitimacy. It stops being just communication and becomes mobilization.”
Reflections from COP30
Looking back at your experience during COP30, what did this moment reveal to you about how Indigenous voices are received in global climate spaces? Were there moments that challenged, affirmed, or reshaped your understanding of political advocacy?
“At COP, many things were revealed. Two things were happening at the same time. Today, there is a bigger opening and a smaller barrier to listening to Indigenous Peoples, because it has become clear to everyone that there is no serious climate agenda without territories and rights.
But there is also a constant attempt to place us only as symbols, as emotional voices, without including us where the final text is decided, where there is budget and real commitments, and in some spaces where we know we still don’t have the access we should have.
I lived through moments that truly confirmed the strength of our collective presence, and also moments that challenged me, when I realized that being heard is not the same as having decision-making power. This strengthened our strategy a lot: This strengthened our strategy a lot: occupying backstage spaces, including through the Indigenous caucus, guaranteeing room on the stage for women to speak, building alliances, and transforming presence into real political influence.”
Understanding impact beyond official outcomes
Impact is not always reflected in policy texts or public announcements. From your perspective, what kinds of impacts mattered most after COP30, particularly for Indigenous youth observing from their territories?
“For me, the most important impact was what strengthened our collective capacity: the networks we built, the trust we cultivated, and the political preparation of Indigenous youth. A concrete example was the Indigenous caucus, where we coordinated positions, shared real-time information from the negotiations, and prepared collective interventions. Another example was how spaces like Aldeia COP helped strengthen connections that later became sources of protection and opportunity back in the territories. These impacts don’t always appear in the final decision text, but they change what feels possible on the ground.
There is also a practical impact: expanding alliances, improving strategies, drawing attention to rights, and strengthening local organizations. If, after COP30, young people feel more capable of acting and protecting themselves, that is already a real result, I think.”
Learning, mentorship, and responsibility
As a young leader navigating complex political environments, how do you understand your role in supporting and mentoring other Indigenous youth? What kinds of learning or examples do you hope your journey offers?
“We don’t enter these spaces alone. As young people, we never enter alone. We always carry our community with us, and we also open the way for others. That’s why I try to turn every experience into a learning opportunity that I can share later. I share what happens behind the scenes, documents, strategies, contacts, and I even prepare speeches. And I also talk about what no one shows: care, boundaries, and how not to burn out, because we know the pace is very intense.
The example I want to leave is that it’s possible to occupy these difficult spaces without losing our roots. As long as we have ethics, accountability, and our collective behind us. For me, mentorship is about multiplying capacity and reducing risks for those who come after.”
Luiz has coordinated a project to strengthen territorial and environmental management on the Krikati Indigenous Land. The four-day workshop took place in the territory and brought together conversations on gender, sustainable land management, and environmental education, along with hands-on training in participatory mapping and georeferencing tools like GPS and drones. Another four-hour workshop was also held during COP30 in partnership with Seeding Sovereignty, connecting the work on the ground with international advocacy spaces.
Lessons for Institutions and Movements
From your experience working with INUTW, ANMIGA, and international advocacy spaces, what do institutions still fail to understand about Indigenous youth participation in politics? What changes are necessary to ensure engagement without harm or burnout?
“As I said, our presence has increased a lot. Indigenous Peoples are beginning to be recognized in the fight against climate change. At COP30, this was visible at scale: thousands of Indigenous people from Brazil and around the world mobilized in Belém, and hundreds were accredited to access the Blue Zone. But many institutions still treat Indigenous participation as symbolic presence, not as a right or as real power.
Often, we are invited at the last minute, without sufficient resources, without proper logistics, without interpretation, without respecting protocols, and without considering the time of the territory. This creates overload and can turn into harm and exhaustion, even when our presence is numerically significant.
What needs to change is very concrete. We are fighting strongly for direct financing. That has to change and be ongoing. Planning in advance, logistical support, safety and safeguards, something we talk about a lot in relation to the role of environmental defenders, and spaces where Indigenous youth participate with real influence. So if an institution wants our presence, it needs to take on these responsibilities, not just issue an invitation.”
Dreaming Forward – Studies, Work, and the Future
As you continue your studies alongside your work as an advisor and campaigner, how do these paths inform one another? When you imagine the next five, ten, or twenty years, what role do you see Indigenous youth playing in political decision-making, and what systems must be transformed to support that future?
“For me, study and political advocacy strengthen each other. Academic training, of course, and also the technical learning of everyday work and different languages, help a lot in engaging with public policies more precisely, in understanding budgets, projects, and decision-making processes. All of this helps. And political work reminds me that knowledge only makes sense when it serves the people and the territory.
When I imagine the next few years, I feel a strong sense of hope. I see Indigenous youth occupying decision-making spaces permanently. Not only in conferences, but also in politics, diplomacy, resource management, communication, and science, without giving up our own ways of organizing. To sustain this future, some systems need to change. Here in Brazil, a federal Indigenous university has already been announced, and it will succeed. Education rooted in our knowledge systems will be very powerful and will also bring visibility through the results it creates.
Strong intercultural education, access to languages and technology, territorial protection, safety for environmental defenders, and direct financing mechanisms reaching Indigenous organizations. I think this is what the future will look like. All these causes we are fighting for today, maybe in ten or twenty years, will already be implemented and even improved.”
Looking Ahead: Luiz’s Commitment to Collective Leadership
Luiz’s path shows that Indigenous leadership is never built alone. It grows in community meetings, in conversations with elders, in collective organizing, and in the daily work of defending territory, culture, and life. From Arariboia to international spaces, his work reflects a generation that refuses to separate political action from ancestral roots.
In the years ahead, Luiz will continue building campaigns, strengthening youth leadership, and supporting Indigenous-led advocacy rooted in collective responsibility.
Relive 2025 & COP30 with Luiz
2025 marked a year of concrete advances for Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, from land rights and territorial protection to health, education, culture, and international presence.
In this video, Luiz reflects on renewed land demarcations, stronger territorial protection, and important policy gains that were made visible globally at COP30. These advances are rooted in generations of struggle to defend territory, uphold rights, and center Indigenous knowledge in climate solutions.
In Belém, thousands of Indigenous people took part in the COP process, placing territory at the heart of the climate debate. 2025 showed that these gains can become lasting public policy, with Indigenous leadership recognized as central to building a just and sustainable future.
Follow Luiz Guajajara’s work and stand with ongoing struggles for land, rights, education, safety, and self-determination.
Luiz Guajajara
Brazil | Guajajara
Indigenous Communicator, COP30 Campaigner for INUTW, International Advisor for ANMIGA
Follow Luiz: Instagram
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