INDIGENOUS people from the Amazon rainforest performed a sacred blessing ritual at a Scottish one.
The group from Association Jiboiana was in Scotland to attend COP26 in Glasgow but made a special trip to Cormonachan Community Woodlands in Argyll to visit and bless the rainforest.
Following the ritual involving movement and chanting, they met locals, politicians, climate activists and young people from Raleigh International’s Re:Green volunteering programme at Lochgoilhead Village Hall.
READ MORE: Ancient woodland could soon be protected from all planning applications in Scotland
Association Jiboiana president Léo Landon said: “Our main goal in Glasgow isn’t to speak to presidents and decision-makers as that has not worked in the past. We wish to address hundreds of thousands of world citizens about the role of indigenous peoples in the preservation of Nature.
“We truly think indigenous wisdom, ancestral knowledge and cooperation with indigenous communities are paramount to answer the existential crises our industrial societies are facing.
“By listening wholeheartedly and learning consciously from those who have been living in harmony with Nature for thousands of years, we might be able to transform ourselves, cultivate resilience - thus mitigating climate change.
“We are convinced that great changes won’t come from the top but from the grassroots - meaning us, the people, activists, whistleblowers, and simple citizens.”
The event was led by Raleigh International with support from Woodland Trust Scotland and Plantlife Scotland to give Association Jiboiana a platform during COP26 – and to raise awareness of Scotland’s rainforest.
Gordon Gray Stephens, of the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest, said: “We are thrilled to be able to show our visitors from Brazil a piece of Scotland’s rainforest, and touched beyond words by the blessing. From the Amazon to Argyll, from tropical to temperate this was a really special moment.
“Scotland’s temperate rainforest is as important as tropical rainforest but far less well known.”
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