Mrs. Maria das Graças is 74 years old. She is indigenous and she lives in Parque das Tribos now with her companions.
What has climate change done here?
The record drought from last year has dried up the Anaconda River and the Tarumã River. It affected us a lot, as we were saying, it affected our leisure, our fishing, the fish we used to catch and eat. It hurt a lot, really, and it’s still affecting us because the hardest thing now is finding fish around here. You walk around this area, and you can't find any fish to eat unless you go to the City of Lights. This has never happened before. When I came here, there was fish, fish, fish. I decided to live here because there was a lot of fish. I love fish.
What do you think world leaders have to do now to stop things from getting worse and to help us adapt?
If I had a meeting with President Lula, I would ask for help, for him to help the community here, because this drought was very severe, and for him to help us. We don’t have assistance, we don’t have anything, and I’d ask for him to help with those things.
During a crisis, he could maybe provide financial aid, basic food baskets, things like that? Yes, whatever he could see, whatever he thought would be best, he could help with, right? Just like he helped many other communities. The mayor, the government—they placed those bridges, brought supplies to the communities, right? So if I spoke with him, that’s what I would ask for here, for the community.
Life expectancy 2023
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