In Scotland, native chiefs come to share their “dream of unity” (Photo)

10,000 km from their native Brazil, the leaders of the Cayangang people are planting a young oak tree in the Kilfinan Community Forest, a project to re-create the Scottish Highlands and learn from indigenous peoples from other continents, which is part of COP 26 taking advantage of.

Delicately, Creta Qingang collects the earth with her hands, caressing the young branches. Then sing a ritual song with other indigenous leaders who came to Glasgow this year to participate in the UN Climate COP.

“I’ve spent my life planting trees on my land, and it’s wonderful to have it here at the start of this reforestation project,” he told AFP.

Although the trees there are very different, “our land is like yours,” Levi Sucre of the Scots of Costa Rica told the Scots, noting that the first people are the best keepers of the forest and stressing the importance of traditional management methods. Huh. The face of the climate emergency.

Similarities Between Rainforest and Rainforest of West Scotland

Creta’s “Coker,” a massive headdress of white and black royal falcon feathers, looks even more appealing next to a cloak worn by her host, Gordon Gray Stephens.

It describes a similarity between the moist forests and rainforests of West Scotland: ivy and moss, which cover the trunks along which the thick vines climb. Except that “we have exploited them for centuries, so that we have only very few endemic species left”, he laments, showing a small lichen specific to this region of the world.

Conservationists lament that rich countries pressure poor countries to protect their forests when they neglect them themselves.

Here, rhododendrons and pines suffocate local species such as oak, ash, willow or birch, one for their flowers, the other for its wood, for industrial use.

“Deforestation goes hand in hand with deforestation”

In the 18th and 19th centuries, people were driven out of Scottish lands that were largely devoted to sheep farming and hunting for sport, “clearly more profitable than humans”, says Calum of the Community Association. McLeod explains. Land Scotland.

Today, property in Scotland is concentrated in a few hands: according to official Scottish documents, 67% of rural land is owned by 0.025% of the population.

And the climate emergency is fueling the appetite for investment funds looking for land to dedicate to carbon capture, McLeod says.

Thus, 130 km from Glasgow, Kilfinnan Community Forest was born, which works for an ecological transition that can benefit as many people as possible.

The association buys land which it rents out at moderate prices to young families, who build houses there using cut pine and forests with local species.