Shaman Davi Kopenawa discusses climate change in advance of Harvard visit
Known as “Brazil’s Dalai Lama of the Rainforest,” Davi Kopenawa is a shaman and leader of the Yanomami people, an indigenous tribe in the Amazon. His work to protect his tribe’s forest home from invaders and illegal gold miners has been recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme and by the Brazilian government, which awarded him the Order of Cultural Merit in 2015. He has also won accolades from royalty such as the King of Norway, who visited him in his village in the jungle. Kopenawa is one of three keynote speakers who will take part in “Amazonia and Our Planetary Futures: A Conference on Climate Change,” a conference May 7 and 8 sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. The Gazette spoke to Kopenawa via Skype about his people, the effects of climate change in the Amazon, and the need to protect the rainforest. He spoke in...