Sueli Karai Katux

Brazilian indigenous leader fighting for environmental justice and land rights

Sueli Karai Katux is a Guarani-Kaiowá leader from Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state, recognized internationally for her tireless advocacy on indigenous rights and environmental protection. As founder of Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB), she has led campaigns against deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes, linking indigenous sovereignty to global climate issues.

Her landmark 2016 legal victory secured land rights for 30,000 hectares of Guarani territory after a 25-year court battle. This precedent-setting case established new judicial standards for recognizing ancestral land claims. She coordinates the Interethnic Association of the Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon (APIB), mobilizing 305 indigenous nations in policy advocacy.

Karai Katux's leadership was pivotal in stopping the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam's expansion and exposing illegal logging networks. Her UN speech at COP26 highlighted how indigenous territories store 24% of Brazil's carbon reserves. She received the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2021, using the funds to establish an indigenous women's leadership academy.