A seat at the table: Cymru and the Guarani

Coming together to tackle climate change

In November 2025, an international COP meeting took place in Belem, a city in Brazil that is a gateway to the Amazon rainforest. Many people called it the ‘Forest COP’ because of its location, and many groups were eager to discuss the problem of deforestation, including Indigenous Peoples and Size of Wales.

At the same time, Youth COP Cymru delved into more local solutions- what can we do to help here in Wales, to ensure land rights for the Guarani and make Wales a Deforestation Free Nation. Young people from across Wales came together to discuss with local councils, food suppliers and livestock farmers.

World COP Belem 2025

At COP Belem, the Guarani joined many other Indigenous Peoples to tell world leaders about the deforestation problems they face from large soy farms, poisoning water on their land.

The Avá Guarani People have lived in the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil for generations, and are the best guardians of the rainforest to defend against deforestation. They have a close connection to the land, forest and nature. Sadly, despite living in this forest for thousands of years, their home is being destroyed and only 6% of their forest land now remains. These forests, when protected and left to grow naturally, can help protect the whole world from the most harmful effects of climate change.

Our deputy director, Barbara Davies-Quy, actually travelled to Brazil to attend the conference. During her stay, she visited the Avá Guarani People in their rainforest home of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, and saw for herself how deforestation and pollution caused by soy farming is affecting their way of life.

Sending messages of hope to the Guarani

At such an important time for the Guarani, children in Wales decided to send them a message of hope and encouragement. It has never been more important for the Guarani’s message to be heard, as their people face daily challenges from deforestation, causing the Atlantic rainforest to disappear on their ancestral land. They also face racism and severe threats and attacks for trying to protect their territory.

Children in Wales designed pictures of nature and landscapes from Wales on a giant tablecloth. The tablecloth travelled all the way from Wales to the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil, where the Guarani live in harmony with the forest.

Barbara from Size of Wales found sharing the tablecloth a heart-warming experience:

‘The Guarani youth spent a long time reading all the messages and were amazed that children that lived such a long way away on the other side of the world had heard about their story and cared so much about them. The Guarani youth face a lot of racism at school so knowing that children in Wales appreciated them meant a lot’.

This tablecloth was the centrepiece at our Youth COP Cymru 2025 event and even got shared at the actual UN COP event in Brazil!

Learn more of Guarani way of life

Food for thought: Wales and the Guarani

So how does the food on our plates link to the Guarani people in Brazil?

You will be surprised to learn that deforestation of the Atlantic forest is so that big businesses can use the land to grow soybean plants. These businesses grow soy to make money: sold to international companies around the world and is transported to countries including Wales. The soy is taken to be used by farmers in Wales to feed animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and fish.

These animals eventually end up on our supermarket shelves and dinner plates as meat, or as foods that come from animals such as eggs, milk and other dairy products.

How can we make a difference?

Students across Wales came together at Youth COP Cymru 2025 to discuss what impacts the tropical forests and causes deforestation in South America. Not only did students meet key decision makers to share what they had learnt about this issue, but they also investigated ordinary dishes from school menus and re-designed them to become deforestation free!

How can we make our school meals deforestation free? Some ideas were to eat less but better quality meat, such as organic or grass-fed, or swapping out some meat and dairy in everyday recipes for more plant-based foods like beans, peas and pulses.

In the afternoon, the young people presented their dishes to different people involved in the food chain, and asked important questions about how these dishes could feature in their school menus. It was fantastic to see Welsh Government Ministers, students, local councillors, food providers and farmers all coming together to discuss how Wales could help be part of the solution to deforestation!