On methodology

The decision to make contact must always come from the people themselves, never from outside.

CIMI's foundational principle is that the decision to make contact belongs to isolated peoples, not to the organizations or institutions that work around them. This conviction is shaped by decades of field experience where CIMI's missionaries lived alongside recently contacted peoples in order to learn from them and to draw attention to threats when they arose. The principle of non-contact is not passive; it requires active protection of the territories where isolated peoples live, ensuring that outside actors cannot force an encounter that the peoples themselves have not chosen. When isolated peoples consistently avoid approaching neighboring communities despite knowing where they are, they are communicating a clear decision that must be respected.

On barriers

Where state capacity is weak, PIACI communities are left without protection, regardless of what laws are on the books.

Even under a more engaged government, Brazil's FUNAI remains under-resourced and unable to fulfill its mandate. Brazil has 28 confirmed uncontacted groups and approximately 190 unconfirmed references that remain invisible to the state. Without a strengthened FUNAI, those references will remain unconfirmed and unprotected. Legislative changes compound the problem: Law 14.701 has effectively paralyzed demarcation processes, and a recent Supreme Court decision authorizing mining on Indigenous lands creates new threats for peoples living both within and outside already demarcated territories.

On the intersection of climate and PIACI rights

Demarcated indigenous territories are one of the most effective climate interventions available.

Gilderlan draws a direct line between territorial protection and climate outcomes: when Indigenous territories are demarcated, biodiversity is protected, rainfall patterns are maintained, and large-scale agricultural encroachment is kept out. The inverse is equally clear: the catastrophic climate events Brazil has experienced in recent years are directly attributable to deforestation in unprotected regions. For Gilderlan, the demarcation of Indigenous lands, whether of contacted peoples or those in voluntary isolation, is not just a rights issue but a climate imperative.

On building effective alliances

Effective networks are built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to keeping PIACI rights, rather than any one organization, at the center.

Gilderlan describes GTI-PIACI as a space where organizations contribute their distinct experience without competing for prominence. What makes the network function is a shared understanding that the point is not organizational visibility but the protection of PIACI. CIMI's own institutional posture, rooted in humility and the conviction that it is there to learn as much as to contribute, makes it a natural participant in that kind of network where they approach collaboration as an opportunity to learn, not just teach.

On consolidating PIACI as a global category

The conversation is expanding, and each exchange brings consolidation closer.

Gilderlan sees genuine progress in the effort to establish isolated peoples' rights as a global category. The push has come partly from within the UN system itself. The Human Rights Council has signaled that the issue of isolated and recently contacted peoples needs to become a genuinely international concern. The Jakarta convening, the subsequent meeting in Bogotá, and ongoing dialogue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights are all moving the discussion in that direction. After the Jakarta convening, Gilderlan says that "the seed has been planted, it's being watered, and it will certainly grow and bear good fruit." The different countries have different legislation and different cultural dynamics, but the need to protect and defend the territory of isolated and recently contacted peoples is universal.