Abstract: Extreme climatic events in Amazonia have strongly impacted local indigenous communities, affecting their well-being and dependence on natural resources. Therefore, there is a need for local social actors to discuss socio-vulnerability to climate change and act for climate justice, especially in those communities that are considered socio-environment vulnerable. Here, we capacitated indigenous women as articulators and disseminators of adaptation actions against local climate change in western Amazonia. We conducted an “I Workshop on Climatic Change Leadership” workshop with 50 indigenous women residents from communities with different indigenous ethnicities in the Upper Solimoes River, municipality of Benjamin Constant, Brazil. The workshop had four main topics: governmental actions against climate change, research on climate change effects in Amazonia, indigenous leadership on climate change, and scientific communication on climate change. Participants could communicate and discuss their perceptions of local climate change based on their experience. After our debates, the participants developed adaptative strategies relying on their own communities by achieving autonomy to monitor local environmental changes and impacts on their livelihoods. Informative materials, such as books and recording interviews based on indigenous perceptions, were produced and made accessible by disseminating the results in Ticuna and Portuguese languages. Our results highlight the potential contribution of indigenous women in identifying and being local leaders in adaptative actions on climate change. Thus, indigenous women have a strong potential to be protagonists in the debate due to their accurate attention to environmental changes.
