4. Promote the work of specific people and communities and avoid stereotypes

When it's Amazon Day, people say, “Can I use one of your pictures to talk about the Amazon?” I say, “But this is Cerrado, it's not Amazon.” People see an Indigenous person portrayed, thinking that Brazil is only the Amazon, but he's from the Cerrado, not from the Amazon. This is also a kind of generalisation, thinking that there are only Indigenous peoples in the Amazon.”

Edgar Kanaykõ, Ethnophotographer and Anthropologist, Xakriabá people, Brazil

The other thing one discerns from long term engagement with Indigenous peoples is how rapidly custom and practice changes, and that what seems eternal is actually constantly being reshaped – that IS self-determination”

Marcus Colchester - Forest Peoples Programme, 2014

When we always make the same images we end up creating a stereotype. For many years, we’ve been photographing traditional peoples in exotic ways, and the resulting images would perfectly fit in a museum. These images create the illusion that traditional peoples don’t use anything other than traditional hand-made clothes, that they don’t use technology, among others, contributing to an image of 'purity'. The acceptance of these images as the only truth has direct consequences in the lives of any other traditional people that don’t match the stereotype. They are attacked, their identity is questioned, and they are called invaders, in order to grab their lands and their resources.”

Pablo Albarenga, documentary photographer and visual storyteller, Uruguay

Nixiwaka Yawanawá from Acre state in Brazil protested outside Nelson’s exhibition in London. “As a tribal person I feel offended by Jimmy Nelson’s work Before They Pass Away. It’s outrageous! We are not passing away but struggling to survive. Industrialised society is trying to destroy us in the name of ‘progress’, but we will keep defending our lands and contributing to the protection of the planet,” he said.”

John Vidal for The Guardian, 2014

They still have this almost salvationist, religious type of view that Indigenous people are forgotten by God and things like that, even in the 21st century.. These views perpetuate and serve as tools so that not only do the media continue to use language that racialises, discriminates against or stigmatises Indigenous communities, but they also serve as tools directly for society itself to continue to segregate these communities. So it is important to change the narratives … [they’re not] going to be changed overnight or just by talking more softly to an Indigenous person, or eating their food or telling them everything now ... Narratives are changed by listening to the voice of Indigenous people themselves. Because only they know what it is like to live there. If we are going to talk about ethics, we have to start from there."

Sara Aliaga Ticona, photojournalist, Aymara people, Bolivia

Sometimes journalists go with a preconception of what we want to see. For me, the first thing is what they really are, and to reflect them in the best and most creative way ... to reflect an event without distorting it, without exoticising it, without magnifying it, without sensationalising it, as is generally done.”

Sara Aliaga Ticona, photojournalist

Images continue to negatively affect communities and therefore forests. The images represent us as: marginalised, poor, ignorant, vulnerable, or go to the extreme of representing us idealised as mystical, fierce protectors of mother earth - and of course the vast majority of society, including Indigenous people, assume that this is the condition of Indigenous Peoples. Which triggers a range of events that do not favour the environment or society.”

Mara Bi, photographer, Embera people, Panama

I always consider how what I publish is going to affect people's mental health. I look for the character or the story to make the person, when they see it or read it, they feel seen."

Jeison Riascos, photographer