O n my first day in office as Colombia’s president just over 15 years ago, I met with the leaders of four indigenous peoples in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta – the Kogui, Arhuaco, Wiwa, and Kankuamo. As we stood together in the shadow of a magnificent mountain range next to the Caribbean Sea, the wisdom they imparted transformed how I viewed my responsibilities as a leader. It also changed how I saw our collective duty as transitory inhabitants of this increasingly bruised planet.

I was given a wooden baton – a symbol of power – to remind me to strive toward two goals: peace among our citizens after 50 years of conflict, and peace with nature. The indigenous leaders warned me that our relationship with the natural world had been harmed, that nature was angry, and that we would suffer

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