September 4, 2021
16:09
Victória Sales – from Cenarium
MANAUS – About 200 hectares were deforested only in July of this year in territories occupied by isolated indigenous people. The jump was enormous and drew the attention of experts regarding the risks that this reality can bring to this population. According to the Sirad Isolados report, produced by the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA) and released on July 31, the increase was 236% compared to the previous month and 118% compared to the same period in 2020.
According to environmentalist Carlos Durigan, this issue is very complex, because there are several people identified as isolated, which are those who have no contact and those who avoid contact with society. “And besides this, there are some of these areas that have not yet been demarcated or are areas that have been illegally occupied by rural producers or even sailors, and within this process of expansion of the agricultural frontier in the Amazon, there have been several land invasion processes”, he highlighted.
Durigan also points out that all this culminated in the massacre of members of these ethnic groups and this has led to an even worse situation: “There are isolated groups that still don’t even have their territories known, let alone recognized, and this makes it even more critical, because the time frame can lead to a weakening of the processes of identification and recognition of these people”, he stressed.
The environmentalist also points out that these peoples, many times for avoiding contact, end up suffering with what is happening. “It is a situation that puts at risk the integrity of peoples who have been severely punished by historical conflicts; many of these peoples live in areas of great degradation. There is great concern about these contacts that end up happening and that generate conflicts, generate tragedy, among other things. And the advance of deforestation and fires affects the living areas of these peoples”, he explained.
For the president of the Rio Negro Federation of Indigenous Organizations (Foirn), Marivelton Barroso, this deforestation directly affects the isolated indigenous people. “The relatives are affected because of the vulnerability even to contact and with these invasions, deforestation. When it starts, it is already a threat to the territory of those who were free and who did not have this concern or disturbance, this danger”, he explained.
Study
According to the report released by ISA, in July there were more than 90 deforestation alerts in indigenous lands. Of the more than 200 hectares registered, 104 were in the territory of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau ethnic group, located in Rondônia; another 78 hectares were felled in the territory of the Munduruku people, in Pará. The other 20 were on Arariboia land, in Maranhão.
Also according to the research, on Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau lands, there was also an increase in the number of fires, which rose from 12 thousand hectares burned in July, against 366 in May, according to data from the Amazonas Dashboard satellite (GFED), which monitors fires in the Amazon biome. The Munduruku suffer with pressures from illegal mining, which has identified more than 40 points of illegal mining in the area.
Challenge
Marivelton highlights the challenge faced by these peoples, because what should be controlled and fought against, which is the illegal deforestation of indigenous areas, especially those that require greater protection, ends up not being controlled by the control bodies. “The National Indian Foundation itself is dismantled, scrapped, unable to actually ensure and much less do its role today, which is to coordinate the indigenous policy in the country”, he said.
“This issue of deforestation comes in a very violent way, in an invasive way, so that businessmen take over these areas, in an illegal way, making and committing an environmental crime, that we have fought and sought to be able to preserve and guarantee our territory, not only for its own preservation, but for physical and cultural reproduction”, affirmed Marivelton.