Deforestation & Forest Degradation of Indigenous Lands in the Brazilian Legal Amazon Region

Photo by: Pok Rie

Article by: Michelle O'Brien

The agricultural and farming industry has caused severe destruction and depletion of the Amazon rainforest over the past few decades. Indigenous lands across Brazil are at risk of disappearing as the surrounding landscapes are being deforested.

Pressure from governments and the agricultural industry are aiming to expand deforestation to these protected lands with encouragement for illegal practices coming from the current administration.

The world depends on the immense environmental services provided by leaving large portions of the Amazon rainforest intact. The region is home to the largest biodiversity hub on the planet and is also earth’s largest natural carbon sink (Montibeller et al., 2020), yet exploitation and destruction are happening across Brazil.

If current rates of deforestation and forest fragmentation continue, the Amazonian ecosystem will likely collapse reaping catastrophic affects across the globe. Once the lands surrounding demarcations of indigenous lands are depleted, indigenous lands will likely be targeted for their resources. Unfortunately, this is already unfolding across Brazil.

Indigenous peoples hold valuable knowledge regarding proper and sustainable interactions with mother nature and have flourished with their environment for centuries (IWGIA). The financial benefits reaped from the depletion of rainforest resources significantly benefits first-world countries and large corporations while the rightful owners and sacred protectors of the rainforest are left with nothing.

It is not only disrespectful but criminal to take away the lively hood of entire populations in order to profit from the lands they have so pristinely kept intact for centuries. Special interest in conservation of the entire rainforest may prevent the need for exploiting remaining indigenous lands.

Corruption has penetrated the essence of indigenous people’s existence as corporations and government are blatantly destroying indigenous lands to compete for international and regional monetary gain. Brazil’s Legal Amazon Region (BLA) comprises 23% of the indigenous lands in Brazil and should be considered as the most critical area for protection (Earth.google.com).

One of the main causes of deforestation in the tropics is cattle ranching, and accounts for 63% of total deforestation in the region (Butler, A. Rhett). Replacing cattle farms with sustainable agroforestry would help reduce the amount of land needed for agriculture and would minimize the threat of indigenous land exploitation. The increase demand for agricultural farming has undermined the credibility of the Brazilian democracy and has consequently left indigenous people’s lands up for grab.

If the Brazilian government continues to fail at upholding their constitution, the nature conservancy of Brazil must dedicate funds towards the protection of indigenous lands before it is too late. The stability of the Amazon is vital to combating climate change and should be of the upmost importance when determining lands to conserve. We cannot solely rely on governments and big business to protect the interests of indigenous peoples nor the interests of preserving crucial biodiversity hotspots.

The Constitution of Brazil (1988) states that demarcations of land may be given to indigenous tribes to protect their lands from deforestation, but the government is doing a poor job of upholding these constitutional rights (Rorato et al., 2021).

President Bolasonaro has defunded the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) which is responsible for upholding and monitoring the protection of indigenous lands as stated in Brazil’s constitution (Rorato et al., 2021) (Federation (AEB).

The government has undercut their indigenous land protection organization and allowed illegal logging to penetrate protected lands. Indigenous rights are human rights, and they should be treated as such.

The land and livelihood of the indigenous peoples of Brazil are at a tipping point of exploitation, due to profound financial ties in the agricultural industry.

We must allow indigenous peoples to continue to care for the remaining lands of the rainforest as they understand the interconnectedness of our planet and are the rightful owners of the Amazon (IWGIA, 2021). We must protect and advocate for land rights for indigenous peoples and advocate for future long-term protection.

According to the National Institute for Space Research, indigenous lands in the Legal Amazon are only deforested by 1%, compared to 70% on non-indigenous protected regions in Brazil (Butler, A. Rhett).

It is clear that indigenous peoples live with the land instead of living to exploit the land, and they way of life is key to combating climate change and protecting biodiversity. Once these lands are depleted and turned into agricultural farms, the ecosystem services that were once provided are lost for decades.

Protecting indigenous people’s lands from financial interest and exploitation is a vital task needed in order to combat climate change. Indigenous people know how to properly sustain the ecosystem in which they live and will effectively protect the environment from collapse, if they are allowed to do so.

References:

Butler, R. A. (2020, December 4). Deforestation in the Amazon. Mongabay. https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_destruction.html.

Federation, I. A. (n.d.). Brazilian Space Agency (AEB). IAF. https://www.iafastro.org/membership/all-members/brazilian-space-agency-aeb.html.

Google. (n.d.). Google Earth. https://earth.google.com/web/@-15.74656609,-58.85629779,-1106.52685287a,9156622.59385586d,35y,0.00004343h,5.63205848t,0r/data=CjYSNBIgMmE2YzJmOWMyNWU5MTFlN2I1YTYwZjM5NDFkNDI0YzMiEGVmZWVkX2lzYV90b3VyXzE.

Land defence and defenders. IWGIA. (n.d.). https://iwgia.org/en/land-defence-defenders.html.

Montibeller, B., Kmoch, A., Virro, H., Mander, Ü., & Uuemaa, E. (2020, April 2). Increasing fragmentation of forest cover in Brazil's Legal Amazon from 2001 to 2017. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-62591-x.

Rorato, A. C., Picoli, M. C. A., Verstegen, J. A., Camara, G., Silva Bezerra, F. G., & Escada, M. I. S. (2021, March 6). Environmental Threats over Amazonian Indigenous Lands. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/3/267.