For the Munduruku people, each trunk of a trumpet tree is an ancestor of its family. For loggers, each trunk of this tree is money in their pocket. Sacred for the Munduruku, the trumpet tree is today one of the most coveted in the timber market. And the region where Beka’s land is located is one of the last refuges that greatly concentrates trumpet trees in the Amazon. In this episode, Beka takes us on an annual inspection operation of the vast Munduruku territory in Middle Tapajós river to kick out illegal loggers, an activity as lucrative as it is criminal, which is devastating the forest.

Why is the Amazon burning in recent years? Beka and our team arrive in the most tense region of the state of Pará to question local authorities about the increase in fires in protected areas and indigenous territories. In Novo Progresso (PA), a small city in the south of the state of Pará, our staff were received with hostility by farmers who advocate for the reduction of the Jamanxim National Forest, a protected area which sizes four times the Central Park area, in Manhattan (NYC, US).

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of indigenous Brazilians left their villages to protest in Brasilia (DF). Throughout 2021, uprisings and protests mobilized the indigenous peoples to be heard and to have their rights – that are guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution – respected. In this episode, Beka shows us the role of indigenous people in the fight to save the Amazon and why their rights are so important to keep the forest alive.

When you see images of the Amazon Forest, do you ever wonder who owns it all? A major part of this territory belongs to the Federal Government, to the Brazilian State, but almost a quarter of its territory has already been occupied by invaders, a criminal activity that has only grown in the Amazon. In this episode, we look at the role of land grabbing in the destruction of the forest and how laws are being changed in Brazil in order to legalize such crimes.

There is something new emerging in the Brazilian Amazon: strong, young voices reverberating within environmental activism in defense of the forest and native peoples. Just like Beka Munduruku, a new generation equipped with cell phones and cameras resists to ensure their existence. In this episode, we present the challenges faced by these young leaders in conciliating activism with the threats to the very lives of those who defend the Amazon Forest.

There is much more underground in the Amazon than we can imagine, which makes this territory increasingly coveted. There are, spread throughout the forest, legal and illegal operations to extract precious metals, especially gold, that are contaminating rivers, the fish, and the populations now living in the Amazon with the mercury used in illegal mining activities. In Beka’s village, young indigenous women fear becoming pregnant and contaminating their children.

Under the argument of providing food for the world, the agribusiness also foments a false dilemma: Is it necessary to deforest the Amazon to produce food? While this scenario generates conflicts and tensions among the peoples living in the forest, projects are being approved at the Congress, with the support of congressmen who are also farmers.

The Munduruku people fought for four years against the Tapajós Hydroelectric Complex, shelved in 2016. But the threats of large investment projects in the Amazon are multiplying, involving railroads, highways, mining companies, hydroelectric power plants, and power transmission lines passing through the forest in the name of development and creating jobs. This episode addresses the false dilemma that opposes development and environmental protection, the arguments on both sides, and what is revealed by the experience of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric, the fourth largest hydroelectric plant in the world, built at the Xingu River.

There are many ways to defend the Amazon. Among the people who inhabit the forest, there is sustainable extractive, there is regeneration of deforested areas, there is collection of seeds for reforestation, there are community brigades to combat fires, and there are drones to monitor environmental crimes. But what can be done by us, who do not live in the forest, and need it to live? This episode discusses initiatives and possible paths so that Beka, the next generations, and the Amazon can have a future.