Art. 231. Indigenous people shall have their social organization, customs, languages, creeds and traditions recognized, as well as their original rights to the lands they traditionally occupy. The Union is responsible for demarcating such lands, protecting and ensuring respect for all of their property. (Federal Constitution of Brazil)
Cacalos Garrastazu / Eder Content
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, THE ARMY OF THE FOREST
Indigenous lands per State in the Legal Amazon
(% of territory)
Indigenous lands account for 23% of the Amazon territory
Source: ISA
Demarcation rhymes with preservation
Brazil has 408 demarcated and recognized indigenous lands; 829 are claimed or awaiting regularization
In the worldview of indigenous peoples, the forest is much more than the place they inhabit. Every tree, every creek, every living being is as much a part of nature as we human beings are. This culture is what keeps large areas of the Brazilian Amazon preserved: in all places where there are stretches of untouched forest, there is an indigenous territory protecting that forest.
See on the map below how forest cover (in dark green), livestock (in yellow), and soybean cultivation (pink) have changed between 1984 and 2020, according to data from MapBiomas. Blank lines are the limits of Brazil’s indigenous lands. Move the slider to compare deforestation in 1985 (left) and 2020 (right).
Source: Infoamazonia
Since the Constitution of 1988, indigenous lands cannot be exploited economically. Be it for pasture, crops, logging, or mining. Only the indigenous communities themselves can use this territory, and only for their subsistence. That’s why demarcation is key to ensure the integrity of indigenous territories: because the integrity of these territories is an assurance of the preservation of the forest itself.
How the Federal Government has changed its policy management for the Amazon since 2019
Since 2019, the Brazilian government has implemented institutional reforms throughout the structure surrounding policy management for the Amazon. The changes, especially within the scope of the Ministry of the Environment, with the extinction of departments, the change in the connection of agencies, and the extinction of important collegiate bodies, were mapped by the project Politics as a Whole, created by the think tank Talanoa Institute, a non-partisan and independent civil society organization.
The study Amazônia por Inteiro, that is, Amazon as a Whole, mapped 37 reform acts impacting the governance of the Amazon region in Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, in addition to amendments of 43 acts among decrees and provisional measures related, directly or indirectly, to the Legal Amazon. In the first two years of Bolsonaro’s administration, there were 144 infralegal acts of the federal government with relevant impacts on the Amazon. The publication of these rules – provisional measures, decrees, ordinances, normative instructions, resolutions, and other regulations – has intensified during Bolsonaro’s administration.
