Forest Fight
The fate of the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, hangs in the balance. In the coming weeks, Brazil’s Supreme Court will hear a case that will set a major precedent and shape the country's policy with respect to development in the Amazon and the rights of the forest's Indian tribes.
The case centers around the territory of Raposa Serra do Sol, which is located in the northeastern Brazilian state of Roraima. Raposa Serra do Sol is home to 18,000 Indians from the Macuxi, Ingarico, Patamona, Wapixana and Taurpeng tribes. In 2005, this territory was declared a reservation site for indigenous tribes.
The conflict has quickly escalated in this region as some Brazilians have refused to leave the area, claiming their right to develop the land. Specifically, some of the local rice farmers have resorted to violence in order to keep their farms. The situation is quickly deteriorating and the Supreme Court warns that the conflict could soon turn into a civil war. The court will soon decide if the government can legally continue to evict the rice farmers.
The rice farmers argue that it is not right for the government to evict people from their own land and to stop Brazilians from developing this rich area. About 12 percent of Brazil’s precious land has already been given to the various indigenous peoples. They argue that Brazilian land should be used for the betterment of Brazilians. Especially with the world food crisis, expanding Brazil’s agricultural sector into this region could greatly help the poor afford food and help the expand the local economy through much-needed jobs.
The tribes and their supporters, however, argue that their concerns outweigh the settlers’ economic reasoning. As the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon plays a major role in the environment. The forest is a climate regulator that affects rainfall in Brazil and Argentina and, some claim, even in Europe and North America. The preservation of its trees is pivotal in the fight against global warming. Already the cutting and burning of Amazonian trees account for about half of the world’s green-house gas emissions from deforestation. If Brazilians are allowed to develop this land, not only will they be kicking the Indians out of their ancestral homes, but they will also be severely hurting the already-precarious environment.
Digg
Facebook
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Twitter
Printer-friendly version
Comments
indigenous rights in Brazil -- august is critical
You can take action to protect indigenous land rights. Makunaima Grita (http://www.makunaimagrita.com), a network supporting indigenous peoples in Brazil, is taking urgent action to protect this particular Reservation because a Supreme Court decision negating the borders would be a catastrophic precedent, throwing into question all indigenous land rights in Brazil. There is a petition at the following address:
http://www.petitiononline.com/rss408/petition.html (scroll to the bottom for English)
Raposa Serra do Sol.
Today the Brasilian Supreme Court will decide on the The Demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol Reservation. Regardless of the result of the decison it is likely to errupt into violence.
For the record :As a Brasilian I fully support the rights of the Indigenous communities to have their own land over which they are soverign within the boundries of the Republic as has already been demarcated by the Brasilian Constitution in 1998 and by Presidential Decree in 2005.
With this matter are many complex issues is not entirely black and white.
The local rice farmers led by the mayor of Pacaraima, Paulo César Justo Quartiero.
have commited acts of violence and terror against indigenous comunities and their supporters.They have also flown the flag of Venezuela during their protests, an act of sedition from the republic.
However it is important to know that the non indians have been in the area for several generations, ( most from the 60's and one farm since the 20's) long before the demarcation and are entitled to be treated with due process in regards to being remumerated from their losses ( from being relocated) and or processed for their crimes. Take note, the recent operation by the federal police was carried out without serving warrants and simply acted on presidential decree.
As a Brasilian I take great offense to the statement "If Brazilians are allowed to develop this land, not only will they be kicking the Indians out of their ancestral homes, but they will also be severely hurting the already-precarious environment."
IF BRASILIANS ARE ALLOWED? Brasil is a soverign nation which makes its own decisions over its own soverign territory. Such statements and attitudes are counter-productive and make NGOs and enviromental organizations targets for being called eco-imperialists. Truly bad form.
The reality of the matter is that the active agricultural area in question is Cerrado ( a type of savannah grassland) semi-enclosed by a narrow band of riparian gallery forest. As Is naturally much of the state of Roraima. Unfortunately a large portion of the state's forested areas burned in 97 and increased the area occupied by Cerrado like vegetation via ecological sucession, opening it to further agricultural expansion.
They are not the romanticized naked rainforest indians of contemporary myth. So doing is patronizing and demonstrates ignorance. In fact they have cultivated cotton for an eternity. "Rainforest" occupies the mountains and the the area on the otherside of the ridge along on the border with guyana and venezuela. There are isolated indians in that biome who are of a different ethnicity. The macuxi are the majority in the savannah lowlands in this conflict.
The macuxi tribe have beacome an acculturated group who have tens of thousands head of cattle, pigs and other livestock as well as corn, beans and other cultivation on their land. They have beacome integrated to the Brasilian economy and a and share a diet of Meat ,rice, beans corn and mandioc. Some agriculture is for the sustainment of the people on the reservation and some is for export and sale. That is their right. Many local indians are so acculturated that they live on the border of the reservation and work with the farmers and are against the homologation of the reservation.
The reservation also is an area of national security as it borders two Venezuela and
Guyana. The Supreme Military Command has come out against homologation as it is worded. Meaning the expulsion of all non indians from the reservation. This would include the two Brasilian Military posts on the borders.
My concern is that justice be served for all parties and the same limitations on development be imposed on the Raposa serra do Sol that are on the rest of the republic. I remember a debacle in the late 80's where foreign activists supported the demarcation of the Kayapo reservation. Sting and others jetted in to be in Solidarity . It worked...the Kayapo legally gained control of their lands. They then proceeded to sell the logging rights to the their land. Check it out on google earth.
Post new comment