Course:CONS370/Projects/The causes and consequences of deforestation on the Awá Indigenous People of Brazil

Title: The causes and consequences of deforestation on the Awá Indigenous People of Brazil

Summary

Extensive deforestation is an on-going issue that the Amazonian rainforest is experiencing. There are various reasons for the accelerated deforestation. Logging, fires, unsustainable agriculture, cattle ranching, mining, and oil companies are the drivers of of the deforestation. For this particular Indigenous People: Awá tribe, they have suffered due to deforestation done by fire and also due to a programme that was funded by the World Bank and European Economic Community (EEC) in 1982. This study will further elaborate on deforestation in general and also the history, issues, and outcomes for the Awá Indigenous people of Brazil located in the Amazon rainforest.

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  A satellite image of the Amazon burning due to forest fires

Description

The Awá indigenous people of Brazil are known as one of the smallest indigenous groups located in the eastern Amazon rainforest. Their last recorded population is approximately 350 members living in the settlements of the rainforest region and who maintain contact with the outside world. There are also approximately 100 members of the Awá that remain uncontacted and distanced from the outside world.

The Amazon rainforest, provides a home to home to the Awá indigenous people, as well as to over 34 million other inhabitants, both indigenous and non-indigenous that depend on the resources from the rainforest to survive. The rainforest is 670 million hectares large and has a wide variety of animal and plant species. The Brazilian rainforest faces severe deforestation from multiple sources and is known to have the largest deforestation front. Causes for deforestation include agriculture from soy plantation or cattle ranching, infrastructure expansion, logging, natural and human-started fires. Up to 1.4 million hectares on average are deforested annually in the Amazon, affecting and reducing the ecosystem services provided by the rainforest and for those who rely on it. Hundreds of indigenous tribes can do nothing but witness the progressive deforestation, invasion and logging action occurring in or near their village and territory.

In the year 2019 alone, approximately 74000 fires occurred in the rainforest, surpassing the record of the previous year by 85%. Many of these fires are allegedly being lit and started by farmers and loggers to help gain profit for themselves [explain] . These fires not only damage the resources and territory of the indigenous people of the Amazon, but it also puts the lives of the people at risk.

Tenure arrangements

The governance of the Amazon rainforest is challenging, due to its large size and ownership of multiple countries. [Most of the rainforest is located in Brazil, as are the Awa. So restrict your Wiki page to the Awa]. Half of the forest land of the Amazon is managed as protected forest land, whereas the other half is private or occupied land. In the occupied portions of the land, the land tenure have overlapping claims due to previous old rights and re-settlement programs, creating confusion for land ownership. As a result, the Terra Legal program was created in 2009 to make attempts to help clear up the confusion and remedy the land ownership. There were rules applied, such as duration of land occupancy and forest cover minimum percentages to help determine who is the owner of the land. There were also forest cover criteria set to prevent over harvesting of the forest land, and failure to comply with the minimum required forest cover would result in denial of agricultural credit, product trade bans and require submissions of environmental compliance plans.

Governance of forest law was weak until the Public Forest Management Law was passed by the Brazilian government in 2006. The law created forest regimes that established concessions and regulations by the Ministry of Environment and the Institute of Natural Resources. The concessions are granted through public bidding, usually lasting for 35 years, and with a cut limit of 30 cubic meters per hectare and 50 cm minimum diameter. However, this amount of harvesting was insufficient for growth of commercial species and there was a lack of staff to enforce regulations, leading to a lasting problem of forest damage. There have also been laws requiring reforestation in areas that are deforested illegally, but in 2011, changes to the forest code exempted landowners of less than 400 hectares, resulting in higher deforestation numbers. Inside the occupied land, loggers can also pay landowners in their respective owned land to be able to extract timber.

Inside the protected areas of the rainforest, some land is managed by Chico Mendes Institute of Biodiversity Conservation that coordinates finance of protected areas and conservation of biodiversity. Among many other organizations, they all focus on the forests, climate and natural resources. Studies have also shown that indigenous lands and strict protected areas have been found to have lower deforestation rates, even under high pressure. The indigenous people in the amazon are also said to be the best conservationists due to their reliance on the rainforest to survive.

Administrative arrangements

Brazil has one of the highest income inequalities in the world due to the Indigenous people being forced to move into urban areas when they are displaced. These indigenous people are forced to work low pay labour, resulting in them taking the blame for low economic development and barriers to development. This resulted in creating many public movements from the indigenous people to combat these problems but to no avail. Although there is a reporting system in Brazil, it is considered a weak reporting system and there is a huge lack of action taken towards these reports. This is especially apparent when considering the Awá people and their small population who have been isolated and some even without contact.

In the past, the Brazilian government received a loan from the World Bank and European Union in 1982 on the condition that the indigenous people and their land must be protected. This programme was to extract a massive amount of iron ore deposits which were found in the Carajás mountains. The Brazilian government received $600 million dollars to build a railway from mines to the coast. The conditions that were followed by this fund was that Europe receives 1/3 of the output. In numerical values, 13.6 million tons a year for 15 years. During the process of the programme, the railway cut directly through the territory of Awá tribe's land which introduced settlers. This created an easy access route to loggers entering Awá tribe's land. A total of 1/3 Awá's territory in Maranhão state in north-east Brazil has been destroyed due to settlers and loggers. The reaction to this commitment was extraordinarily slow and took over 20 years of constant pressure on the Brazilian government from multiple campaigning organizations, such as Survival International and the Forest Peoples Programme, to finally take action. In 2003, the Awá land was finally recognized and demarcated.

Affected Stakeholders

• The Brazilian government
  • Relevant objectives: High interest towards monetary values rather than Indigenous rights
  • Relative power: Law makers, majority power
• Awá Tribe
  • Relevant objectives: Mutual respect on their legacy, history, territory, and rights
  • Relative power: Tenure, Indigenous rights, minority power
• Local communities
  • Relevant objectives: Differs by individuals but mainly two different objectives:
    • Community members who depend on work for their living will still need to do their job whether it is or not ethically right
    • Community members who do not depend on work for their living has a choice to assist in stopping the deforestation and land protection with voting powers
  • Relative power: Voting rights, minority power

Interested Outside Stakeholders

• Indigenous people rights activists
  • Relevant objectives: Secure the tenure, history, territory rights for the Awá tribe
  • Relative power: Protesting, introducing the on-going situation as an international issue, voting rights, minority power
• Environmental activists
  • Relevant objectives: To stop the mass deforestation that is currently on-going in the Amazonian Rain forest
  • Relative power: Protesting, introducing the on-going situation as an international issue, voting rights, minority power

Assessment

The Awá tribe are looking to have mutual respect for their legacy, history, territory, and rights. But with their small numbers and lack of modern politics they don't have the power required to persuade the government. The Brazilian government looking to develop and promote their economy, see the land as opportunity for growth and profit, and the Awá tribe are just speed bumps. The government has the power to make laws and agreements with outside stakeholders, to the outside world they can make it look like indigenous people have laws protecting their land and values. But in reality the laws are not being enforced, there is still illegal deforestation on protected lands. The environmental activists and indigenous people rights activists have the power to apply pressure on the Brazilian government, and give the Awá tribe and other local tribes a voice.

Recommendations

Comparing the objectives of the government of Brazil and the external pressures from outside stakeholders to the values of the Awá indigenous people it is clear they are fighting a losing battle. It seems in order for the tribe to continue their historical practices the Awá people will need support from the outside stakeholders, including the indigenous people rights activists and the environmental activists. These organizations have the resources and ability to leverage their power and platforms to prevent further deforestation and land intrusion. With modern politics is place enough social pressure from external organizations will force the government of Brazil to honor the commitments set out and enforce the protection of the indigenous lands. Being isolated and remote the Awá people do not have the knowledge or power to prevent the current state of the country from destroying all historical practices.

References

This conservation resource was created by Rico Cheung, Brian Lee, Jared Sexsmith. It has been viewed over {{#googleanalyticsmetrics: metric=pageviews|page=Course:CONS370/Projects/The causes and consequences of deforestation on the Awá Indigenous People of Brazil|startDate=2006-01-01|endDate=2020-08-21}} times.