New Report Shows Amazon’s Indigenous People Face Loss of Land, Human Rights Abuse During Global Pandemic
Written by: Trenton Brugh
Nahua hunters in the Peruvian Amazon. Indigenous peoples safeguard 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity.
Photograph: Johan Wildhagen/Forest Peoples Programme (The
Guardian).
Indigenous
communities throughout the world's most tropical landscapes are at risk of
losing their native homelands due to economic responses to the COVID-19
pandemic. For decades, the governments of various South American countries have
labeled indigenous people as obstacles to industrial development, leading many
to legitimize the use of violence to remove them from native lands. Once again,
these same governments are scapegoating indigenous people, masking pandemic
exploitation as much-needed economic rescue efforts (Greenfield, 2021).
According to a 2021 study produced by the NGO Forest Peoples Programme, Yale Law School, and School of Law at Middlesex University London, the federal and local governments in Colombia, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia, and Peru are prioritizing national COVID-19 recovery efforts over indigenous human rights and land protections, exposing millions of people to abuse and endangerment. Furthermore, the lands themselves risk severe exploitation of natural resources by outsiders, which guarantees destruction for the natural habitats of animals and plants and the very livelihoods of the tribes that occupy the area. It also guarantees the continued spread of the deadly virus among isolated people who’ve yet to be exposed.
“Indigenous peoples are seeing their rights stripped away as the lands that have long been their homes are stripped away as well,” James Silk, Binger clinical professor of human rights at Yale Law School and co-author of the report, told The Guardian reporter Patrick Greenfield.
In Brazil, specifically, indigenous lands have been under attack by the Jair Bolsonaro government since 2019. While the country’s 1988 Constitution guaranteed indigenous land rights on ancestral lands, the Brazilian government has been delaying the process of official recognition for decades (Torres & Branford, 2020). Now, as COVID-19 economic responses become the priority, those with ultimate power are passing legislation and regulations that rollback these already loosely held land protections for indigenous people.
In May 2020, the Jair Bolsonaro administration passed new policies that opened up more than 9.8 million hectares, or 37,830 square miles, of Brazilian rainforest and native land to outsiders and economic activities (Torres & Branford, 2020). The Brazilian government touted the measure as being a major step forward in recovering from the global pandemic. Instead, the new policies have led to aggressive land grabs by loggers, cattle ranches, soy growers, and rubber tappers, hoping to take advantage of untouched resources and make a quick dollar (Greenfield, 2021). Some analysts warn that it's only a matter of time before these land grabbers and indigenous people clash with one another, leading to more destruction, which has the potential to wipe out large segments of native tribes (NGO Forest Peoples Programme, 2021).
The NGO report also found that indigenous people within the five main countries of study face increasing violence, arrests, and even criminal prosecution when trying to assert their rights. The assertion of rights includes self-demarcation and monitoring of lands, developing laws and protocols based on free, prior, and informed consent, and using national, regional, and international human rights mechanisms to draw attention to their situation. Advocacy has been focused on strengthening indigenous communities’ autonomy and capabilities to self-govern within boundaries of their ancestorial lands, but not without cost. Not only did the NGO report find human rights abuse towards indigenous people, but it also found that more than 120 human rights activists were murdered in Colombia in 2020.
To continue to add to the larger scope of land rights violations and human rights abuse, national governments have excluded indigenous leaders from the decision-making processes that allow for the expansion of industrial activities on lands natives have cultivated and nurtured for centuries (Greenfield, 2020).
Contrary to what many believe, the Amazon rainforest has a long and rich history of human occupation. Outside of what we know about the Inca and Huari empires, there is also evidence of larger sedentary tribes within the higher reaches of the rainforest, especially throughout Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Evidence points to millions of people living, cultivating, caring for, and respecting the land that provided them safety and isolation, especially from early European settlers. These intricate and expansive early Amazon societies made pottery, hunted forest game and fish, and cleared large sections of the forest for agriculture, all the while managing the forest to optimize the distribution of useful plant and animal species.
Biodiversity management has been a key part of the indigenous culture for all Amazon tribes. For example, along the Brazilian and Bolivian border lies a 30,000-mile stretch of raised islands existing within a grassy floodplain. Some researchers speculate that these forested islands are early anthropogenic signs of landscape optimization. These same researchers and scientists speculate that indigenous people cultivated these islands through slash and burn methods to make way for local fisheries and vegetation distribution. Essential trees, plants, and crops that would otherwise drown during the rainy season flourish on these raised islands, providing today’s indigenous people with food, resources, and shelter.
There are also other signs of indigenous influence, especially along the river basin. Here, ancient civilizations cultivated orchards rather than planting fields, taking advantage of the rich, fertile soil. The trees' deep-reaching roots provided water to their communities and smaller agriculture patches during times of drought. Some experts estimate that indigenous people organized nearly 15% of Brazil, Columbia, and Indonesia's lowland forests (Butler, 2005).
This level of knowledge and understanding of the Amazon ecosystem has led many indigenous leaders to speak out against the most recent human rights and land rights transgressions. In fact, some leaders, like Tuntiak Katan of the Ecuadorian Shuar people, became the first indigenous representative at a UN climate action summit in 2019. As the vice-president of the pan-Amazon organization representing communities across the river basin, Katan has been a key advocate against land grabs and exploitation of Amazon resources, warning that further deforestation and destruction are detrimental to the native tribes and the planet.
Despite accounting for less than one-twentieth of the human population, the Amazon's indigenous communities support 80% of the planet’s biodiversity (Greenfield).
In January 2020, Katan told The Guardian, “We are the defenders of nature, of the life of the forests, of our territories. If the proposals, knowledge, and management practices of indigenous people are not listened to, there will be more big catastrophes. The issue of fires in the Amazon will continue, the degradation of forests and water will continue, deforestation will continue.”
Now, in 2021, it appears that Katan had every reason to worry. As the governments highlighted in the NGO report continue to favor economic recovery and industrial expansion over human rights and the environment, the world can only conclude that the health and lives of indigenous people (and the world) are deemed less important than mining, logging, and industrial agriculture. To compound these growing issues, there is also concern among human rights activists that the influx of outsiders will lead to a rise in the spread of COVID-19 among already-marginalized communities within the rainforest.
To combat these issues, the NGO report suggests countries comply with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; that international finance and multinational corporations with supply chains in the rainforest uphold their business obligations and do not benefit from the indigenous rights violations; and that those funding conservation efforts redirect their support to indigenous peoples for safer and more effective forest management (NGO Forest Peoples Programme, 2021).
Whether or not governments and their business allies will adhere to such guidance is yet to be seen. Additionally, we may not know the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on indigenous people and their lands for years to come.
Sources:
“New Report Details COVID-Related Threats to Indigenous Peoples and Environment.” 2021. Yale.edu. 2021. https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/new-report-details-covid-related-threats-indigenous-peoples-and-environment.
Torres, M., &
Brandford, S. (2020, May 8). Brazil opens 38,000 square miles of indigenous
lands to outsiders. Mongabay News & Inspiration from Nature’s Frontline.
Retrieved March 12, 2021, from Mongabay Environmental News website: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/brazil-opens-38000-square-miles-of-indigenous-lands-to-outsiders/.
Butler, R.
(2005, October 18). Pre-Columbian Amazon supported millions of people. Mongabay
News & Inspiration from Nature’s Frontline. Retrieved March 12, 2021,
from Mongabay Environmental News website: https://news.mongabay.com/2005/10/pre-columbian-amazon-supported-millions-of-people/.
Greenfield,
P. (2020, January 28). Trust our expertise or face catastrophe, Amazon peoples
warn on environment. The Guardian. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from The
Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/28/trust-our-expertise-or-face-catastrophe-amazon-peoples-warn-on-environment-aoe.
Greenfield, P. (2021, February 18). “Indigenous peoples face rise in rights abuses during pandemic, report finds.” The Guardian. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from The Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/18/indigenous-peoples-face-rise-in-rights-abuses-during-covid-pandemic-report-aoe.
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