2023-04-26 22:45:06
* With information from Carolina Fasolo and Marina Terra
On the march in Brasilia, thousands of indigenous people participating in the 19th edition of the Free Land Camp (ATL 2023) decreed, this Wednesday (26), Climate Emergency in the country. The act draws attention to environmental racism and violations caused by climate change against indigenous peoples.
In a manifesto, the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib), organizer of the ATL, presented 18 demands to all the powers of the State, among them, the demarcation of Indigenous Lands, the strengthening of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI), of the National Institute for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) and the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai) and the updating and implementation of the National Plan on Climate Change.
“We continue to be victims of discriminatory, prejudiced and racist policies, seriously worsened in the last six years by government neglect and the encouragement of invasions carried out by various criminal organizations whose practices only worsen climate change. […] So that this ends and so that we can continue to care for the good life of our peoples and of all humanity, contributing to the climate balance, we declare a Climate Emergency in a loud voice”, says an excerpt from the text.
For Kleber Karipuna, executive coordinator of Apib, the struggle for the demarcation of indigenous territories does not only represent the ancestral right to land, but also the struggle for the survival of indigenous peoples and humanity. “There is no longer any doubt that indigenous territories contribute to combating the climate crisis. Demarcation is the solution for climate justice and the maintenance of democracy,” told the APIB website.
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???? O #ATL2023 prepare to march and decree #ClimateEmergency!
The action highlights the importance of demarcations and indigenous peoples in combating the climate crisis. An initiative of @ApibOficialtogether with its seven regional organizations.
???? Isabella Pilegis/ISA pic.twitter.com/YySdjPdTZe
— socioambiental (@socioambiental) April 26, 2023
Where there are indigenous people, there are forests
Part of the world’s population most affected by climate tragedies, indigenous peoples are also the solution to this crisis. Indigenous Lands act as barriers against deforestation, one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the main cause of global warming.
According to a study by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), over the last 35 years, indigenous peoples have protected more than 20% of native vegetation in Brazil. In the Amazon, while 20% of the forest has already been deforested in the last 40 years, together the Indigenous Lands only lost 2.4% of their original forests.
In other words, demarcating Indigenous Lands, ensuring their full protection, is one of the most effective strategies to protect the forest and the planet.
Indigenous people protest in Brasilia against the climate crisis and for the guarantee of rights ???? Isabella Pilegis and Carolina Fasolo/ISA
Demarcate land, protect the climate
Both the fight against the climate crisis and the demarcation of Indigenous Lands are promises of the current government. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) appointed former minister Marina Silva to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and to the newly created Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Sônia Guajajara, former member of the APIB coordination, federal deputy elected by PSOL-SP.
In office, on January 1, 2023, Lula signed a series of decrees and measures to protect indigenous peoples and traditional communities and to combat deforestation, reversing actions taken by the previous government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
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Book brings balance of the cruelest post-dictatorship period for indigenous peoples in Brazil
Now, the indigenous movement hopes that, next Friday (28/04), Lula will finally announce the resumption of the demarcations of Indigenous Lands – paralyzed since 2016. The president must confirm five Indigenous Lands. Initially, the approval of 14 lands was considered.
Ensuring the protection of indigenous territories is urgent. Indigenous people are the most frequent targets of rural violence in Brazil, representing 38% of people murdered in 2022, according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).
In the last five years, more than 113 million mature trees were felled within Indigenous Lands. In addition, about 6% of deforestation between 2017 and 2021 was caused by mining, an illegal activity with a high socio-environmental impact. Degradation due to mining or prospecting in the ILs increased by 183% in the same period, according to data in the book “Indigenous Peoples in Brazil 2017-2022”.
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