Porto Velho – Pedro Agamenon is worried about the land of his Arara. “Our people have often allowed invaders to conquer their land,” says the chief. “But the area in which we live today will be preserved.” The Arara are now using drones to monitor and protect it in a very modern way. Agamenon came to the city of Porto Velho around 400 kilometers from the indigenous area of Igarapé Lourdes. The chief wanted to see members of the Arara and other ethnic groups take part in a drone course for indigenous people.
The Kanindé association, known for representing indigenous concerns and the protection of the rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon region, offers the course, supported by the environmental protection organization WWF. For three days, up to eight hours a day, 15 indigenous peoples are trained in Portuguese in how to use drones in order to take measurements, evaluate images – and thus be able to record and monitor their area from the air. “The aim of the course is for the indigenous peoples themselves to detain intruders and environmental crimes such as illegal gold mining, deforestation and fires,” says Kanindé coordinator Israel Valle.
dpa/Fernando Souza
After the drone course, the participants should be able to document environmental crimes themselves.
The area in the south of the Amazon is particularly hard hit by deforestation and fires. Ane Alencar, Scientific Director of the Amazonian Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), recently discovered evidence of land grabbing during an overflight: Public land is being occupied in order to use it for livestock and agriculture. Critics accuse President Jair Bolsonaro of creating a climate in Brazil that encourages such actions. “We are sad because our government and our president are trampling on our rights,” says Pedro Agamenon.
Meanwhile, Josias, 37, and Bitaté, 21, from the Gaviao and Uru Eu Wau Wau peoples, observe how other indigenous people handle the drones, handle them themselves and let them fly. Women, such as Shirlei from the Arara people, also drive drones. The small aircraft in the course are connected to two remote controls – one in the student’s hand, one in the instructor’s hand.
The drone can help monitor remote areas
The big question in Amazonia is always how much can indigenous people still preserve their identity today. Josias and Bitaté wear jeans, use cell phones and ride motorcycles. To use a drone, you need a certain technical understanding. But they also live in the indigenous village, swim in the river, hunt, fish.
“The land means everything to us indigenous people,” says Bitaté, who as a young indigenous man already assumed a leading role – as did the indigenous activist Txai Surui, who gave a speech at the opening of the world climate conference COP26 in Glasgow.
While President Bolsonaro, instead of discussing the climate with other heads of state and government at COP26, made a detour to a village in northern Italy, the Brazilian indigenous movement mobilized the largest delegation in the history of the climate conference. “There is no solution to the climate crisis without us,” said a message from the indigenous umbrella organization Apib. The Society for Threatened Peoples criticized the fact that the challenges in the fight against climate change could not be countered with half-hearted promises. The human rights organization issued a communication calling for the indigenous peoples to be recognized as the most important environmentalists.
Studies by the World Food Organization, among others, have shown that indigenous peoples are the best “keepers of the forest” in the fight against environmental damage and climate change. Where they have securitized rights to their land, there is significantly less clearing than in other areas. The Amazon basin, in turn, plays a key role in the global climate. The drone course connects the indigenous areas with the world beyond. The indigenous peoples adopt a technique from outside to protect and defend their land. The drone has become an important tool for them in recent years. “The drone has made monitoring our area much easier,” says Bitaté, president of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous People’s Association.
AFP
A Greenpeace environmentalist inspects a burned area of the Amazon rainforest near the city of Porto Velho.
The drone helps to monitor remote areas. Kanindé coordinator Valle speaks of a time before and after the drones. “Before that, we used satellite information that was always a bit late. By the time we got there, it was often burned down. ”The images and information collected can now speed up advertisements and also give them more emphasis. The drones also increased security. If they find a deforested area, indigenous peoples no longer have to go there and potentially expose themselves to armed loggers.
“The young people should learn that they can defend our rights without having to risk their lives,” says Chief Agamenon. According to the annual report of the Indigenist Mission Council Cimi, there were still more than 300 cases of physical violence against indigenous peoples in 2020, and 182 indigenous people were murdered.
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