The end of the Amazon Forest

The testimonies of Pierângela Nascimento and Jacir de Souza have the sound of a cry of despair. Their territory Raposa Serra do Sol in the Brazilian state of Roraima is being pocketed by six powerful rice farmers. These have settled down in the area on an illegal basis, and are now claiming the land by means of intimidation. Numerous people have already been killed or wounded. A delegation of the federal army, which was sent to the area to protect the reserve , was sent back by the local authorities immediately. 

For more than thirty years the Indian communities of this area – about 19,000 Indians, 194 communities and an area of 17,400 km² - have struggled fiercely for recognition. This they received from the government in 2005. But today everything seems to slip back out of their hands again, because the rice farmers have issued a request to cancel the recognition. The planned judicial ruling in coming August has been postponed due to several other requests from various other interest groups. This case presents a precedent for other indigenous territories, which have received recognition but are under threat of now losing that again.

Malaria

A myriad of economic interests are pushing the Indian groups into a corner. In Altamira, Pará, more towards to the south, a massive gathering took place in May. In it were indigenous people, painted in colours of warfare and showing their disdain through rituals. Initiating this were government’s plans to equip “their” Xingu River with large dams, which would cause a large part of their territory to disappear under water. If the project goes ahead, the dam of Belo Monte de will be the world’s third largest one.
More than one hundred kilometres in the Xingu delta will dry up. This means: no more fish for the communities, no transport and no clean water. The area would be a breeding spot for insects, causing an increased risk of malaria, yellow fever and other diseases. At least 16,000 people would have to be displaced. A similar problem appears at the border between Brazil and Bolivia, where the Indian communities rang the alarm in July about the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Madeira River. At the beginning of this year the Brazilian government unfolded its plans for the dams in Jirau and San Antonio, for which thousands of inhabitants will have to be displaced from both sides of the border.

In the meantime, the illegal logging is continuing without prejudice, despite the efforts by the Brazilian government to curb this. From a new report we learn that one out of five logged trees from the Amazon originates from protected natural reserve. Last year, one fifth of all rainforest deforestation was taking place in Indian reserves.

As a whole, more than 688,000 km² of the Amazon Forest – a third of the total forest area - is being exploited or explored. More than 36 different multinationals are at work in more than 180 blocks of concessions, so a recent American investigation reads.  

Along with the soil, the wood, the fauna and flora and the water, the subsoil is also coveted. Especially the subsoil in the Western Amazon in West-Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia is rich in oil and gas reserves. The pressure to exploit these is strong, and is causing local conflicts with indigenous communities in each of these countries.

The Brazilian miracle

Brazil is facing an energy scarcity and wants to invest thoroughly into hydro-electricity. By 2030, the country should be generating double the amount of the current capacity, which makes for an additional quantity of 100,000 megawatt. The new dams’ routes running through the Amazone basin should deliver 80,000 megawatt out of this total. In the coming twenty years, between sixty and seventy large dams will be built on the rivers Xingu, Madeira, Araguaia, Tocantins, Tapajón and Trombetas. According to the Brazilian government, about forty percent of these constructions are destined for indigenous territory or protected area. Others are stating however that this percentage is an underestimation.
Virtually every indigenous community situated within the surroundings of these projects will suffer damage; as a consequence of building roads, increasing the pressure on fauna and flora, and causing waves of immigration in the wake of the projects. Despite the additional objections from the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources, the government is determined to execute the plans; for the country wants to see its economy grow, and exploit all its potential for that purpose. For this, a special development plan was designed called the Programme for the Acceleration of Growth, which attracted private corporations such as Suez into the dam constructions at favourable conditions.

Mid- June, the Plan for a Sustainable Amazon (PSA) was launched in order to continue the development of the region’s infrastructure and at once “improve environmental protection”. Some fear however that the PSA will torpedo the Amazon’s programme for sustainable development, which the Minister for Environment Marina Silva had designed with the consultation of researchers, social organisations and environmental groups.
To Marina Silva, who is known as the flagship for Lula’s green policy, the PSA meant the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Hence she resigned as minister mid-May. Silva had been rejected before in the discussion about GMOs and the precautionary principle; first for soy and then for corn. In addition she lost the fight against leading the San Francisco River another way, against eucalyptus plantations for the cellulose industry, and against the new nuclear power plants. Time and again Marina Silva encountered resistance within her own government when she called for integrating ecological considerations with the policies on agriculture, energy, forest management and poverty alleviation. She now continues her battle in the Senate.

The price of the trees

The conservation of the Amazon Forest is of vital importance: for the indigenous people, because of the biodiversity and as the green longue of the planet. But who should call the shots in the management of this region, when interests are conflicting? The international community? The state? Or the local communities? Each of these levels want to be at work today.

The most important instrument for the indigenous is Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation, which confers the indigenous the right to live according to their culture and tradition. This convention underlines the right to information and consultation. End of August, indigenous groups in Peru achieved an important victory in the parliament based on this very convention. Just like Brazil, the Peruvian government is fully betting on the exploitation of the Amazon Forest.
Currently the country is undergoing a nine percent annual economic growth. President Alan Garcia wants to continue stimulating this growth, amongst others by attracting private investors to areas which belong to indigenous groups. For this purpose he wants to press through two decrees which facilitate the selling or letting of collective land. This contradicts Convention 169. In the end, the government had to restrain.
On an international level, there is the convention for the protection of biodiversity, being fauna and flora. Controlling and enforcing the agreements made for this purpose, remains difficult however. But in fact, the criterion of the Brazilian government is clear: the Amazon Forest belongs to the national sovereignty, and the rich countries should be in no rush to spell out their wishes to them.
During international assemblies, Lula and his ministers have made that clear repeatedly. They object by pointing at the rich countries’ responsibility in creating global warming. Continuing this logic, Brazil initiated an international fund in August, filled with money from rich countries, and aimed at a more sustainable management of the Amazon and at countering deforestation. Lula stresses that this fund should not be used for acquiring carbon dioxide credits.
The Kyoto protocol says that rich countries may compensate their over-emission of CO2 by, for example, investing in reforestation. This is met with criticism however, because practice shows this rule being applied improperly. These investments are often aimed at generating economic profits, more than actually investing in sustainable practices. The post-Kyoto negotiations in Copenhagen and Pozanan in Poland should bring more clarity on the exchange of trees and forest management for emission credits.