Film Screening, Indigenous Women Panel, and Black Summer Vigil

Film Screening, Indigenous Women Panel, and Black Summer Vigil

Editor’s note: None of the events are being organized by DGR. We stand in solidarity and encourage our readers to get involved in these if possible.


Kangaroo: A love-hate story (Film Screening)

Kangaroo reveals Australia’s relationship with its beloved icon, uncovering disturbing scenes behind the largest mass destruction of wildlife in the world. Using investigative techniques such as interviews, citizen footage, and research, Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story shows how the kangaroo meat industry and the Australian government put profits ahead of animal welfare, native species protection and the environment. In addition, farmers who are guided by misinformation and profit take whatever steps they deem necessary to eradicate the species.

A free community screening presented by Woolgoolga Regional Community Gardens and Kangaroo Advocate Yurpia McCafferty, at 6pm (AEST) Tuesday 7th March, on 79 Scarborough St, Woolgoolga. You can find out more about the event here.


Violence Against Rural Indigenous Women: Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, and the United States

film

Throughout the Western Hemisphere, indigenous women and girls suffer extreme and disparate levels of gender-based violence. For those living in rural and remote communities on their own indigenous lands, these problems are even more pronounced. Our event will feature a panel of indigenous women from Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, and the United States, who will discuss how violations of indigenous peoples’ land rights and right to self-government expose their women and girls to racial discrimination, gender-based violence, and other human rights violations and how living in rural communities intensifies these problems.

The webinar will happen on March 8, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (EST).


Black Summer Vigil

This online and offline event is being organized in the three-year anniversary memorial for the three billion animals who died in the Australian bush fires. The event will bring together stories from first responders across wildlife rescue, rural fire service, photojournalism, Aboriginal custodianship, veterinary medicine, ecology, and more. Speakers include:

  • Greg Mullins, Former Commissioner, Fire and Rescue NSW; Climate Councillor and founder, Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. Greg warned Australia’s then–Prime Minister in April 2019 that a bushfire catastrophe was coming. He pleaded for support and was ignored, then risked his life dealing with the ramifications on the ground.
  • Internationally recognised ecologist and WWF board member, Professor Christopher Dickman oversaw the work calculating the animal deaths from Black Summer. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Dickman already wore the heavy task of being an ecologist during the sixth mass extinction, in the country that has the worst rate of mammalian extinction in the world. On 8 January 2020 media around the world shared his finding that Black Summer fires had killed one billion animals. Sadly, the fires continued for two more months, and his team’s final count was three billion. This does not include invertebrates: it is estimated 240 trillion beetles, moths, spiders, yabbies and other invertebrates died in the fires.
  • Coming up from the South Coast, owner of Wild2Free Kangaroo Sanctuary Rae Harvey, as seen in The Bond and The Fire. She is in the sad position of having personally known and cared for a number of Black Summer’s victims: many of the orphaned joeys she cared for were killed in the fires. (She nearly died herself too.) For three years, she has been unable to even speak their names. Now, for the first time, she will tell the story of the joeys she lost.
  • Cultural burning practitioner and Southern NSW Regional Coordinator with Firesticks Alliance, Djiringanj-Yuin Custodian Dan Morgan. Dan practises using Aboriginal knowledge to heal Country. He has worked for 18 years with the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and is on the board of management for the Biamanga National Park, a sacred area home to the last surviving koalas on the NSW south coast – which was partly destroyed by the fires of Black Summer.
  • Head of Programs & Disaster Response at Humane Society International (HSI) Evan Quartermain, who was one of the first responders on Kangaroo Island where nearly 40% of the island burnt at high severity.

The physical event will happen in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park (Sydney) at 2pm Sunday 2 April 2023 (AEST). You can also attend it online. You can find more information here.

Banner Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash

Fallen 200: Land Defenders Murdered in 2021

Fallen 200: Land Defenders Murdered in 2021

Editor’s note: Land defenders, especially indigenous land defenders, are at risk across the world, more so in some places than others. In their fight to protect their communities and their land, they directly confront structures of power, challenging the powerful’s sense of entitlement. In order to maintain the status quo, the powerful employ any means necessary to silence the resistors. In some places, this may take the form of political and legal attack, in others, this may lead to murder. Either way, the objective of such repression is not merely to silence one voice, but to set an example, to shut down those hundreds of voices which may have been raised in resistance. This strategy has been used through history.

Even so, resistance lives on. Where the repression becomes strong, defenders find new ways to adapt to their political situation and to continue fighting the powerful. Statistics say that one land defender is killed every two days. While it is necessary to hold the states accountable for these unlawful killings, it is also important for defenders to take measures to protect themselves. This may include being familiar with the laws of one’s region, or to learn self-defense, or whatever is appropriate for one’s situation. Following rules of security culture may help in increasing security for defenders.


“I could tell you that, around the world, three people are killed every week while trying to protect their land, their environment, from extractive forces. I could tell you that this has been going on for decades, with the numbers killed in recent years hitting over 200 each year. And I could tell you, as this report does, that a further 200 defenders were murdered in the last year alone. But these numbers are not made real until you hear some of the names of those who died.” – Dr. Vandana Shiva

“This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.”

By Joseph Lee/Grist

In Brazil, two Yanomami children drowned after getting sucked into a dredging machine used by illegal gold miners. A 14 year old Pataxó child was shot in the head during a conflict over land in the northeastern Bahia state. A Guarani Kaiowá person was killed by military police during a clash over a farm the Guarani had reclaimed from settlers. “There has been an increase in the amount of conflict – socio and environmental conflict – in our lands,” said Dinamam Tuxá, of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), Brazil’s largest coalition of Indigenous groups. ”It’s destroying communities and it’s destroying our forests.”

Between 2011 and 2021, at least 342 land defenders were killed in Brazil – more than any other country – and roughly a third of those murdered were Indigenous or Afro-descendant. That’s according to a new report by Global Witness, an international human rights group, that documents over 1,700 killings of land and environment defenders globally during the same time period. The report says that on average, a land defender is killed every other day, but suggests that those numbers are likely an undercount and paints a grim picture of violence directed at communities fighting resource extraction, land grabs, and climate change.

“We will continue to protest, we will continue to show up.” -Dinamam Tuxá, APIB

“All over the world, Indigenous peoples, environmental activists, and other land and environmental defenders risk their lives for the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss,” reads the report. “They play a crucial role as a first line of defense against ecological collapse, yet are under attack themselves facing violence, criminalisation and harassment perpetuated by repressive governments and companies prioritizing profit over human and environmental harm.”

After Brazil, the Philippines and Colombia recorded the most killings: 270 and 322, respectively. Together all three countries make up more than half of the attacks recorded in the global report.

In the Philippines, Indigenous and local environmental activists have been fighting huge infrastructure projects like the Kaliwa Dam and the Oceana Gold Mine, both of which Indigenous leaders say threaten their land and the environment. According to Global Witness, over 40% of the defenders killed in the Philippines were Indigenous peoples.

“It’s clear that the government has not taken this crisis seriously,” said Jon Bonifacio, national coordinator at Palikasan People’s Network for the Environment. “This statistic has not been recognized in any way by the Philippine government, despite the crucial role environmental defenders play in the fight against climate change.”

According to Global Witness, those statistics are uncertain due to a lack of free press and other independent monitoring systems around the world and other types of violence are also not counted in the report. “We know that beyond killings, many defenders and communities also experience attempts to silence them, with tactics like death threats, surveillance, sexual violence, or criminalization – and that these kinds of attacks are even less well reported,” Global Witness said.

An April report from the nonprofit Business and Human Rights Resource Centre documented some of those other tactics, tracking 3,800 attacks, including killings, beatings, and death threats, against land defenders since January 2015. But even those numbers aren’t the complete picture. “We know the problem is much more severe than these figures indicate,” Christen Dobson, senior program manager for the BHRRC and an author of the report said at the time.

The Global Witness report’s authors say governments should enforce laws that already protect land defenders, pass new laws if necessary, and hold companies to international human rights standards. Global Witness also says companies should respect international human rights like free, prior, and informed consent, implement zero-tolerance policies for attacks on land defenders, and adopt a rights-based approach to combating climate change. The report specifically calls on the European Union to strengthen its proposed corporate sustainability due diligence law by adding a climate framework and more accountability measures for financial institutions.

While international advocacy offers some hope for Indigenous leaders on the front lines, those leaders also know that they have to keep fighting to protect their land, lives, and environment. In Brazil, resistance to Indigenous land demarcation and advocacy for resource extraction in the Amazon pushed by President Jair Bolsonaro, has led to record deforestation in the Amazon since he took office in 2019. Dinamam Tuxá and other Indigenous leaders in Brazil are hopeful that the upcoming presidential election may lead to change, but remain skeptical. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president and current leading candidate, has promised better treatment for Indigenous peoples in Brazil but Tuxá says that Indigenous peoples cannot rest all their hopes on politicians.

“President Lula would not solve the problems of Indigenous peoples,” Tuxá said. “Regardless of who gets elected we will continue to protest, we will continue to show up.”


Names of environmentalists murdered in 2021, by country

By Elisabeth Schneiter / Facebook

“Joannah Stutchbury loved trees, practiced permaculture, was an environmentalist, and bravely advocated for the environment, with a fiery and unwavering passion.” And she was wonderfully crazy and full of life and joy to be alive. She was shot dead on her way home in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2021. “

Argentina

  1. Elías Garay

Bolivia

  1. Lino Peña Vaca

Brazil

  1. Aldenir dos Santos Macedo
  2. Alex Barros Santos da Silva
  3. Amaral José Stoco Rodrigues
  4. Amarildo Aparecido Rodrigues
  5. Ângelo Venicius Henrique Mozer
  6. Antônio Gonçalves Diniz
  7. Eliseu Pedroso
  8. F.S.S.
  9. Fernando dos Santos Araújo
  10. Getúlio Coutinho dos Santos
  11. Isac Tembé
  12. Jerlei
  13. João de Deus Moreira Rodrigues
  14. José do Carmo Corrêa Júnior
  15. José Francisco de Souza Araújo
  16. José Vane Guajajara
  17. Kevin Fernando Holanda de Souza
  18. Marcelo Chaves Ferreira
  19. Maria da Luz Benício de Sousa
  20. Maria José Rodrigues
  21. Rafael Gasparini Tedesco
  22. Reginaldo Alves Barros
  23. Roberto Muniz Campista
  24. Roberto Pereira da Silva Pandolfe
  25. Sidinei Floriano Da Silva
  26. Wagner Romão da Silva

Chile

  1. Jordan Liempi Machacan

Colombia

  1. Ángel Miro Cartagena
  2. Argenis Yatacué
  3. Aura Esther García Peñalver
  4. Cristian Torres Cifuentes
  5. Danilo Torres
  6. Dilio Bailarín
  7. Edwin Antonio Indaburo
  8. Efrén España
  9. Fermiliano Meneses Hoyos
  10. Fredy Pestana Herrera
  11. Gonzalo Cardona Molina
  12. Ilia Pilcué Yule
  13. Jaime Enrique Basilio Basilio
  14. Jair Adán Roldán Morales
  15. Jhon Alberto Pascal
  16. Jhon Edward Martinez
  17. John Albeiro Paí Pascal
  18. José Riascos
  19. José Santos López
  20. Juana Panesso Dumasá
  21. Luis Alfonso Narváez Escobar
  22. Marcelino Yatacué Ipia
  23. Marcos Fidel Camayo Guetio
  24. Nazaria Calambás Tunubalá
  25. Noel Corsini Zúñiga
  26. Rafael Domicó Carupia
  27. Remberto Arrieta Bohórquez
  28. Rogelio López Figueroa
  29. Sandra Liliana Peña Chocué
  30. Víctor Orlando Mosquera
  31. Wilson de Jesús López
  32. Yarley Margarito Salas
  33. Yordan Eduardo Guetio

Democratic Republic of Congo

  1. Alexis Kamate Mundunaenda
  2. Emery Bizimana Karabaranga
  3. Eric Kibanja Bashekere
  4. Etienne Mutazimiza Kanyaruchinya
  5. Innocent Paluku Budoyi
  6. Prince Nzabonimpa Ntamakiriro
  7. Reagan Maneno Kataghalirwa
  8. Surumwe Burhani Abdou

Ecuador

  1. Andrés Durazno
  2. Nange Yeti
  3. Víctor Enrique Guaillas Gutama

Gabon

  1. Jean François Ndong Abaume

Guatemala

  1. Alberto Tec Caal
  2. Emilio Aguilar Jiménez
  3. Ramón Jiménez
  4. Regilson Choc Cac

Honduras

  1. Celenia Bonilla
  2. David Fernando Padilla
  3. Juan Carlos Cerros Escalante
  4. Juan Manuel Moncada
  5. Martín Abad Pandy
  6. Nelson García
  7. Óscar Javier Pérez
  8. Víctor Martínez

India

  1. Kawasi Waga
  2. Daljeet Singh
  3. Gurvinder Singh
  4. Lavepreet Singh
  5. Maynal Haque
  6. Nakshatra Singh
  7. Saddam Husaain
  8. Sheikh Farid
  9. Stan Swamy
  10. T Shridhar
  11. Uika Pandu
  12. Ursa Bhima
  13. Venkatesh S
  14. Vipin Agarwal

Kenya

  1. Joannah Stutchbury

Mexico

  1. Alejandro García Zagal
  2. Artemio Arballo Canizalez
  3. Benjamín Pórtela Peralta
  4. Braulio Pérez Sol
  5. Carlos Marqués Oyorzábal
  6. David Díaz Valdez
  7. Donato Bautista Avendaño
  8. Fabián Sombra Miranda
  9. Fabián Valencia Romero
  10. Federico de Jesús Gutiérrez
  11. Fidel Heras Cruz
  12. Flor de Jesús Hernández
  13. Gerardo Mendoza Reyes
  14. Gustavo Acosta Hurtado
  15. Heladio Molina Zavala
  16. Irma Galindo Barrios
  17. Isaías Elacio Palma
  18. Isidoro Hernández
  19. Jacinto Hernández Quiroz
  20. Jaime Jiménez Ruiz
  21. Jesús Solórzano Díaz
  22. Jordán Terjiño Luna
  23. José Ascensión Carrillo Vázquez
  24. José de Jesús Robledo Cruz
  25. José de Jesús Sánchez García
  26. José Santos Isaac Chávez
  27. Juan Justino Galaviz Cruz
  28. Lea Juárez Valenzuela
  29. Leobardo Hernández Regino
  30. Leocadio Galaviz Cruz
  31. Luis Urbano Domínguez Mendoza
  32. Manuel Cartas Pérez
  33. Manuel Hidalgo Vázquez
  34. Marcelino Álvarez González
  35. Marco Antonio Arcos Fuentes
  36. Marco Antonio Jiménez de la Torre
  37. Marcos Quiroz Riaño
  38. María de Jesús Gómez Vega
  39. Martín Hurtado Flores
  40. Mayolo Quiroz Barrios
  41. Miguel Bautista Avendaño
  42. Narciso López Vasquez
  43. Noé Robles Cruz
  44. Oliverio Martínez Merino
  45. Pedro Lunez Pérez
  46. Ramiro Rodríguez Santiz
  47. Ramiro Ventura Apolonio
  48. Raymundo Robles Riaño
  49. Rodrigo Morales Vázquez
  50. Rolando Pérez González
  51. Simón Pedro Pérez López
  52. Tomás Rojo Valencia
  53. Vicente Suástegui Muñoz
  54. Víctor Manuel Vázquez de la Torre

Nicaragua

  1. Albert Jairo Hernández Palacio
  2. Armando Pérez Medina
  3. Armando Suarez Matamoros
  4. Bonifacio Dixon Francis
  5. Borlan Gutiérrez Empra
  6. Dolvin Acosta
  7. J.L.P. or J.R.B
  8. Jaoska Jarquín Gutiérrez
  9. Kedelin Jarquín Gutiérrez
  10. Martiniano Julián Macario Samuel
  11. Morgan Pantin
  12. Ody James Waldan Salgado
  13. Romel Simon Kely
  14. Sixto Gutiérrez Empra
  15. Víctor Manuel Matamoros Morales
  16. Peru Estela Casanto Mauricio
  17. Herasmo García Grau
  18. Lucio Pascual Yumanga
  19. Luis Tapia Meza
  20. Mario Marco López Huanca
  21. Santiago Meléndez Dávila
  22. Yenes Ríos Bonsano

Philippines

  1. Abner Esto
  2. Ana Marie Lemita-Evangelista
  3. Angel Rivas
  4. Antonio “Cano” Arellano
  5. Ariel Evangelista
  6. Edward Esto
  7. Emanuel Asuncion
  8. John Heredia
  9. Joseph Canlas
  10. Juan Macababbad
  11. Julie Catamin
  12. Lenie Rivas
  13. Mark Lee Bacasno
  14. Melvin Dasigao
  15. Puroy Dela Cruz
  16. Randy Dela Cruz
  17. Romeo Loyola Torres
  18. Steve Abua
  19. Willy Rodriguez

Venezuela

  1. Carmen Lusdary Rondón
  2. Miguel Antonio Rivas Morales
  3. Nelson Martín Pérez Rodríguez
  4. Wilmer José Castro

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Want to learn more? This report by Global Witness discusses the issue elaborately outlining the situation in different countries, including with stories of the defenders who have been killed.

Featured Image Brazilian land defenders memorial by Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images on Grist

Uncontacted tribe’s land invaded and destroyed for beef production

Uncontacted tribe’s land invaded and destroyed for beef production

This article originally appeared in Survival International.

Featured image: Piripkura men Baita and Tamandua, photographed during an encounter with a FUNAI unit. The two men, who are uncle and nephew, have had sporadic interactions with the local FUNAI team, but returned to live in the forest.
© Bruno Jorge

New overflight photos have revealed that the land of one of the world’s most vulnerable uncontacted tribes is being illegally invaded and destroyed for beef production.

The land invasion now underway is in flagrant violation of a 6-month Land Protection Order issued in September which bans all outsiders from the Piripkura Indigenous Territory.

Only two members of Brazil’s Piripkura tribe are known to live in the territory, though others are also believed to live there, having retreated to the depths of the forest. Many Piripkura have been killed in past massacres.

The overflight was conducted last month for the “Uncontacted or Destroyed” campaign and petition organized by COIAB (the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon) and OPI (the Observatory for the Human Rights of Uncontacted and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples), with the support of APIB (Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil), ISA (Instituto Socioambiental) and Survival International.

The campaign has just released a dossier “Piripkura: an indigenous territory being destroyed for beef production.“ It’s revealed:

– Land clearances for cattle ranching have now reached an area where the uncontacted Piripkura are known to live.

– Roads, fencing and even an airstrip have been constructed, and hundreds of cattle brought in.

– The rate of deforestation in the territory has “exploded” – by more than 27,000% in the last two years.

OPI has also released a report on the invasion of the Piripkura lands. Their research has revealed that the Piripkura’s is now the most deforested uncontacted indigenous territory in Brazil. More than 12,000 hectares has already been destroyed.

The Uncontacted or Destroyed campaign highlights several uncontacted territories currently shielded by Land Protection Orders which are due to expire soon.

The only contacted Piripkura, a woman known as Rita, recently told Survival in a unique video appeal that outsiders operating illegally inside her people’s territory could soon kill her relatives, and described how nine of her relatives were massacred in one attack.

Sarah Shenker, head of Survival’s Uncontacted Tribes campaign, said today: “There could be no greater proof of the total impunity – indeed, active support – that land invaders enjoy under President Bolsonaro than this: commercial ranching operations in a vitally important indigenous territory that’s supposed to be protected by law. The invaders are fast approaching the uncontacted Piripkura. They’re resisting with all their might, and so must we. Only a major public outcry can prevent the genocide of the Piripkura and other uncontacted tribes. And an added bonus? A far cheaper and more effective way to protect Amazon rainforest than the fatal ‘solutions’ pushed by governments at COP.”

Elias Bigio of OPAN said today: “That area we flew over has been newly-cleared for beef production. They’ve already logged it, now they’re turning it into pasture for cattle.”

OPI said: “The Indigenous Territory and the Piripkura are extremely threatened. It’s the same thing that’s happened in other uncontacted tribes’ territories – the destruction is the ‘Bolsonaro Effect’, as it’s accelerated since 2019.”

This Amazon dam is supposed to provide clean energy, but it’s destroying livelihoods and unique species

This Amazon dam is supposed to provide clean energy, but it’s destroying livelihoods and unique species

This story first appeared in The Conversation.

By Brian Garvey and Sonia Magalhaes.

The Volta Grande region of the Amazon is a lush, fertile zone supplied by the Xingu River, whose biodiverse lagoons and islands have earned its designation as a priority conservation area by Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment.

But a recent decision by the Federal Regional Court in the state of Pará, Brazil, allows the continuing diversion of water from the Xingu River to the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam complex – rather than to local indigenous fishing communities. This is a disaster for the ecosystems and people of the Volta Grande.

Drowned trees in the midst of a riverbed
Damaged trees as a result of dam construction. Xingu Vivo, Author provided

The ruling, which reversed a temporary order for river diversion to be suspended, means that 80% of Xingu River flow will continue to be diverted away from the communities of Volta Grande. This impedes the main transport route for many indigenous people who live along the river and reduces fish diversity, compromising food security and livelihoods.

The decision also alters the river’s flood and ebb cycles. In addition to their importance for species’ reproduction and agriculture, these cycles guide local social, cultural and economic activity.

A river surrounded by deforested banks
Flooding and deforestation in the region has been linked to the Belo Monte complex. Verena GlassAuthor provided

According to the Federal Public Ministry, which is appealing the decision, this marks the seventh time the superior court has overturned previous legal decisions in favour of the construction and energy corporation Norte Energia, which owns Belo Monte.

Our team carried out research on the dam complex’s impacts in 2017 with the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science. We found persistent violations of the rights of traditional communities linked to Belo Monte, especially regarding their forced displacement from areas destined to form the dam’s reservoir.

In response, a spokesperson for Norte Energia said that the company has always operated in compliance with the environmental licensing for Belo Monte, and that all actions undertaken by Norte Energia were evaluated and approved by the environmental licensing agency IBAMA.

Belo Monte

Belo Monte is a hydroelectric complex formed by two dams. The first dam ensures sufficient water flow through the second one for electricity generation.

Marketed as supplying “clean energy”, the complex meets the industrial demands of the southern and north-eastern regions of Brazil. However, this appears to only refer to reductions in emissions, which themselves have been countered by evidence of increased greenhouse gas emissions from dams.

In response to these claims, the Norte Energia spokesperson said that hydroelectric power plants are expected to emit greenhouse gases. These emissions have been considered in Belo Monte’s Environmental Impact Assessment and are being compensated through initiatives including restoring local native vegetation and investments in conservation.

Deforested land under a cloudy sky
The Belo Monte complex under construction. Anfri/Pixabay

What’s more, the complex only generates 40% (4,571 megawatts) of its 11,233 megawatt capacity due to the large seasonal changes in flow rate of the Xingu River. A 2009 analysis predicted that the variability of the river’s flow – that reaches up up to 23 million litres per second under natural conditions – would result in unreliable energy generation and conflict over water use.

Although IBAMA judged in 2019 that efforts to mitigate the dam’s impact were insufficient to prevent marked ecological disruption, it permitted continuing diversion of water in February 2021.

As a result, the annual river cycles that sustained communities for generations have been destroyed along more than 120km of the Volta Grande.

A fisherman we interviewed warned, “These children of ours … won’t have the privileges that we had, and can learn nothing, I guarantee that. There’s nowhere for them now.”

The transformation of the region has resulted in the flooding of areas above the dam and droughts to areas below, as well as significantly decreased fish populations and destruction of fish nurseries.

Two images of fish held in person's hands
Adult individuals of the armoured cat-fish (Loricariidae) endemic to Xingu River show sunken eyes, lesions on the lips and fins, wounds on the skin and loss of teeth. André Oliveira Sawakuchi, Author provided

survey carried out by a team from the Federal University of Para in two areas shortly after the river’s flow was reduced also found the first signs of disappearance of organisms like “sarobal”: a type of vegetation that grows on rocks in the Xingu river bed, fundamental for the reproduction of many fish species.

A fisherwoman explained that sarobal “are resistant plants that when the river is flooded, they are submerged, but they do not die … sarobal has a lot of fruit and fish consume the fruit … I think almost every fish depends on it.”

Research found that these plants can withstand direct solar radiation, extremely high temperatures and cycles of severe drought, making their dwindling presence even more alarming.

An island in the middle of a river
The habitat of the sarobal, a plant vital for many river species. Yuri Silva (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Second project

The exploitation of this stretch of the Xingu River has been exacerbated by a second threat to the Amazonian ecosystem. The planned construction of Brazil’s largest open-pit gold mine within the Belo Monte dam area by Canadian company Belo Sun has been criticised for providing environmental impact assessments that allegedly ignore serious environmental contamination and violations of indigenous rights.

Now, groups campaigning against this project say they are subject to violent threats, although it has not been established who is behind this. A local resident explained to researchers: “Here we feel intimidated. The guys are really well armed, while we work just with our machete and our hoe.”

These claims appear to illustrate the stark power inequities in this region of Pará – the region with the highest number of attacks on indigenous leaders in Brazil in recent years – as well as the broader social consequences of energy creation schemes.

At the time of publication, Belo Sun had not responded to a request for comment on points raised in this article.

Banner image:  International Rivers/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Brazil farming co-op carves a sustainable path through agribusiness stronghold

Brazil farming co-op carves a sustainable path through agribusiness stronghold

This story first appeared in Mongabay.

By Shanna Hanbury

  • Coopcerrado, a farmer’s cooperative of 5,000 families, won the United Nations’ Equator Prize under the category of “New Nature Economies” due to its more than two decades of work in developing a farmer-to-farmer model of mutual support for training, commercializing and setting up organic and regenerative businesses in the Brazilian Cerrado.
  • The Cerrado savanna, a biodiversity hotspot holding 5% of the world’s biodiversity is also among one of the most threatened, with almost half of the biome destroyed for agriculture and a process of desertification already underway, scientists say.
  • To save the Cerrado, farmers and traditional extractivist communities have developed an expandable model of collective support in knowledge and resource-sharing while restoring the biome and providing an income for thousands of vulnerable families.
  • Bureaucratic and logistic hurdles in Brazil traditionally leave small farmers and traditional communities out of mainstream markets and industries, but bridging this gap has been one of the keys to the cooperative’s success.

When farmer Mônica de Souza Ribeiro moved into her landless settlement in the state of Goiás in central Brazil in the late 1990s, she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of agrotoxins and chemicals deployed in the cattle- and soy-dominated region. At first, she followed suit, using chemical fertilizers to grow the vegetables that she sold for her family business. But she became increasingly concerned as she watched the destruction around her.

Brazil’s Cerrado, a Mexico-sized tropical savanna, holds 5% of the world’s biodiversity, but almost half of the natural vegetation has now been replaced by agribusiness — mostly soy and corn monocultures as well as cattle pastures. The vast destruction is now fueling desertification, threatening regional climate stability, biodiversity, and Brazil’s energy and food supplies.

“When we moved here, I wouldn’t see a single bird. The poison would kill everything,” Ribeiro told Mongabay in a telephone interview from the settlement in rural Guapó municipality. “I wanted to take care of nature and the Cerrado, but I didn’t know how.”

That changed when she joined Coopcerrado, now a 5,000-family-strong organic farmers’ cooperative and the 2021 winner of the United Nations’ Equator Prize under the category “New Nature Economies” for its two-decade-long fight to make regenerative and organic production possible for smallholders. Coopcerrado is today made up of 238 smallholder and traditional communities across five states in Brazil’s agribusiness stronghold.

Life has gotten harder for the region’s vulnerable communities under Brazil’s anti-environment president, Jair Bolsonaro. As economic and political pressures continue to favor the nation’s powerful agribusiness lobby, traditional communities find themselves under increasing threat of violent eviction, with land conflicts breaking records last year. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take its toll on the sector, burying a number of small businesses, the cooperative offers a glimmer of hope.

“The cooperative stood out as an effective model for the sustainable use of a vulnerable biome by successfully commercializing over 170 non-timber forest products,” Anna Medri, a senior analyst at the United Nations Development Programme, told Mongabay. “It provides a blueprint for sustainable supply chains that leave ecosystems intact.”

Less exploitation, more conservation when Cerrado communities are supported

Twenty years ago, the overharvesting of a bean pod called faveira was damaging the Cerrado and exploiting its pickers. With pharmaceutical companies creating high demand for the plant, which is rich in several flavonoids used to make medication for high-blood pressure, middlemen would source it from the region’s most vulnerable, often women and children without land.

At the time faveira cost the equivalent of only 0.22 reais, or 4 U.S. cents, adjusted for inflation. People harvesting the pods could barely make ends meet, according to Alessandra da Silva, a coordinator at Coopcerrado and one of its longest-standing members. Faveira was so cheap in its raw form that it could be exchanged for an equal weight of salt.

“The lowest price was paid to the people collecting this plant. It was devalued by the exploitative supply chain, and the environment suffered too,” Silva said. “No one had an incentive to protect nature.”

The cooperative’s first project, in 2000, saw faveira collectors organizing with the help of consultants and agronomists. With organic certification and improved techniques, and without the middlemen, the cooperative was able to collectively negotiate with local pharmaceutical companies. The result was that people at the bottom of the supply chain saw a price jump of more than 1,000%, now selling their faveira for 2.60 reais (50 cents). This agreement also put a stop to the predatory extraction that was harming the environment.

For the plant to have time to regenerate, farmers need to skip a harvest every two years. The collective planning and increased income for the families gave it the time required to thrive.

Working under one unified contract also made life easier for everyone. Pharmaceutical companies no longer needed to negotiate hundreds of separate contracts and had a reliable source for the ingredient. And faveira farmers could avoid having to deal with red tape.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Silva said.

Today, Coopcerrado has applied similar strategies for 170 native Cerrado species harvested by the cooperative, sold to local markets, nationwide supermarket chains, multinational companies, and for export. The cooperative negotiates billing, packaging and sale of the products collectively as well. The cooperative also takes responsibility for transportation, providing access for hard-to-reach families and communities in rural areas.

Sharing resources and skills key to success

Members of the cooperative subdivide into hundreds of smaller units. Every 10 families make up a local nucleus that meets monthly to receive support and training from the cooperative’s agronomists and share skills. “Recently, I shared my natural remedy for fending off an aggressive ant attacking the plants,” Ribeiro said. “We share the knowledge we carry between us and also learn from the technical, professional assistance from agronomists.”

Thousands of families and communities now make a better living restoring the environment and protecting the region’s biodiversity. But the challenges are still huge.

“Banks won’t dole out credit for this kind of project. They still don’t think it’s a worthwhile investment,” Silva told Mongabay, adding that government support has also fallen under both the Terner and Bolsonaro administrations.

Resource sharing among members helps bridge that gap. A pay-it-forward cyclical credit scheme, which is not always available to due funding limitations, and a free seed bank help support new and existing members.

In 2010, the project granted Ribeiro access to a cyclical project-based credit subsidy to plant her first chili pepper harvest, making it possible for her to get started. Once she earned the money back, the funds reverted to the next farmer.

A path away from greed and exploitation

In coming years, Coopcerrado plans to reach 10,000 families. For this, it needs access to resources such as credit, grants and donations, as well as changes in public policy.

“We want to revert this path of exploitation and greed and show that there is another possible path for the Cerrado,” Silva said.

Government action could make a huge difference in expanding the horizons of sustainable land use in the region, she said, but the prospects under Brazil’s current administration are dim. For years, the cooperative’s farmers sold flour made from the nutritious baru nut to the government for public school meals. But the program was slashed in recent years, and the government terminated the contract.

Improved land rights and government measures to support traditional communities are also in dire need, Silva said. “Many communities face high levels of precarity, but the cooperative can’t replace public policy,” she said.

Ten years after joining the cooperative, Ribeiro says she sees a massive change on her own land, now an organic vegetable farm.

“People aren’t waking up to the fact that we’re killing the life on Earth. If we allow large-scale farmers to destroy everything here in the Cerrado and plant crops right up to the riverbanks, where are the animals going to live?” she said. “Today, my farm is a happier place. Nature feels more alive. Life around me has transformed, there are lots of birds in the sky. Even people around us who aren’t part of the cooperative have started reducing agrotoxins.”