Overexploitation of the Amazon region

Last Thursday, Edson Fachin, Minister of the Supreme Court (STF) of Brazil, suspended a controversial executive order from 2017. The executive order in question (No. 001/2017) has made it difficult for indigenous peoples to legally claim their traditional lands and to protect them from overexploitation. "The powerful agribusiness sector and the Bolsonaro government will be very much displeased by the minister's order," stated Juliana Miyazaki, expert on indigenous peoples of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). "They have repeatedly used the executive order to prevent or reverse the demarcation of indigenous territories." The order had also prevented forced evictions and expulsions of indigenous people from their land until the end of the pandemic.

At first glance, the ruling seems to be a positive step. "Naturally, an order like this is only helpful to the extent that it is respected and followed," Miyazaki added. Thus, deforestation and mining activities on indigenous territories are prohibited by law. "However, in the shadow of the pandemic, there has been an increase in invasions of indigenous territories. The invaders come to cut timber, to mine for gold, and to raise cattle herds." According to Miyazaki, deforestation rates on indigenous territory have risen by 59 percent during the pandemic, and mining activities by 45 percent.

At the same time, the struggle of the indigenous communities of Brazil for their rights and their resistance against encroachments continues under difficult conditions. Over the weekend, envoys of several national and international organizations met for a two-day online session. Among other things, they discussed the situation of the indigenous communities in Brazil as well as possible strategies against the spread of the coronavirus. Indigenous people usually have hardly any access to the health system. There is a lack of equipment and medicines. "The authorities are trying to play down the serious impact of the pandemic on indigenous peoples," Miyazaki said. "Thus, the indigenous peoples' organization APIB reported 64 deaths in 30 different tribes – while the state authorities counted only 15 deaths among the indigenous communities, which is partly because indigenous people who moved to a city are not counted as such. This affects about half of the country's indigenous inhabitants.