Xingu at the front line against destruction

Side by side in the Menkragnoti Indigenous Land, at the 4º Xingu + Network Summit, riverine and indigenous peoples sign an alliance in defense of the Amazon

By: Isabel Harari, journalist, ISA
Photos: Lucas Landau/ Rede Xingu +
Video: Kamikia Kisedje / Rede Xingu +

After being painted by her grandmas and aunts, O-é Kayapó notices that she doesn’t have a headdress. On the brink of a storm in the Kubenkokre village, what would make it impossible for her to participate in a video recording, the young indigenous woman asks her grandfather, Xuakre, to borrow his headdress so she could take part in the video.

The meeting brought together 130 leaders of 14 indigenous peoples and traditional populations in the Menkragnoti Indigenous Land, in the heart of the Xingu, between August 21st and 23rd. During three days they discussed strategies to face the threats against their rights and signed an alliance for the future of the forest.

Watch the video made by the indigenous filmmaker Kamikia Kisedje

The borders of the protected areas (Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units) in the Xingu river basin are on the frontline of deforestation. Only in this year, more than 92 thousand hectares of forest have been cut down in the region, increasing the pressure over the territory. Arson, land grabbing, mining, wood theft, the encroachment of farming and infrastructure works threaten the integrity of the forest and its peoples.

More than 1.300 kilometers separate the riverine Denilson Machado da Silva and O-é Kayapó. The young man lives in the Riozinho do Anfrísio Extractive Reserve, which has the same name as one of the Xingu river tributaries. His speech is equal to the indigenous girl´s: “it’s time to show that this division between indigenous people and traditional communities is over. We’re different, but there’s a great similarity: we live in the forest in a sustainable way. At the moment of defending the Xingu, we’re all in this together.”

In the last 10 years, 1,2 million hectares were deforested in the Xingu river basin. From the destruction of 40% of the Xingu springs, at the heads of the river, in Mato Grosso State, to the construction of Belo Monte Dam, next to Great Turn (Volta Grande), in Pará State, the pressure over the forest, the rivers and the people of Xingu put at risk one of the most diverse regions in the world. Only in August this year, 5,266 fire spots were registered, 345% more than the registered the month before.

The protected areas, which form the Social environmental Diversity Xingu Corridor, established themselves as a barrier against devastation. There are 26 million hectares with 21 Indigenous Lands and nine contiguous Conservation Units, connected by the Xingu and its tributaries.

“The Xingu river is very big but, facing so many threats, it can become small”, alerts Yakuna Ikpeng, teacher in the village, in the Xingu Indigenous Territory (TIX, in Portuguese), Mato Grosso State.

The TIX faces a dramatic situation. Between 2007 and 2017, the area of grains planted around the land grew from 135%, together with the use of pesticides, which increased 130% at the same time, according to IBGE/Sidra(government data agency). In 2017, it’s estimated that between 60 and 90 million liters of pesticide were used in the Mato Grosso portion of the Xingu river basin.

“Soybean plantations have come close to our territory, it’s all around us, it’s a lot of pesticides, very dangerous. The poison that falls into the rivers contaminates the fish. The future is threatening”, tells Witi Khĩsêtjê, who lives in the Indigenous Land Wawi, in the TIX.

Only this year, 918 kilometers of roads associated to illegal mining were open inside the Kayapó IL. Since the beginning of the year, 966 hectares were deforested inside this protected area. Bengoti Kayapó, from Protected Forest Association (AFP, in Portuguese), shows on the map the scary proximity between the village and the waste pool.

“There are PCs [how hydraulic diggers are called] next to the cemetery, next to the village”, points Bengoti. “We’re all contaminated, from diseases that can’t be cured, that come from mercury”.

Illegal mining threatens the ILs Menkragnoti, Baú, Trincheira Bacajá, the Riozinho do Anfrísio Resex and other protected areas of the basin. The summit attendants fear that a possible relaxation in laws and regulations might end up legalizing illegal mining inside Indigenous Lands and could aggravate even more the pressure over the territory and the destruction of its rivers.

“I’m a resident of my land, my roots are there. We don’t want deforestation in our land, we don’t want non-indigenous inside, only us”, tells Iaut Arara, from Cachoeira Seca do Iriri IL. Since January more than one thousand hectares inside the protected area were deforested, which holds the negative record of being the most deforested area in the last six years.

Tye Parakanã echoes Iaut. He lives in the Apyterewa IL, also located in the Terra do Meio protected area mosaic. Despite having the permanent presence of the National Force, less than 20% of the area is under total indigenous people possession, according to FUNAI (National Indigenous Foundation). “My people is against invasions. Intruders removal now!”, calls out Tye.

“We want our land free. If the forest is gone, what will we do? How will our children live?”, questions Iaut, at the plenary of the meeting. The indigenous leaders clap and manifest their support, from the back an old Kayapó says, in his language, “we’ll go with them, together”.

The Apyterewa and Cachoeira Seca ILs are in the influence area of Belo Monte Dam, and a territorial protection plan should have been implemented in 2011, before the dam installation. The construction of protection bases and the removal of non-indigenous invaders from the areas, a part of this condition, has not been entirely implemented yet.

Indigenous people and riverines are the protagonists in an unique articulation in the Xingu river basin: the structuration of a forest economy based in value chains for forest non-wooden products. They take their products and experience to the Xingu+.

The chain structuration of brazilian chestnut, rubber, babaçu, copaíba, pepper, honey, pequi, seeds and handicraft, among others, have contributed to the political articulation of these populations and also seen as an important alternative to illegal activities.

“We produce and commercialize organic food, we can put it in the market and value the health of the ones who are buying it, beyond our forests”, states Winti Khĩsêtjê.

At the beginning of the year, the Khĩsêtjê pequi oil and the babaçu oil produced by the menire — Xikrin women from Trincheira Bacajá IL — , were awarded by the UN. In 2017, the honey produced by the Xingu indigenous people received the same award. [link]

On the last day of the summit, the chief Kokoba Menkragnotire paints young Pukjora Panará’s face. Representatives of historically enemies peoples, this gesture would be unthinkable some decades ago.

“I ask all the folks to leave the past behind”, speaks Doto Takak-Ire, Kayapó leader, at the plenary. He refers to wars that his people used to fight against other ethnicities from the region. “Before we used to fight a lot, but today this is over. We’re going to move on, we’ll think about a future together”.

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