Indigenous reserves were the least deforested areas in Brazil in 36 years

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Indigenous reserves, with only 1.6% of all deforestation suffered by Brazil in the last 36 years, are the best-preserved areas in the country, according to a study prepared by the MapBiomas organization with the help of satellite images and artificial intelligence.

According to this multi-institutional platform that brings together universities, non-governmental organizations, and technology companies, Brazil deforested between 1985 and 2020 about 820,000 square kilometers of vegetation cover, almost 9.64% of its territory and an area equivalent to twice the size of Paraguay.

But of all this lost extension, only 13,120 square kilometers, 1.6% of the total, were in indigenous reserves already delimited or awaiting delimitation.

This small percentage demonstrates the environmental preservation capacity of the indigenous populations, whose 488 delimited territories, according to government data, occupy 12% of the country’s 8.6 million square kilometers.

“Most of the indigenous lands have preserved their original characteristics in 36 years, which proves the valuable environmental service that these communities provide to Brazil,” said MapBiomas in a statement, an initiative that has the technological support of Google and has among its members international environmental organizations such as WWF and Conservation International.

The scientific coordinator of MapBiomas, Julia Shimbo, told Efe that while the deforestation suffered by Brazil in 36 years only affected 1.6% of indigenous reserves, that percentage was 68% in private lands.

“The satellite images leave no doubt: those who take the best care of the Amazon are the indigenous people,” said the coordinator of MapBiomas, Tasso Azevedo.

According to the study, between 1985 and 2020, Brazil lost 530,000 square kilometers of rainforest, or 12% of its total jungles and forests; 210,000 kilometers of savanna vegetation (16%), and 80,000 square kilometers of other natural vegetation (12%).

In percentage terms, the area covered by forest in Brazil fell from 52.8 % in 1985 to 46.5 % in 2020. The area of savanna vegetation fell from 15.4 % to 13.0 % in the same period and that of other natural vegetation from 7.5 % to 6.6 %.

AREA USED FOR AGRICULTURE GREW BY 44.6 % IN 36 YEARS.

This area was mainly cleared to make room for agriculture, whose area grew by 44.6%, making the Latin American giant one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of food.

While the area devoted to pasture for livestock grew by 39%, from 1,114,900 square kilometers in 1985 to 1,544,900 square kilometers in 2020, an area equivalent to that of Mongolia, the area devoted to agriculture jumped by 190%, to 557,200 square kilometers, the size of Kenya.

Currently, the area used for agriculture in Brazil is equivalent to 30.9% of the national territory (including 18.2% of pastures), and the area without vegetation is 0.7% (including 0.5% of the urban area).

The area with grasslands jumped from 13 % of Brazil in 1985 to 18.1 % in 2020 and crops from 2.3 % to 6.5 %.

The disclosure that indigenous lands are a model of preservation comes when both the Supreme Court and Congress are discussing measures that threaten their territories.

This week, the Supreme Court is analyzing the constitutionality of a measure that only allows indigenous people to claim the lands they already occupied or claimed in 1988, when the Constitution was enacted, which leaves in doubt some 300 reserves pending delimitation.

Under discussion in Congress is a bill authorizing the economic exploitation of the reserves, including mining and hydroelectric plants, which was proposed by the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who since taking office has said that he will not allow the creation of more delimited (fixed boundary) lands for the indigenous peoples.

Bolsonaro has not created any reserves since he took office in January 2019, further slowing down the guarantee of native lands to indigenous people.

In the government of Michel Temer (2016-2018) only one reserve was delimited, while Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016) delimited 21, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) 87 and Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1985-2002) 145.