Report: Brazil’s isolated indigenous territories lost 3,200 hectares to deforestation in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In 2021, 3,220 hectares of indigenous lands with the presence of isolated indigenous peoples were deforested, according to data from the Sirad-I report, the monitoring system of the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA).

There were also 904 deforestation alerts registered within these territories, mainly concentrated in the Piripkura (MT), Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau (RO), Araribóia (MA) and Munduruku (PA) Indigenous Territories (IT).

Deforestation was also registered in the areas surrounding these territories, “which reveals the enormous pressure on these peoples,” the report states.

The Piripkura Indigenous Land leads the list of the 15 Indigenous Territories ISA has identified as having the largest area deforested in 2021: 1,290 hectares.

The organization points to the expiration of the Use Restriction Ordinance, a legal mechanism designed to prevent invasions and that, therefore, “should protect the territory and the group of isolated indigenous people who live there.”

In September 2021, the federal government renewed the ordinance for 6 months, due to expire in March 2022. Traditionally, the established term is 3 years. The new legal protection period is the shortest since 2008, when it was created.

“In addition, there is large deforestation located less than 500 meters from the territorial limit, and several byways that ease access to its interior,” the organization reports.

Next comes the Mundukuru Indigenous Land, with 1,096 hectares devastated by mining. According to the organization, the region has historically suffered “from illegal mining.” Today, the “gold rush seems to be intensifying more and more within this territory,” which has led to the destruction of at least 3 rivers in the region, ISA reports.

“What has driven this massacre in the last 3 years within the territory is deeply linked to the dismantling of socio-environmental legislation. This has greatly influenced the expansion of mining activity and the reactivation of old mines in the territory.”