– Representatives of the indigenous movement will attend Public Hearing to discuss large undertaking

 

– Processes stalled, isolated peoples threatened, and illegal exploitation of resources mark indigenous reality in the state of Mato Grosso

 

 

Representatives of the indigenous movement will attend Public Hearing to discuss large undertakings

 

A Public Hearing will be held this Thursday, the 27th, in the afternoon to discuss projects which affect indigenous lands and for representatives of the indigenous movement to discuss rules and procedures for licensing projects which affect indigenous lands with representatives of the federal administration. They will discuss the construction of hydroelectric power plants, roads and waterways, among other projects.

 

According to the representatives of the indigenous movement, the fact that projects are being launched without any consultations with the affected indigenous communities constitutes a “lack of respect” for them. “Today, we want this disrespect for our communities to become visible. The right to be consulted is being disregarded,” said Sandro Tuxá, from Bahia, who is in Brasília attending a seminar in which this topic was discussed.

 

The indigenous people also criticize the use of a fait accompli policy adopted by the Brazilian environmental agency, Ibama. “Ibama issues a preliminary license for the projects without consulting the indigenous communities affected by them. After the projects begin to be implemented, it ends up forcing the communities to join the debate to discuss compensations, without leaving any choice available to us,” argued Sandro Tuxá.

 

Another problem mentioned by the indigenous people is that the licensing of the projects is usually based on environmental impact studies carried out for each project individually. As a result, the impacts caused by the projects as a whole in a region are never considered. Sandro Tuxá mentioned the Xingu region to provide an example of this situation, where there are plans to build six dams without studying the impact of this set of dams on the population and on the environment. “We will propose that the environmental impact studies should not be carried out separately by each party involved. If the construction of a dam will lead to the construction of a road in the end, it must take this impact into account,” he said.

 

The public hearing to be held this afternoon will be attended by representatives from the Civil House of the Office of the President of the Republic and from the ministries of Planning, Transportation, Mines and Energy, Justice, Environment and National Integration, in addition to representatives of Funai and Ibama, whose presence has been confirmed.

 

Since Wednesday, the 26th, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) has been holding meetings to define joint strategies to ensure the social control of physical integration and electricity generation projects which cause impacts on indigenous lands, and to generate technical inputs for the Organizations and Communities affected by the projects.

 

National movement

The projects were discussed in a seminar for strengthening Apib which addressed topics such as autonomy, territorial management and ethnodevelopment; land demarcation; health care; education; social control and management of the indigenous policy. Among others points, the seminar defined proposals for the indigenous policy that will be presented to candidates for President of the Republic in the elections to be held in October.

 

 

Processes stalled, isolated peoples threatened, and illegal exploitation of resources mark indigenous reality in the state of Mato Grosso

 

In the state of Mato Grosso, located in the west region of Brazil, there are at least five lands whose ownership legalization processes are stalled. These lands are the Batelão and Cururuzinho lands of the Kayabi people; the Manoki land of the Irantxe people; the Teresa Cristina land of the Bororo people; the Baía do Guató land of the Guató people; and the Portal do Encantado land of the Chiquitano people. Other peoples have not managed to ensure the setting up of technical groups to identify their traditional lands or parts of them which were excluded from previous demarcation procedures. These include the Castanhal and Tucunzal lands of the Myky people; the Rio Preto land of the Enawenê Nawê people; the lands of the Chiquitano people and the Pontal land of the Apiaka people.

 

Lands such as the Jarudori land of the Bororo people and the Urubu Branco land of the Tapirapé people have been invaded. The Marãiwatsede land of the Xavante people has been occupied by invaders and the indigenous people have been confined to a small space and prevented from circulating inside their own territory, although it has been demarcated, confirmed and registered.

 

Despite recent police operations to control deforestation in the state of Mato Grosso, problems caused by the illegal extraction of timber and pollution continue and have become more serious as a result of the expansion of soybean monoculture schemes, which pollute waters and affect entire rivers.

 

Indigenous people who live in isolation in the Rio Pardo indigenous land continue face the threat of genocide, which will only be eliminated after all invaders of their lands are removed from them and they are demarcated and protected.

 

The evaluation of the situation of indigenous lands in the state of Mato Grosso was made by bishops, religious people and laypersons who are members of the Indianist Missionary Council during the Assembly of the Regional Office of the organization in Mato Grosso, which was held on July 17-21 in São Félix do Araguaia. In a manifesto, they stated that the above-mentioned situations should be immediately addressed by the Brazilian State, or else they will contribute to the ethnocide and genocide of these peoples. In their evaluation, they say that “the moratorium on the demarcation of indigenous lands imposed by the government of the state of Mato Grosso, the use of these lands as political currency and the inaction of the federal administration are the causes of this dramatic situation.”

 

Brasília, July 27, 2006