Protecting Amazonia Should Focus on Protecting Indigenous, Traditional Peoples and Their Territories

Article Environmental Sciences

Mining threatens isolated indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon

Sara Villen-Perez et al.

Summary: The largest concentration of isolated indigenous peoples in the world is located in the indigenous lands of the Brazilian Legal Amazon. However, the survival and right to self-isolation of these societies are at risk due to the potential exploitation of their untouched territories. A recent bill proposes opening up indigenous lands to mining, and the threat posed by this to isolated indigenous groups and their territories has been assessed.

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE-HUMAN AND POLICY DIMENSIONS (2022)

Add to Collection

Article Environmental Studies

Government policies endanger the indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon

Katyanne Conceicao et al.

Summary: The study revealed an ongoing deforestation process in the Brazilian Amazon region, driven by squatters and land grabbers who are rapidly developing in an illegal manner, hoping for future legalization through a land regularization law. This process seems to be promoted by Brazilian Federal Government rhetoric and mediated by local politicians, conveying a message of weak repression against invasions of public lands.

LAND USE POLICY (2021)

Add to Collection

Letter Ecology

The Brazilian Amazon deforestation rate in 2020 is the greatest of the decade

Celso H. L. Silva Junior et al.

NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (2021)

Add to Collection

Article Forestry

Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Diversity and Life Zone for Uncontacted Indigenous People: Deforestation Hotspots in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, Ecuadorian Amazon

Marco Heredia-R et al.

Summary: Land use and land cover change is crucial for monitoring environmental change in areas of high biodiversity like the Amazon biome. This study in northern Ecuador aimed to investigate territorial dynamics of land use changes and found that most land in the study area was transformed into pastures. Improved territorial planning is essential to avoid conflicts between different populations living in the area.

FORESTS (2021)

Add to Collection

Article Forestry

Relationship between Biomass Burning Emissions and Deforestation in Amazonia over the Last Two Decades

Guilherme A. V. Mataveli et al.

Summary: This study used remote sensing data to estimate biomass burning emissions and deforestation in the Amazon region, finding a significant impact of deforestation on biomass burning emissions and a correlation between the two in terms of time and space.

FORESTS (2021)

Add to Collection

Article Political Science

The Colonial Reproduction of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Violence Against Indigenous Peoples for Land Development

Danilo Urzedo et al.

Summary: This article argues that land clearing of the Amazon rainforest has been historically determined by colonial plans that lead to high rates of tropical deforestation and social injustice. The destruction of the Amazon has resulted in ecocide through large-scale environmental degradation accompanied by historical genocide and the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples.

JOURNAL OF GENOCIDE RESEARCH (2021)

Add to Collection

Article Environmental Studies

Environmental Threats over Amazonian Indigenous Lands

Ana C. Rorato et al.

Summary: The study reveals that Amazonian Indigenous Lands are facing various internal and external environmental threats, such as deforestation, forest degradation, fires, and illegal mining. To protect the rights of indigenous peoples, surveillance actions should be enhanced, illegal activities should be combated, and invaders should be removed promptly.

LAND (2021)

Add to Collection

Article Environmental Sciences