On the 1^st January 2019, Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil, on an extreme anti-indigenous and anti-environment platform. He was labelled as another Trump, expressing the same populist rhetoric of racism and division, and on the record with such statements as “the indians are evolving, more and more they are human beings like us.” He put his agenda towards the indigenous peoples at the forefront of his campaign, stoking tensions between different groups and promising to take land away from indigenous communities for the progress of Brazil, to be exploited for their rich resources of gold, timber, and cleared for agriculture and cattle ranching.

There are 896,917 indigenous peoples in Brazil, with 576 indigenous territories covering over 117 million hectares, most of which are in the Amazon Rainforest. Their rights are protected under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which is not binding by law but still has a lot of influence. Their rights are bound by law, however, in The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 and the Brazilian Constitution. Of these rights, one of the most important is the right to possession of their lands. In Brazil, this right is realised through the demarcation of indigenous territories by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the government department for indigenous affairs. However, since the election of Bolsonaro, this right has been severely at risk. He has transferred the power of demarcation from FUNAI to the Ministry of Agriculture, which is controlled by the agribusiness lobby. In fact, he appointed the agribusiness lobby chief as Agriculture Minister. This was part of a sweep of appointments of Bolsonaro’s allies to key positions, including an anti-environment Environment Minister, and an evangelical missionary as head of uncontacted tribes, as well as many military personnel with no political expertise.

In February 2020, Bolsonaro proposed a bill which would allow previously illegal mining and the construction of hydroelectric dams to take place on indigenous lands. This kind of activity is devastating for the communities who rely on these areas to survive. The situation over land in Brazil has long been a volatile one, stained with violence and murder. Land conflicts reached an all-time high in 2020, and Brazil has one of the worst murder rates for human rights and environmental activists in the world, particularly in the Amazon. Illegal miners, loggers and ranchers have become increasingly emboldened by Bolsonaro and his rhetoric, attacking villages and murdering tribe members who try and defend their land. Bolsonaro has been quoted as saying of the indigenous peoples, “if they intrude onto private lands, they’ll get “lead” [bullets]”. This went so far as farmers burning 2,500 km2 of the Amazon rainforest to the ground in August 2019, shocking the world. And yet, still nothing has stopped the trail of destruction Bolsonaro is leaving in his wake.

On top of all of these factors, the Covid-19 pandemic has only made matters worse for indigenous peoples in Brazil. At first, Bolsonaro refused to acknowledge the pandemic at all, resulting in the death toll steadily climbing higher and indigenous peoples being increasingly exposed to the virus by illegal miners and missionary workers, with little to no access to healthcare. Law enforcement officials who tried to protect indigenous territories from the spread of the virus were arrested, and pleas for additional help for the state of Amazonas were ignored. In Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, the hospitals were so overrun that doctors had to choose who to save. In January 2021, Indigenous leaders filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court against Bolsonaro for crimes against humanity related to how he dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. For the indigenous communities of Brazil, there is not just a loss of life being suffered, but a loss of generations of knowledge and traditions that will never be passed down from elders.

By attacking the rights of indigenous peoples, Bolsonaro is also attacking the environment. Deforestation is increasing rapidly under his presidency and the Amazon Fund, set up to fund conservation in the Amazon, has been dissolved. This all comes at a time when climate change is a very real global threat, and the Amazon acts as a carbon sink to mitigate the impacts. Unfortunately, however, being a carbon sink can act as a blessing and a curse because, although when left alone the trees help to combat climate change, but when they are felled, they release their stored carbon back into the atmosphere. This means that deforestation not only removes one of the world’s most important climate change mitigators, but it actively contributes to climate change.

In the heart of the Amazon there is a man who lives alone in his territory as the last surviving member of his tribe. His family and community were murdered by illegal loggers and ranchers in the 1970/80s and he has survived alone ever since, uncontacted by the outside world. FUNAI have been protecting his territory, and as long as he is alive, that area will be safe from deforestation because of him. The rainforest protects him and in turn he protects the rainforest. His story shows that by protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, we also protect the environment, which is vital to us all. Bolsonaro is presenting a major threat to this balance by not only ignoring the rights of indigenous peoples, but actively violating them. There is hope, however, as the people of Brazil are growing increasingly angry with the actions of their government. Recently, we have seen multiple protests against him and his administration, and indigenous activists are fighting hard for their rights. After all, these rights are binding by law, and represent the things most important to them; their traditions, their health, and their homes.

By Laura Roper, LLM student

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