Advisors met in Brasília to exchange experiences about their territories and discuss opportunities to promote the strengthening of territorial management and protection
In a scenario of reduced deforestation, however, of increased risk due to the advancement of infrastructure works and illegal activities in the Xingu Protected Areas, Xingu+ advisors met in Brasília, between March 08th and 11th, to discuss strategies to strengthen the management of their territories.
During the event, representatives from the Association of Residents of the Rio Iriri Extractive Reserve (AMORERI), Association of Residents of the Rio Xingu Extractive Reserve (AMOMEX), Associação Yudjá Mïratu da Volta Grande do Xingu (AIMIX), Instituto Kabu (IK), Associação Floresta Protegida (AFP), Associação Terra Indígena Xingu (ATIX) and Associação Khisedje (AIK), exchanged experiences and visions of their territories, made decisions and identified joint opportunities, strengthening existing connections to promote integrated management and protection of the Xingu Basin.
Leaders of the indigenous peoples of Kisêdjê, Juruna, Kayapó, Kawaiwete, Yawalapiti and riverside people of the Terra do Meio Extractive Reserves, participated in the meeting together with the team from the Executive Secretariat of the Xingu+* Network, which is currently run by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).
The coordination between representatives of the so-called “Xingu Socio-Environmental Diversity Corridor”, an area of 26 million preserved hectares where around 25 thousand people live, is important to face the ongoing threats in the region that directly and indirectly impact the indigenous peoples and traditional communities living in the region.
Xingu+ Assembly 2024
On the first day, the counselors defined the date, agendas and delegations that will participate in the 6th Meeting of the Xingu+ Network, which this time will be held in the São Francisco community, at Resex Rio Iriri, Pará. Between May 28th and 31st, the Members of Xingu+ and their partners will debate the challenges faced by the people of the forest and outline strategies for the protection of the Xingu River, their ways of life and the preservation of the standing forest.
Advancement of threats to Xingu
The second day was dedicated to updating deforestation data in the Xingu Basin. To this end, Xingu+ advisors revisited the map of pressures and threats produced last year, to assess the areas most impacted by the advance of wood theft, mining and infrastructure works in Xingu - especially Ferrogrão (EF-170), which provides for the connection of the north of Mato Grosso to the south of Pará, with the aim of strengthening the grain flow route.
The railway will pass close to Indigenous Lands and Protected Areas, such as the Kabu Institute region, which represents 12 communities of the Mẽbêngôkre-Kayapó people distributed between the Baú and Menkragnoti Indigenous Lands (TIs) and two communities of the Panará TI.
The territory is in the area most impacted by the railway route and, to date, there has been no consultation with indigenous peoples associated with the Kabu Institute: “We were not consulted. The National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) used a document that does not guarantee that the prior, free and informed consultation process was carried out, as provided for in Convention 169 of the ILO (International Labor Organization). After 7 years, the agency recognized their mistake and sent a document apologizing to the Kabu institute. They need to apologize to all the chiefs, children, forest and rivers”, lamented the advisor of Rede Xingu+ and public relations at the Kabu institute, Mydjere Kayapó.
The analyst at the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Mariel Nakane, highlights that studies on the Ferrogrão project were resumed in 2023, after 2 years of interruption due to a preliminary decision in the case of ADI 6553, in the Federal Supreme Court. In July 2023, Rede Xingu+ presented technical subsidies on the resumption of the project, and in October 2023 he joined GT Ferrogrão as a member of civil society, created by the Ministry of Transport to debate studies and processes on the project, adds Mariel Nakane.
These are works, a priority for the State, that continue to threaten the largest tropical forest in the world and violate the rights of the people who live there. At the other end of the Xingu, the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant, which arrived in the region more than eleven years ago, leaves a legacy of irreversible impacts, as reported by counselor Gilliard Juruna, representative of the Yudjá Mïratu Association, from Volta Grande do Xingu (AIMIX ) during the second day of the Xingu+ board meeting:
“With the current hydrograph, there is no fish reproduction below the dam. The Tracajás are dying. The holes are drying out and eroding. We are the ones monitoring. The islands are turning to dry land and there is not enough fruit for the fish. We are seeing fish with deformation.”
A animation 'Pulsa, Xingu+', launched last year, illustrates a hydrograph proposal produced by researchers from MATI (Independent Territorial Environmental Monitoring) of Volta Grande do Xingu. Composed of local scientists and academics, the collective monitors the impacts caused by the Belo Monte operation on a daily basis.
Watch the animation!
Strengthening Xingu Territorial and Environmental Management
“If we want to improve the management of our land, how much resources will we need?”, asked Pedro Gasparinetti, economist and director of the Strategic Conservation Fund (CSF).
The Fund is building, in partnership with Rede Xingu+, the Cost Calculator for Indigenous Land Management, an online calculator that will make it possible to quantify the costs for implementing the axes indicated in the Land Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTAs). Indigenous people of the Xingu Corridor.
The third day of the meeting was dedicated to evaluating the last stage of development of the tool, which was prepared based on past expenses from eight Indigenous Lands in the Xingu Basin, with different projections, such as: changes in population and degree of pressures and threats. During the 6th Meeting of the Xingu+ Network, the final version of the Management Cost Calculator in Indigenous Lands will be presented.
For Winti Khĩsêtjê, advisor at Rede Xingu+, the online calculator will make it much easier to create budgets for fundraising according to the communities' priorities. In addition to the online calculation tool, a proposal for a Fund for the Xingu Corridor was also discussed, aimed at supporting the implementation of PGTAs and Management Plans for Indigenous Lands and Extractive Reserves of the Xingu.
Xingu Protected Areas Corridor: a green shield against destruction
If, on the one hand, enterprises with high socio-environmental impact and illicit activities violate the rights of indigenous and traditional peoples in the Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units of the Xingu, on the other, the Xingu+ Political Council is evaluating, together with the Federal Government, the creation of a figure of integrated management in the Xingu Protected Areas Corridor, which guarantees not only the maintenance of ecological processes throughout this immense territory, but also the protection and well-being of the people who live there.
On the fourth day of the meeting, Xingu+ advisors received Iara Vasco, director of creation of management of Conservation Units at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and Raoni Rajão, director of deforestation control policy at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA). The ICMBio representative recognized the importance of the Xingu Protected Areas Corridor, which comprises one of the largest continuous mosaics of Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units on the planet, for the conservation of socio-biodiversity.
According to counselor Francisco de Assis, “the Xingu+ Network made us understand the connection between one land and another”. For the leadership of Resex Rio Iriri, the indigenous and riverside people of the Xingu have the same cause and must fight together.
The Xingu River Basin covers an area of approximately 53 million hectares in the States of Pará and Mato Grosso and encompasses a great diversity of people and ecosystems, from dense forests and floodplains of the Amazon biome to typical vegetation areas of the Cerrado. For Raoni Rajão, representative of the MMA, the Xingu+ Network is an extremely important articulation to contain deforestation in the Xingu region. “Once a network like this documents and gathers complaints along the corridor, you can connect the dots”, stated the director of deforestation control policy at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA).
With 22 Indigenous Lands and nine Conservation Units, the Corridor is considered one of the regions with the greatest socio-biodiversity in the world, home to 26 indigenous peoples and hundreds of riverside communities. For centuries, these traditional people have managed and protected their forests, which contain an immense range of plant and animal species, some still unknown to science. The Xingu Corridor plays a crucial role in protecting the Amazon and the global climate.
Xingu+ meets with government bodies to demand the rights of forest peoples
On the fifth and final day of the meeting, the delegation of Xingu+ advisors was received by André Dias, Director of the Department of Universalization and Social Policies of Electric Energy, of the Ministry of Mines and Energy. The councilors raised demands from their communities regarding the progress of installing photovoltaic energy in the villages and communities of the Xingu Corridor. For Winti Khĩsêtjê, the hearing at the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) was very important, for the Xingu people to discuss with the government how these public policies can reach the Xingu communities and meet the needs of the indigenous and riverside population.
Our fight is one!
During the evaluation of the Xingu+ Council meeting, Doto Takak Ire, president of the Kabu Institute, stated that there was a lot of learning and exchange between the councilors during the 4 days of the meeting. “Every day that passes, we get stronger. We have to think about the future, we cannot let it end, we have to continue to protect the Xingu corridor. Whoever fights wins, whoever doesn't fight comes last. We need to have this joint fight, we need to have more young people to learn”.
*The Xingu+ Network is a political alliance between 32 organizations of indigenous peoples, traditional Xingu communities and civil society organizations that operate in Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units in the Xingu River basin, in the so-called Xingu Corridor of Socio-Environmental Diversity.