The sustainability challenges of indigenous territories in Brazil's Amazonia
Introduction
The Amazon holds a very important share of the world's biodiversity (more than 20% of all the world's fish, bird species or freshwater resources for instance), is a repository of cultural diversity with more than 375 Indigenous groups still retaining their language and culture, stocks enormous quantity of CO2 and has a continental and global influence on climate and hydrological cycles [1, 2, 3, 4]. Today, due to new legislations and important changes in the attitude towards Indigenous peoples, officially recognized Indigenous territories cover over 21% of the Brazilian Amazon, including some of the most preserved areas. They thus constitute a very important element in the definition of the sustainability of the whole region with continental and global implications.
This is especially true in Brazil, which holds about two third of the Amazonian rainforest. The process of recognizing Indigenous land rights has been intense since the 1990s, following the 1988 Constitution which granted an exclusive and collective usufruct of all the soil and vegetation resources to Indigenous peoples, while the Federal Union is proprietary of the land itself. Although contested by some, Indigenous territories now account for more than 1.11 million km2 in the Brazilian Amazon. As they are very effective in inhibiting deforestation [5], they are considered as key areas for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation [6, 7•].
As a consequence of these elements, Indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon are today facing new challenges. For most Amazonian Indigenous groups, the political struggle over land rights is no longer the priority,1 as it has been the case until the early 2000s. Their agenda now include more complex and multifaceted challenges about how to manage their lands in order to meet their contemporary needs while meeting the exigencies expressed by Brazilian society about their contribution to environmental preservation.
This article reviews literature discussing the sustainability of the Indigenous territories of the Brazilian Amazon. To that end, we first review the emergence of Indigenous rights in Brazil, highlighting the importance of understanding historical factors underlying the current situation. We will then show that the relative (in)security of Indigenous territories and the potential vulnerabilities which arise from it are important factors which frame the definition of sustainability for such areas. Last, we will analyze the parameters under which Indigenous people can manage the environmental integrity and the economic development of their lands, showing that there are many constraints put on them, as well as new opportunities linked with the valorization of environmental services. As a conclusion, we will question how an Indigenous reformulation of sustainability may emerge from the current situation.
Section snippets
The late and conflictual emergence of Indigenous rights in Brazil
The history of Indigenous peoples in Brazil has been filled with genocide, forced displacement and exploitation since the first contacts with the Portuguese [8]. Estimations of the total Indigenous population at that time vary around 5 million people in 1500 [9]. Some estimate a decline around 90% after the first century of colonization. In 1950, anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro estimated the population around 100,000 [10]. Today, it is estimated that over 400,000 Indians live in the Amazon (see
Theory vs practice of Indigenous rights: the relative (in)security of Indigenous territories
Because it still holds very significant portions of unclaimed public lands, which are easier for the state to recognize as Indigenous, the process of Indigenous territories recognition has been more active in the Amazon. Today, Indigenous areas in this region accounts for 98.5% of all Indigenous areas in Brazil although holding only less than 50% of the total Indigenous population in Brazil according to the 2010 national census. Some Indigenous territories in this region are very extensive,
Managing environmental integrity and economic development in the Indigenous territories
In a context of accelerated cultural and social changes driven by a wider contact with the Brazilian society and accelerated demographic growth [36, 37], the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon face today some kind of double bind which comes directly from the condition under which they have conquered their recognition. On the one hand, they must guarantee the environmental integrity of their lands since the protection of the rainforest was a constant argument in their favor. What was an indirect
Conclusion: towards Indigenous reformulations of sustainability?
When it comes to territorial rights, the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon are a step ahead of other Indigenous groups of Brazil. Today they are challenged to find sustainable alternatives to manage their territories. Given the global stakes of the environmental preservation of the Amazon, this challenge has local (maintaining the Indigenous territories according to each group's needs and philosophy) and global (preserving the rainforest in order to mitigate climate change and biodiversity
References and recommended reading
Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:
• of special interest
•• of outstanding interest
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