In conflict over wood, leaders are threatened in Pará – 03/08/2023 – Environment

The action of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government in favor of logging without prior consultation with traditional communities has fueled conflicts and divisions in one of the largest extractive reserves in the Brazilian Amazon.

The animosity reached its peak on the 3rd, with the sharing of WhatsApp audios with death threats to indigenous leaders and extractivists who represent communities in the Tapajós Arapiuns reserve, in the region of Santarém and Aveiro, west of Pará.

In one of the audios, a man, referring to a female leader, says he told her in a meeting that he would “put a projectile in her brain” if she didn’t “keep up with her word”.

In the last government, the ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) approved a wood management plan within the reserve without consulting the indigenous peoples and extractive communities that live in the place, an area of ​​674.2 thousand hectares —the equivalent of 4.4 cities the size of São Paulo.

According to a complaint from the associations involved, the environmental agency intended to approve other management plans and maintained a position contrary to the prior consultation, provided for in the ILO (International Labor Organization) convention, to which Brazil has been a signatory since 2004. with the entities, ICMBio failed to issue notices of infraction and failed to manage the reserve.

During the Bolsonaro administration, key ICMBio posts were militarized. Both ICMBio and Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) had their functions emptied in the last government.

ICMBio is responsible for the management and inspection of conservation units, such as extractive reserves, which are Union lands destined for traditional extractive populations. Among these populations are indigenous, riverside and small farmers, as is the case of the Tapajós Arapiuns reserve.

In a note, the management of ICMBio in the Lula (PT) government stated that the forest management plans at Tapajós Arapiuns will be reassessed.

This reassessment has already begun in another extractive reserve, Verde Para Semper, in Porto de Moz (PA), according to the agency. This reserve is almost twice the size of Tapajós Arapiuns.

“Denunciations relating to management will be investigated. ICMBio reaffirms its repudiation of any act of violence and intimidation against women. Any omissions in this regard will be investigated”, said the body.

As there was no prior consultation with traditional communities, indigenous and extractive associations decided to challenge the management plans in Federal Court.

The action was proposed by Cita (Indigenous Council Tapajós Arapiuns) and STTR (Union of Rural Workers, Farmers and Family Farmers) of Santarém, with the participation of Tapajoara (Organization of Associations of the Tapajós Arapiuns Extractive Reserve). The MPF (Federal Public Ministry) joined the action.

A court injunction paralyzed logging management plans until the right of consultation of traditional communities is guaranteed.

The offensive in court, made against ICMBio, is contested by cooperatives of residents of the extractive reserve who want to exploit the wood.

Death threats came from a resident of a community where ICMBio issued infraction notices for illegal logging, according to a complaint formalized by the associations with the MPF, the CNDH (National Council of Human Rights) and the PPDDH (Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders). of human rights).

In three years, ICMBio issued 14 infraction notices in the extractive reserve, mainly for transporting wood without a license. Even with the irregularities, the body “continues to maintain the procedural position contrary to the prior consultation protocols”, say the associations in the letter detailing the death threats.

Audios with the threats were passed on to the MPF. The threats allegedly came from a man identified as Pastor Eldo, from the Prainha do Maró community, according to the complaint made. The community is home to a timber cooperative that opposes consultations with traditional communities.

The report was unable to locate Pastor Eldo.

The man, in the recording, calls the leaders of the Cita, STTR and Tapajoara organizations “a bunch of bums”. He mentions by name Maria José, president of Tapajoara, and Auricélia Arapyun, president of Cita. According to the complaint, Ivete Bastos and Edilson Silveira were also threatened.

In other audios, a man, who appears to be the same as in the other messages, claims to have “the same rights as this bunch of Indian mare’s sons”. He says he’s “losing my mind” and that it makes him “want to do shit”. In the recording, he further declares that “after we make our decision, protocol will not apply”.

In the extractive reserve there are 48 villages, belonging to eight indigenous peoples.

The MPF analyzed the representation and the audios and said that there is “a clear threat to indigenous and agroextractivist leaders”. A letter was sent to the PF to hear the man appointed as the author of the audios.

According to the Attorney’s Office in Pará, there was also a possible crime of coercion in the course of the process related to the management plans in charge of ICMBio. An ongoing investigation at the PF in Santarém investigates coercion by people in favor of logging, due to the invasion of loggers at the STTR headquarters in Santarém in 2021.

The leaders also ask for the replacement of ICMBio’s trusted servants in Santarém who were responsible for the contested management plans.

In January, the Lula government’s Funai (National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples) revoked the normative instruction that made logging more flexible on indigenous lands. Published at the end of the Bolsonaro government, the measure allowed non-indigenous people to participate in management.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}