Indigenous fund receives international resource for land demarcation

International pressure for the demarcation of indigenous lands in Brazil has been acting in various ways to achieve its objective. One of them is the allocation of resources so that Brazilian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), through an indigenous fund, can act together with the federal government in the demarcation processes.

To this end, the Podáali Fund (Indigenous Fund of the Brazilian Amazon), created by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab), has already received at least US$ 55,000 from the tenure facility, an international fund that invests in “guaranteeing land rights” in countries with indigenous populations. Created in 2020, Podáali presents itself as a fund managed and led entirely by indigenous people. In order to guarantee the demarcation of indigenous lands, with a focus on the states of the Amazon, Podáali has worked with federal government agencies, such as the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI).

The donation of US$ 55 thousand by the tenure facility to the Brazilian indigenous fund is just the beginning of a 3-year project that could yield around US$ 3 million. According to an article published on the international fund’s website, “this financing will also allow COIAB to help promote tenure security in the lands of Indigenous Peoples in the Brazilian Amazon”.

O International Land and Forest Tenure Facility (International Land and Forest Tenure Fund, in free translation), or just tenure facility, has among its objectives the building of “relationships with key actors in government and the private sector, providing the technical expertise necessary to implement tenure rights within existing laws and policies”. Launched in Stockholm in 2017, it is the world’s first institution dedicated to the property rights of indigenous communities. Funded by Sweden, Norway and the US Ford Foundation, the organization has already provided resources and advice to projects in countries such as Peru, Mali and Indonesia.

O tenure facility it is also mentioned, in Ford Foundation reports, as the “first and only international financial mechanism solely focused on partnering with indigenous communities to protect their land and forest rights”.

Data obtained from the official Podaali website also indicate that the fund has contracts with other organizations that receive money from foreign donors. This is the case of contracts with the Ecumenical Service Coordination (Cese), which has among its supporters the Ford Foundation, the Brot für die Welt (German organization) and the Wilde Ganzen Foundation (Dutch organization); and Fundo Brasil, which also receives funds from the Ford Foundation, among others. In 2022, the Brazil Fund highlighted a donation by philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, one of the 25 largest donors in the United States.

Podáali is the first Brazilian indigenous fund seeking resources to act on issues related to indigenous territories, but it is far from being the only initiative in the world. There are at least another 25 funds that are listed among indigenous organizations of this nature created in different countries and supported by international networks of funders, such as the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (Ifip) – International Financiers for Indigenous Peoples, in free translation) and the Forest Tenure Funders Group (Group of Financiers of Forest Tenure).

Indigenous NGO action for demarcations is done directly in federal government agencies

On the official website of the Brazilian indigenous fund, Podáali highlights the performance in meetings between indigenous leaders who claim demarcations directly with Funai and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI). This is the case of the demarcation of the Kaxuyana Tunayana Indigenous Land (TI), whose territory has been declared as belonging to the original peoples since 2018, but which is still awaiting approval. The claimed area covers 2,184,000 hectares, between the states of Amazonas and Pará. According to data from the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), there are 841 indigenous people living in the area.

One of the publications also mentions the support of the tenure facility. “The Podáali Fund follows the agenda related to the partnership involving this Indigenous Fund, the Kaxuyana/Tunayana Territory and COIAB with a view to implementing the Project Guaranteeing Territorial Rights to indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon, which will have the support of the tenure facility from 2023”, says the publication made in May of this year.

“We at the Podáali Fund are together, because we understand that the demarcation of indigenous territories is the basis of the entire process of actions to be carried out”, said, still in the publication, the executive director of Podáali, Valéria Paye Kaxuyana.

The demarcation of the Kaxuyana Tunayana Indigenous Land (TI) is part of the so-called Wayamu Territory, which comprises three contiguous TIs, close to each other, and forming a large territory between the northwest of Pará, the northeast of Amazonas and the southeast of Roraima, which total an area of ​​more than 7 million hectares.

The report of People’s Gazette tried to contact the Podáali Fund, Coiab, Funai and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, but did not receive a response as of the time this article was closed. The space remains open for demonstrations.

Demarcation process in Brazil does not provide for the participation of NGOs

Brazilian legislation does not indicate express impediments to the activities of NGOs in demarcation. However, interference in these processes, especially by international organizations, has been strongly criticized by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The work of NGOs with federal government bodies takes place through agreements, terms of cooperation, consultations and the participation of anthropologists linked to NGOs in the process of identifying the areas to be demarcated.

This is the case, for example, of the Territory and Environmental Management Plan (PGTA) for the Wayamu Territory, mentioned above, which was drawn up based on a cooperation agreement between Funai and the Indigenous Research and Training Institute (Iepé). The plan was funded by the Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation. The Moore Foundation, as it is known, is one of the international NGOs that have frequent links with Brazilian indigenous NGOs and is among those mentioned in the CPI that deals with the subject.

Search for resources for indigenous lands brings together funds and funders around the world

All movement around indigenous funds focused on the creation and management of territories dedicated to this population was endorsed at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. On that occasion, a commitment of US$ 1.7 billion was signed by 22 donors bilateral (donations directly granted by donor countries to beneficiaries) and philanthropic. The stated objective was the need for “greater support for forest communities in mitigating climate change, protecting ecosystems and biodiversity, and preventing deforestation”.

O Forest Tenure Funders Group points out that approximately 1.6 billion people live near forests and depend on forest resources for their livelihoods, and about 36% of the world’s remaining intact forests are on indigenous lands. For the group of funders, “despite the important role that indigenous peoples and local communities play in protecting forests and nature, only a small proportion of these communities have secure rights to own, manage and control their lands and resources”.

According to data published on the Ifip website, indigenous peoples constitute the largest minority in the world, with nearly 5% of the global population. Still according to Ifip, traditional indigenous territories cover up to 24% of the world’s land surface and contain 80% of priority areas of global biodiversity.