{"id":35363,"date":"2022-09-29T13:56:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T16:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raisg.org\/radar\/indigenous-defenders-stand-between-illegal-roads-and-survival-of-the-amazon-rainforest-elections-in-brazil-and-peru-could-be-a-turning-point\/"},"modified":"2022-09-29T13:56:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T16:56:37","slug":"indigenous-defenders-stand-between-illegal-roads-and-survival-of-the-amazon-rainforest-elections-in-brazil-and-peru-could-be-a-turning-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisg.org\/en\/radar\/indigenous-defenders-stand-between-illegal-roads-and-survival-of-the-amazon-rainforest-elections-in-brazil-and-peru-could-be-a-turning-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous defenders stand between illegal roads and survival of the Amazon rainforest \u2013 elections in Brazil and Peru could be a turning point"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Conversation
\n29 de septiembre, 2022
\nDavid S. Salisbury<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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The Ash\u00e9ninka woman with the painted face radiated a calm, patient confidence as she stood on the sandy banks of the Amonia River and faced the loggers threatening her Amazonian community.<\/p>\n

The loggers had bulldozed a trail over the mahogany and cedar saplings she had planted, and blocked the creeks her community relied on for drinking water and fish. Now, the outsiders\u00a0wanted to widen the trail<\/a>\u00a0into a road to access the towering rainforests that unite the Peruvian and Brazilian border along the Juru\u00e1 River.<\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda Elena Paredes<\/a>, as head of the Sawawo Hito 40 monitoring committee, said no, and her community stood by her.<\/p>\n

She knew she represented not just her community and the other Peruvian Indigenous communities, but also her Brazilian cousins downstream who also rely on these forests, waters and fish.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/div>
Roads beget more roads. The Interoceanic Highway, shown here, allowed loggers, ranchers and miners to generate hundreds of miles of illegal and informal offshoots that brought additional deforestation and environmental harm.<\/span>\u00a0David Salisbury<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0Indigenous residents of the Amazon borderlands understand<\/a>\u00a0that the loggers and their tractors and chainsaws are the\u00a0sharp point of a road<\/a>\u00a0allowing coca growers, land traffickers and others access to traditional Indigenous territories and resources. They also realize that their Indigenous communities may be\u00a0all that stands in defense of the forest<\/a>\u00a0and stops invaders and road builders.<\/p>\n

October\u2019s elections in Brazil and Peru could be a turning point away from deforestation, unsustainable road building and the targeting of Indigenous lands \u2013 or the election results could continue to\u00a0escalate the pressure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Explosive growth of illegal roads as government pulled back<\/h2>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Amazon rainforest has witnessed explosive growth in\u00a0informal and illegal<\/a>\u00a0roads.<\/p>\n

The Amazonian departments of Ucayali, Loreto and Madre de Dios, Peru, saw road expansion increase by 25% from 2019 to 2020 and 16% from 2020 to 2021. In the Brazilian Amazon, roads are being built at such a rapid pace that researchers are\u00a0turning to artificial intelligence<\/a>\u00a0to map the expansion.<\/p>\n

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\"Animation<\/div>
How road building leads to the rapid deforestation of surrounding lands. The satellite maps show road expansion from 2003 to 2021 into the Serra do Divisor National Park and its buffer zone.<\/span>\u00a0Yunuen Reygadas\/ABSAT\/University of Richmond<\/span>,\u00a0CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Roads are\u00a0the most damaging infrastructure<\/a>\u00a0in the tropical rainforest, bringing deforestation and a host of related cultural and environmental impacts.<\/p>\n

Research shows that\u00a0Indigenous lands are crucial to safeguarding the forest<\/a>\u00a0ecosystems and immense carbon stores. These territories, covering\u00a0about a third<\/a>\u00a0of the Amazon region, act as a buffer against road expansion,\u00a0reducing both deforestation<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0fires<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the Indigenous communities near the border between Peru and Brazil are\u00a0experiencing an onslaught<\/a>\u00a0on their homelands.<\/p>\n

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A satellite view of the Parakan\u00e3 Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon visually demonstrates the ability of Indigenous Territories to maintain standing forest (dark green) despite being surrounded by road-related deforestation and forest degradation (brown, tan and light green).<\/span>\u00a0David Salisbury\/ABSAT\/University of Richmond<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the pandemic forced governments to reduce monitoring and law enforcement in the remote rainforests, the illegal road builders, loggers, miners and traffickers\u00a0increased their presence and work rate<\/a>. The state\u2019s absence gave them a relative respite from law enforcement, and in Brazil, they were goaded on by the\u00a0anti-environment, anti-Indigenous and anti-science rhetoric<\/a>\u00a0of President Jair Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n

A combination of\u00a0road-building<\/a>, climate change-induced forest heating and drying, and related deforestation is\u00a0pushing the Amazon rainforest toward a tipping point<\/a>\u00a0that could turn the world\u2019s largest rainforest and reserve of terrestrial biodiversity into a sparsely wooded savanna\u00a0in just a few decades<\/a>.\u00a0Thousands of fires are burning<\/a>\u00a0in the Brazilian Amazon as I write this in late September 2022.<\/p>\n

Elections could turn the tide<\/h2>\n

A few hours downriver from where she confronted the loggers, Paredes and other Peruvian Indigenous leaders met with their Brazilian counterparts in September 2022 to\u00a0discuss strategies to stop the invasions<\/a>. The Brazilian leaders include\u00a0Francisco Piyako<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Isaac Piyako<\/a>, two Indigenous Ash\u00e9ninka brothers running for election at the federal and state level.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian election\u2019s\u00a0first round of voting<\/a>\u00a0on Oct. 2, 2022, includes\u00a0more Indigenous candidates<\/a>\u00a0than any in Brazilian history, with the 175 candidates representing a 37% increase over 2018.<\/p>\n

The future of the Amazon is very much at stake.<\/p>\n

On one side of the election stands Bolsonaro, a\u00a0populist who has<\/a>\u00a0derided Indigenous people, environmentalists and science while\u00a0weakening environmental and Indigenous agencies and inciting<\/a>\u00a0miners, loggers, ranchers and agribusiness leaders to cut down the forest.<\/p>\n

On the other side is\u00a0Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 commonly called Lula \u2013 a Workers Party veteran and former Brazilian president who is arguing for zero deforestation.<\/p>\n

More important than national rhetoric may be the success of Indigenous candidates like the Piyakos who are committed to\u00a0sustainability, transboundary cooperation and cultural diversity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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