Brazil is one of the countries with the highest environmental and cultural wealth. Throughout its history, particularly in the past few decades, Brazilian society recognized and protected its national treasures; this includes its forests in protected areas, and its native people in indigenous lands.

Nevertheless, these achievements are under a great treat as we speak. Therefore, indigenous organizations, Brazilian congressmen and NGOs are here united at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21), which took place in Paris of 2015, to condemn a list of actions conducted by both, the Brazilian Federal Executive and Legislative Power, that jeopardize the indigenous rights.

In this list we can find the Proposal of Constitutional Amendment - PEC 215/00 -; the proposal to deconstruct the environmental licensing process for big projects; a draft for provisional measure that intend to allow the construction of dams and hydroelectric in the Brazilian Amazon; the new Mining Code; and the process of parliamentary committee of inquiry of Funai - CPI Funai -, the federal agency that endorses the indigenous people in Brazil.

All those proposals have a common ground. The first one is the intention to diminish the indigenous rights to their own territories, aiming to paralyze the demarcation process and to enable activities with a negative impact to take place in indigenous areas. The second aspect is the origin of those proposals: they come from a group of people who deny the importance of indigenous people in providing ecosystem services.

Indigenous Lands are important tools to conserve the forests and, in hence, to regulate the regional and global climate. A clear example of the forest’s “thermostat” function over regional climate was demonstrated recently in a scientific study. Evaluating the effect of deforestation on atmospheric temperature in the Xingu Indigenous Park region (PIX), one can observe that, from 2002 to 2010, the temperature in deforested areas around the Park was on average 4°C to 6°C, higher than inside the Park. It means that if the agribusiness wants to remain with a high level of productivity, it must conserve the forest, as the indigenous people do to survive and to maintain their identity.

The list of negative actions reinforce the threats that the indigenous people already face daily, as the rural violence, forest fires and the lack of basic services. Therefore, and as because its destruction potential is too high, these issues cannot be treated individually.

In Paris, the Brazilian government helped to write the global agreement that seeks to control the greenhouse gases emissions. We ask for consistency indoors. We ask the Brazilian government to accomplish its role and to stop the attacks on indigenous people.

The Indigenous Lands are a heritage for all the Brazilians, so we are here united as an only voice to say that we are going to fight for its preservation and for its people’s rights.

Paris, December of 2015.

Amazon Watch

Articulação de Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib)

Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Norte, MG e ES (Apoinme)

Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira (Coiab)

CTI (Centro de Trabalho Indigenista)

Deputado Sarney Filho

Deputado Ivan Valente

Frente Parlamentar Ambientalista

Iepé (Instituto de Pesquisa e Formação Indígena)

IIEB (Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil)

Imazon (Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia)

Instituto Raoni

IPAM (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia)

ISA (Instituto Socioambiental)

Greenpeace

Opan (Operação Amazônia Nativa)

RCA (Rede de Cooperação Amazônica)

SOS Mata Atlântica