Due to the vicissitudes of history and the negligence of the authorities, some 830,000 km2 of the Brazilian Amazon are considered “unregulated public forests”. Areas therefore without real status, less monitored and more exposed to indiscriminate exploitation.
Since 2006, the inhabitants of fifteen villages bordering the Manicoré River, which crosses the south of the state of Amazonas (north-west), have been trying to have the 400,000 hectares of forest where they live classified as a sustainable development region. (RDS), a status that provides a little more protection.
In one of these villages, Terra Preta, with its wooden houses, its small school and its church, the inhabitants live mainly from the production of cassava flour, acai (a fruit prized for its fibers) and andiroba oil (a fruit with medicinal and cosmetic properties).
They are sorry to witness the savage exploitation of the environment.
“The destruction takes the form of barges that we see every day coming down the river loaded with wood from the forest,” community leader Cristian Alfaia told AFP.
According to data from the Institute for Environmental Research of the Amazon (IPAM), between 1997 and 2020, 87% of deforestation took place in these areas without a legal framework, illegally occupied or fraudulently registered as private property. The remaining 13% took place in indigenous reservations or protected areas.
The 4,000 inhabitants of the villages of Manicoré are descendants of migrants from northeastern Brazil who fled the drought to settle from the end of the 19th century in this region, in full “rubber fever”. They mixed with natives and descendants of slaves.
However, for decades, the way of life of these villagers, who essentially depend on hunting, fishing and fruit picking, has come up against the interests of agribusiness, the timber trade, gold diggers and poachers.
– “Very effective” –
Despite several years of mobilization, the classification of the area as a sustainable development region was finally challenged, in a context of accusations, pressure and threats.
The villages of Manicoré ended up obtaining a Concession of real right of use even if it is still far from the RDS which would guarantee them public management and environmental monitoring.
“When a land is unregulated, it is subject to all types of crimes (…) and the population finds itself without access to basic services, such as health and education”, explains to AFP Daniel Viegas , Amazonas State Attorney in charge of the RDS application process and specialist in environmental issues.
A flight over the south of the state shows the progress of man on these lands: regularly, huge yellowish areas break the uniformity of the green of the forest where recently traced tracks stand out to ensure the transport of wood to to the rivers.
For Cristiane Mazzetti, spokesperson for Greenpeace Brazil, giving forest areas a legal framework is a “very effective way of combating deforestation”. But she regrets that this subject is “neglected by the current federal government and even by the governments of the States”.
Since coming to power in 2019, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has been regularly accused by environmental activists of encouraging deforestation through his speeches in favor of commercial logging.
They also denounce the projects supported by the allies of the Head of State in Parliament, some of which aim to relax the criteria for the transfer to individuals of illegally occupied public land.
However, the Amazon is “a heritage that belongs to all Brazilians and to humanity”, recalls Ms. Mazzetti who is sorry that it is “looted, destroyed and thus contributes to the climate and biodiversity crisis”.
