Funai will identify and delimit three indigenous lands in Amazonas

Ana Cláudia Leocádio – From Cenarium

BRASÍLIA (DF) – On Thursday 18th, the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) set up three Working Groups (WG) to carry out anthropological, ethnohistorical, sociological, legal, cartographic and environmental studies for the identification and delimitation of three Indigenous Lands in the state of Amazonas.

The orders published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOU) cover indigenous populations in the municipalities of Labrea, Tapauá and Itamarati. The teams will have 30 days to travel to the municipalities and carry out the field work, and 180 days to submit the report.

The first WG will identify and delimit the Igarapé Grande Indigenous Land, claimed by the Apurinã people, and the Mamoriá Grande Indigenous Land, occupied by isolated indigenous people, both located in Lábrea, in the south of Amazonas.

The group of isolated indigenous people in the Mamoriá Grande Indigenous Land was confirmed in August 2021 by the coordination of the Madeira Purus Ethno-Environmental Protection Front (FPE), inside the Médio Purus Extractive Reserve, in the municipality of Lábrea, in the south of Amazonas, according to a report on the website “The wheat and the chaff”, published at the time.

However, the joint ordinances guaranteeing the protection of the newly identified population were only published by FUNAI and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) in December 2022, following a request from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF).

The second WG was appointed to identify and delimit, according to FUNAI, the claim called Aldeia Baku, Aliança Furo Preto, Gaviãozinho and Marir-Mari, renaming it Terra Indígena Gaviãozinho, claimed by the Kanamari and Kulina Madijá peoples, in the municipality of Itamarati, in the channel of the Juruá River.

Funai’s third working group will be responsible for identifying and delimiting the claims called Trevo, Sabazinho, Boca do Jacaré and Bela Vista, which will be renamed the Mamori Indigenous Land, claimed by the Apurinã, Paumari, Katukina and Deni peoples, in the municipality of Tapauá, located in the stretch of the Purus River.

According to FUNAI data, there are around 633 Indigenous Lands in Brazil, including homologated, regularized and declared ones. Of these, at least 143 are located in the state of Amazonas, which still has 15 in the study phase.

Since taking office for the third time, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has approved two indigenous lands in Amazonas, the Acapuri de Cima Indigenous Land, in the municipality of Fonte Boa, belonging to the Kokama people, in September 2023, and the Uneiuxi Indigenous Land, which covers the municipalities of Japurá and Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, in April of the same year.

Decree regulates demarcation

According to FUNAI, the process of demarcating indigenous lands is regulated by Decree 1.775/96. The initial step is the creation of the Identification and Delimitation Working Group, coordinated by an anthropologist, in a process with several stages, until it reaches the President of the Republic, who has the final say on approval.

This week, the agency reported that there are more than 500 requests for regularization of indigenous lands under analysis. To this end, more than 38 Working Groups have been set up, responsible for identification and delimitation, and more than 144 identifications are already underway. More than 28 processes have also been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security for analysis, so that a declaratory decree can be signed.

Funai’s duties include identification and delimitation studies, demarcation, land regularization and registration of lands traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples.

Read more: Federal Police takes down six mines on indigenous land in Pará

Edited by Adrisa De Góes
Translated by Bruno Sena