Projects in indigenous lands financed by the Amazon Fund stop being executed due to Funai’s obstruction

Gabriel Abreu – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The delay in the release of a document by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), for indigenous and indigenist organizations, approved to receive support from the Amazon Fund / BNDES, led institutions to cancel projects this year. The organizations have been waiting for ten months for the document, which is a requirement of the funder, and during this time they have counted 211 bureaucratic procedures between different areas of FUNAI.

The projects, worth a total of R$ 1.5 million, were selected by the Fund for Promoting Ecosocial Productive Landscapes (PPP-Ecos), managed by the Society, Population and Nature Institute (ISPN). It is the first time that the PPP-Ecos Fund cancels projects due to the non-obtaining of a document issued by a public agency. In activity in Brazil since 1994, the PPP-Ecos has launched 34 calls for proposals and contracted more than 600 projects in its 28 years of existence, with resources from different funders.

With the unprecedented cancellation, eight people from nine Indigenous Lands (TI) representing more than 800 families will no longer be directly benefited. The affected peoples are the Xavante (Pimentel Barbosa TI and Marãiwatsédé TI); Kuikuro (Xingu Indigenous Park TI); Zoró (Zoró TI); Krikati (Krikati TI); Ka’apor (Alto Turiaçu TI); Gavião (Gavião TI); Apinajé (Apinajé TI), and Krahô (Kraolândia TI).

The affected areas are mainly in the states of Mato Grosso, Tocantins, and Maranhão. They are Cerrado and Amazon regions affected by deforestation and invasions.

“These are projects of indigenous community organizations that have a whole purpose, not only productive, but often social and cultural as well. Many indigenous families are prevented from receiving these resources to produce, to conserve their territories, to protect their territories, to work according to their culture, and this is a very big impact for these seven lands; I think eight indigenous peoples that have been affected”, explained Rodrigo Noleto, coordinator of ISPN’s Amazon Program.

Also read: After MPF action, Funai is obliged by the Federal Court to conduct studies to delimit Mura Indigenous Land in AM

About the PPP-ECOS Fund

The Fund for Promoting Ecosystem Productive Landscapes is the main strategy adopted by the ISPN, based on the support to traditional peoples, communities, family farmers and their organizations. Through it, the ISPN raises and allocates resources to community organizations that work for environmental conservation through the sustainable use of natural resources, generating economic and social benefits.

Currently, the PPP-ECOS portfolio includes the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the Amazon Fund/BNDES, the European Union, and the German Ministry of Environment (BMU).

With resources from the Amazon Fund, PPP-Ecos has supported 88 projects since 2013. The coordinator of the ISPN Amazon Program states that the requirement for Funai’s consent hurts the autonomy and recognition of the self-determination of peoples guaranteed in the 1988 Federal Constitution.

“This is the sixth public notice that we are launching with resources from the Amazon Fund. In the other five, we always had the authorizations from Funai, and this time, almost a year later, we had to request it, we had to cancel the project because there was not enough time to execute the project, and this was a pity. Despite the fact that the Funai coordinations, the technical coordinations, supported a decision by the president who, unfortunately, adopted this stance against the indigenous community organizations”, explained Rodrigo Noleto.

About the ISPN

ISPN is a non-profit civil society organization based in Brasilia, which has been working for 32 years for development with social equity and environmental balance, supporting traditional peoples and communities and family farmers in the development of sustainable activities and adaptation strategies to climate change.