Brazilian Indian policy is, for various reasons, of enormous importance. It is a humanitarian issue and the repair of historical injustices, the protection of unparalleled cultural and linguistic wealth, the honoring and reverence of ancestral knowledge and values. It also stands out before the world, the fundamental role that indigenous peoples play for the environmental health of our planet.
Indigenous lands (TL) were created according to technical criteria, based on analyzes supported by anthropological, social and environmental studies, among others. The process of creating an TL aims for Indians to have ways of life according to their cultures, to maintain their customs, their identities and, thus, enrich the universe of diversity of peoples. The ianomâmis, for example, are hunter-gatherers, needing, to carry out their activities, a large expanse of land (large for us who live in urban centers).
The federal government bought the idea that indigenous lands should be used as non-Indian lands, leased and intended for agriculture, livestock, mining; finally, they should have the use of a private property.
The indigenous must be the owners of their destiny. Of course, it is up to them, provided they are properly informed, to decide what to do with their lives and lands. However, if indigenous lands have the same use of private property, there is no reason for them to maintain the same territorial extent as they would completely escape the purposes for which they were created. This would generate, with all probability, large judicial disputes.
Like every Brazilian, the indigenous do want to have access to the benefits of modernity, such as health and education, but that does not mean — at least for the vast majority of those I know, much of them college graduates — that they want to grow soy, build casinos or allow activities that may alter the balance of the nature in which they live.
Large extensions of TL are also today, in the Amazon, shields against illegal deforestation and land grabbing. Making sustainable economic use of forests is possible but cutting them down to plant soy on indigenous lands, or opening them to mining, is irresponsible.
Due to the protagonism in the protection of Brazilian forests and rivers, as well as the climate and biodiversity of the planet, and the development of payment instruments for environmental services, such as the Amazon Fund and REDD +, indigenous lands have become more valuable preserved than being exploited.
Without proper Indians policy and the release of gun ownership, indigenous become more vulnerable to pressure and aggression. If we do not have a well-structured protection body to help these peoples by providing physical and legal protection to their lives and lands, the deaths and degradation could be even more serious than they have been over the last few centuries.
Sarney Filho
Lawyer and Secretary of the Environment of the Federal District, former Federal Deputy for nine terms (1983-2018) and former Minister of the Environment (1999-2002 and 2016-2018)
