Population of indigenous people has grown almost by double, census says

BELEM (AP):

The diminutive woman with a white feather headdress stood on the stage of the majestic colonial theatre in Brazil's Amazon on Monday and addressed the crowd.

The woman, Minister of Indigenous People Sonia Guajajara, declared the day "the milestone of Indigenous participation", then cited the national statistics institute's freshly released census data that revealed the full scope of the nation's Indigenous population: 1,693,535 people.

While just 0.8 per cent of Brazil's population, the figure marks an 89 per cent jump from the nation's prior census, in 2010, due to greater willingness of people to recognise their roots and better survey methods, including access to previously unreachable villages, she said. The latter largely explains why their numbers within Indigenous territories grew 20 per cent to 622,066.

"This is a historic moment with that picture that the statistics agency has made," she said on the eve of the two-day Amazon Summit in Belem. "It's a historic moment of the restart of social, popular participation, and of the dialogue of our civil society with government."

The setting seemed symbolic: a theatre displaying European décor – French chandeliers, Italian marble busts and a massive painting across the ceiling depicting Greek deities. It was built during the rubber boom, with fortunes amassed with raw material from deep in the Amazon, and little care for what its extraction implied for local communities. There is no trace of them in the so-called Theatre of Peace – except on Monday many of their descendants could be found, from the floor seats up to the balcony boxes, wearing tribal vestments.

The gathering formed part of the events leading up to the Amazon Summit, during which presidents and representatives from the eight countries that are home to the world's largest tropical rainforests will converge in this city to discuss how best to face up to its myriad challenges.

DIVERSE PARTICIPATION

In the so-called Amazon Dialogues during the days before the summit, there was surprisingly diverse participation of delegations from regions of the Amazon. Some boat trips to reach Belem took as long as five days.

In some 400 events, representatives of indigenous groups, riverine communities, fishermen and Afro-descendants discussed topics such as harassment from carbon credit companies, ending deforestation and illegal mining. One of their main demands was to cancel new oil projects in the region.

Though the large majority came from Brazil, which holds two-thirds of the Amazon, there were also representatives from all eight countries. Most events took place in the same convention centre where the presidents will meet, starting on Tuesday.

There, Indigenous Warao people from Venezuela sold crafts made of straw next to Kayapo Indigenous people painting their bodies with traditional designs. Riverine community stalls sold native honey, Brazil nuts and cassava flour. There were also protests against oil exploration near the mouth of the Amazon River.

"You can clearly see that Brazil has a significant social problem to solve, a social problem left by the previous government," said Colombian Indigenous leader Anitalia Pijachi Kuyuedo, referring to the administration of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. "There are many grievances, much pain, much anger, and you can feel the emotions in the words of those you speak with."

FORUM

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Guajajara, the minister, agreed that their anxiety has been palpable, but finally they have a forum.

"There were six years of the complete silencing of civil society, and spaces for social participation were extinguished. People became very afraid to express themselves," Guajajara said. "This is the first moment when society is once again engaging in dialogue with the federal government."

Brazil's government had expected 10,000 attendees, but instead, 24,000 had arrived, according to Guajajara.

Over 1,200 of them were camping in a private recreational park on Belem's outskirts, with tents arranged in rows beside the stone trail gently winding through the jungle, past waterslides coursing into man-made pools. Early Monday, they were rising to eat breakfast and prepare for the events of the day ahead.

Some smiled at the sight of Chief Raoni Metuktire, a leader from the Amazon known throughout the world for defending the environment, sitting on a flimsy chair beside the trail and smoking a pipe. He shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with well-wishers.

Diolina Krikati had travelled with about 40 others from her native Maranhao state. In an interview, she stressed the importance of the Amazon for generating the rains that irrigates crops in fields far from the forest – ensuring a livelihood not just for Indigenous people, but many non-Indigenous Brazilians, too.