Fire once again destroys part of the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in Maranhão.

Brazil Agency - Fire has once again struck part of the Araribóia Indigenous Territory in southwestern Maranhão. Located in a transition zone between the Cerrado and the Amazon Rainforest, extremely vulnerable to fires, the 413-hectare reserve has been registering almost daily outbreaks of fire over the past few months. According to the National Indian Foundation (Funai), approximately 12 indigenous people from the Guajajara and Awá-Guajá ethnic groups live in the area, many in voluntary isolation.

According to the coordinator of the National Center for Prevention and Combat of Forest Fires (PrevFogo), Gabriel Zacharias, the fires of the last few days are worrying environmental authorities, who are already evaluating the need for an aircraft to fly over the area to ascertain the true extent of the problem. Satellite monitoring of the hotspots indicates that some preliminary information provided to the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) or circulating by word of mouth is exaggerated.

“Two or three days ago, the Araribóia Indigenous Territory experienced another fire line that firefighters are already battling. We have 40 people in the area, but it’s important to clarify that, in recent months, there hasn’t been a single moment without a forest fire inside the indigenous territory,” Zacharias told Agência Brasil. “The firefighters are fighting the fire line. If the rain is delayed, another line may appear, which we will continue to fight until the rains return and the fires cease completely.”

Although he is still unable to determine the exact extent of the current fire line, the coordinator of PrevFogo emphasized that, due to the drought, at least 43 hectares of vegetation have already been destroyed by the flames from August until now. A new survey should be released at the beginning of next week, but, according to Zacharias, so far there is no indication that the fire has impacted the isolated indigenous groups. "We managed to keep the fire as far away as possible from the areas where they live, move around, and hunt."

Despite the extent of the damage in the Araribóia Indigenous Territory, Zacharias highlighted that, even though 2017 was an atypical year, extremely dry and with a prolonged drought, the area affected by fires is smaller than those recorded in the two previous years. In 2016, almost 130 hectares were burned. In 2015, when one of the worst fires occurred in this indigenous territory, the flames burned approximately 250 hectares, that is, more than half of the unit. Furthermore, Zacharias added, this year, the enforcement agencies have managed to prevent criminal activity by non-indigenous people.

According to the coordinator of PrevFogo, some of the fires within the indigenous territory are caused by the actions of the indigenous people themselves. “Ibama [Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources] works to raise awareness among the indigenous people about the importance of avoiding the use of fire [in agriculture]. Or, if they do use it, that they do so in a controlled manner, building firebreaks [a strip of land cleared of vegetation, where the soil is exposed],” explained Zacharias. He said that, in addition to voluntarily helping to monitor the extensive territory, there are Guajajara indigenous people hired as firefighters to combat the fires. Furthermore, Zacharias reminded that Brazilian laws allow indigenous people to set fire to their fields and that, often, the use of fire in planting is linked to cultural traditions.

“It is important to highlight that the indigenous people throughout the country were accustomed to an environment where fire extinguished itself in the forest. Climate change and the loss of vegetation are interfering with the control that these peoples had over this practice. Perhaps this will force them to reconsider this way of acting, but it is a complex matter, because, among certain peoples, the use of fire is a cultural pattern, often associated with religious practices or cultural elements,” Zacharias pointed out.

Indigenous people
Agência Brasil was unable to contact local indigenous leaders, such as Fred Guajajara. In Europe, where she is participating in several events to denounce what she classifies as "violations of the human rights of Brazilian native peoples," leader Sônia Guajajara used social media to demand protection from the government. "This is the third consecutive year that fire has devoured our land, our forests. How can we not continue demanding, denouncing, and insisting on the protection and respect for our land?" wrote Sônia, contradicting the coordinator of Ibama, who claims that the fire is caused by pressure from agribusiness, since the indigenous land is surrounded by large-scale planting areas.