Environmental Crimes in the Amazon Force Indigenous Women to Migrate

Seven families, mostly women, from the Kumaruara community, had to migrate from their territory due to climate change and environmental crimes. They live near the Tapajós River, in the state of Pará, where fires affected the local stream, which dried up.

Shortly after the village reestablished itself with the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, a logging company threatened to open a road which would pass through the territory, thus facilitating illicit drug trafficking. The Kumaruaras were not consulted about this construction. “We, women, made a comeback to stop this advance, and we managed to resist," said the indigenous leader Luana Kumarawara. 

During Bolsonaro's tenure, these types of attacks and environmental crimes in the Amazon worsened, with the dismantling of several forest protection policies. During this period, the Muruari territory received a visit from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CID). At the event, supporters of former president Bolsonaro who were pro-agribusiness intimidated the Indigenous people.

“I filmed it, then one of them hit me and broke my cell phone, then I was threatened by email," said Luana, who reported it, but never joined any protection network. Feeling unassisted by the state and afraid, she left her two children with her family in the territory and migrated to the capital Belém. “I left because of the violence and for the safety of my children," she said.

Environmental displacement

Luana's reality is that of many Indigenous women in the Amazon. They migrate to avoid situations of violence due to invasions, illegal mining, drug trafficking, fishing, predatory hunting and conflicts with logging companies. Environmental crimes, different in each territory, worsen climate change and create a scarcity of natural resources, also impacting the local economy. “There is a lack of honey, herbs and inputs for the production of our medicine." says Luana.

Brazil ranks first in the Americas in internal displacement. In 2022, 708,000 people had to migrate within the country due to natural disasters, and 5,600 due to conflict and violence due to land disputes, according to figures from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), an international entity.

There is no official quantitative data from the Brazilian government on internal migration, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Digital Atlas of Disasters of Brazil brings a closer definition to people “homeless” due to climate change and environmental crimes. 

According to the report, the northern region of Brazil, where the majority of the Indigenous population is concentrated (44,48%), is the most affected. The states of Pará and Amazonas have the highest number of victims. In Pará, there were 582 cases of climate disasters that left 460,000 homeless in the last 10 years of the research (2012–2022).

Read the full story.

This story was produced with support from Internews' Earth Journalism Network. It was first published in AzMina on July 29, 2024. It has been translated to English and lightly edited for length and clarity.