Land rights and self-determination for traditional communities in Maranhão, Brazil
Teia dos Povos – a network of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities in Maranhão, Brazil – meets annually, bringing together hundreds of people working to protect their land and territories and secure control over their food systems. Maranhão’s Consiglio Indigenista Missionario (CIMI) supports the peoples as they build the network on their own terms.
Project Overview
Project FocusEcosystems / Rainforest Defenders
Project Objective ensuring the continued existence of Indigenous peoples and communities on their territories
Activities spatial planning, developing protection strategies, increasing vigilance
This Rainforest Rescue-supported project takes up a pressing question:
How can Indigenous peoples and other traditional communities protect their territories from expanding soy monocultures, export-driven mining, deforestation and agricultural chemicals that pollute their water?
How can the violence of hired killers be stopped when transnational companies send them to threaten and attack Indigenous people and Quilombolas (descendants of enslaved Africans) and take their land?
How can the government be pressed to meet its obligation to recognize territories as the collective property of the people who have defended forests and waters and sustained community life for thousands of years?
Since 2011, the Teia dos Povos network has held an annual assembly. For five days, communities come together to confront the issues they face. The network unites the state’s peoples and traditional communities around a shared goal: buen vivir (living well). Its foundations are food sovereignty, education, spirituality, protection of territories, health, the fight against racist and gender-based violence and the defense of life in all its forms.
Teia’s annual gatherings in Maranhão usually take place in a traditional territory where residents face conflicts caused by agribusiness, mining or cattle ranching. Holding the gathering in a territory facing conflict helps strengthen protection for the land and the people who live there.
Around a thousand people – representatives of Indigenous peoples, Quilombolas and other traditional communities from across Maranhão – come together for a large assembly. They sit on long wooden benches, chairs and mats or rest in hammocks.
Along with Bahia, Piauí and Tocantins, Maranhão is one of four states in northeastern Brazil. It includes parts of the Amazon and Cerrado biomes, which have seen high rates of deforestation and rural violence over the past two decades. Both have been driven by agribusiness exporting soy and corn, as well as mining.
Preparing for the annual assembly takes months. The work includes building infrastructure for more than a thousand people: community kitchens with running water, sanitation facilities, places to hang hammocks for sleeping and a covered space for the assembly. When the Teia gathering ends, most of that infrastructure remains community property.
The Conselho Indigenista Missionário do Maranhão (CIMI-MA), a Rainforest Rescue partner, defends the rights of Indigenous peoples. Its work is grounded in respect for their autonomy and diversity and recognition of their traditional knowledge. CIMI-MA works alongside communities in their territories, providing education and supporting mobilization, networking and political and legal advocacy. The aim is to help Indigenous peoples stay in their territories and secure public policies that comply with the constitution.
CIMI helps connect the peoples who make up Teia dos Povos. They include the Apanjekrá/Canela, Memortumré/Canela, Akroá Gamella, Krenyê, Krikati, Pyhcop Catiji/Gavião, Awá and Tremembé (Engenho and Raposa).
To support Teia dos Povos, which unites traditional peoples and communities in the fight to protect their territories, please donate here.
