9.5: Tropical Deforestation and the Rights of Nature and Indigenous Peoples

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the main causes of deforestation and explain how economic globalization is connected to the loss of rainforests in Mesoamerica and the Amazon.
2. Describe the geography of deforestation, mining, and protected areas in the Amazon region.
3. Explain the concept of biocultural systems and the intersecting struggle for life in the Amazon region.

Tropical Deforestation in Mesoamerica

Tropical rainforests in Mesoamerica stretch from southern Mexico to Panama. Much of it lies in a narrow strip of land of varied topography and enormous biodiversity. Human settlement in Mesoamerican rainforests dates back centuries, with ancient civilizations and maize agriculture shaping the landscape. The impacts of human activities have only expanded overtime, with colonization and globalization of rainforest resources. Today, Mesoamerican rainforests have lost more than 70 percent of their original extent. This dramatic reduction makes tropical Mesomaerica one of the most urgent conservation priorities in the world. They are part of the world’s biodiversity hotpots, a designation for biologically important biomes that have experienced substantial reduction of their original geographical extent.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): This map depicts the world's biodiversity hotspots - these are ecological regions of high biological importance and high threats of deforestation and land conversion. Middle and South America have several ecoregions listed as biodiversity hotspots and as a high priority for biodiversity conservation. The rainforests of Mesoamerica and the Brazilian Atlantic Forest are highly threatened (CC BY-SA 4.0; Conservation International via Wikimedia Commons).

The primary driver of deforestation in Mesoamerica today is the conversion of rainforests into pastures, a process called grassification. When large plots of rainforests are cleared, the nutrient-poor tropical soils become quickly eroded. Consequently, there is an ongoing pursuit for new lands driving an ongoing deforestation pattern responsible for extensive destruction of the rainforest. Cattle ranching in Mesoamerica was historically motivated by the international linkages of beef consumption. Historically, the rise of fast food and the increased demand for affordable beef in the United States in the 1950s-1970s escalated deforestation in Mesoamerican countries, important suppliers of American beef at that time. The connection between American hamburgers to tropical deforestation became known as the Hamburger Connection. Today, the Central American hamburger connection with the US is largely lost since American beef consumption is now reliant on domestic production and imports from Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, or Australia.^[1]

Since the early 2000s, drug trafficking has emerged as a significant driver of deforestation in remote rainforests of Central America. The United States stands as the top consumer of cocaine in the world. The illicit drug is derived from coca plants grown in the Andes, then processed into a paste in Colombia, and eventually smuggled into the United States - mainly through Central America. In Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, billions of illicit dollars are accrued from cocaine trafficking. To legitimize profits, drug traffickers have used cattle ranching as a form of money laundering, a phenomenon known as narco-deforestation. This practice allows gains from the drug trade to be legitimized through agricultural operations and the destruction of rainforests. In the past decade alone, narco-deforestation accounted for about 15-30 percent of annual deforestation in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.^[2] Even protected areas are facing substantial challenge in maintaining biodiversity conservation efforts due to forest losses linked to the drug trade._[3] It is important to acknowledge, however, that the negative impacts of drug trafficking in Mesoamerica are well beyond deforestation. The illicit drug trade inflicts overwhelming violence in the region and poses a direct threat to Indigenous and peasant groups who find themselves powerless facing ongoing invasions of their lands.^[4] And despite extensive efforts, decades of the American war on drug supply networks have proven ineffective and narcotrafficking networks remain largely undisrupted.^[5]

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): [left, A] This map shows the distribution of tropic rainforests in Mesoamerica. The extent of rainforest cover relies on a 2003 dataset, and the deforestation of the last twenty years have likely further fragmented these forest patches seen here. [Right, B] Much of the tropical rainforests of Mesoamerica are in a mosaic of protected areas aimed at forming a biological corridor, symbolized in red (CC BY 2.0; Pablo et al. 2013 via Researchgate).

Deforestation in the Amazon

The soy-cattle connection

The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest on Earth. Occupying a vast expanse larger than the contiguous United States, it extends through French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. It is a renowned as a biodiversity reservoir and home to an estimated 10 percent of all living organisms, many of which are endemic and yet to be described by science. The Amazon is also the ancestral homeland of hundreds of Indigenous and traditional communities who rely on its resources for their cultural and economic sustenance.

Discussions regarding the Amazon tend to predominantly focus on Brazil, primarily because it is home to over 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest and because the Brazilian Amazon has experienced extensive forest losses over the last several decades. Since the 1970s, the region has been a frontier of the Brazilian developmental agenda. Like the American Manifest Destiny, developmental policies in Brazil have incentivized land conversion and westward expansion from the coastal cities into the Amazon. The construction of roads, a rubber boom, mining, and an ever-growing agribusiness sector have left a fifty-year legacy of deforestation in the Amazon region. Scientists estimate that approximately 20 percent of the rainforest has been cleared.

The beef industry has had the greatest impact on rainforest loss, as extensive areas of the Amazon are cleared each year to make way for cattle ranching.^[6] When these pastures become degraded, soybean agriculture often takes their place. Brazil is the top exporter of both beef and soybeans, and the two industries have the greatest deforestation footprint in the Amazon region, making Brazil a net deforestation exporter. However, it is important to acknowledge that about 80 percent of beef produced in Brazil is consumed domestically. ^[7] Thus, the hamburger connection in Brazil is characterized by a direct link between Brazilian meat consumption and deforestation in the Amazon.

The international demand for commodities also plays a significant role in shaping the fate of the Amazon rainforest. Due to rising incomes and changing dietary preferences, the contemporary Chinese diet includes more meat. Traditionally, pork has been the preferred meat in Chinese cuisine, and Brazil has recently become the main source of the protein-rich soybeans used to feed the Chinese pigs.^[8] Beef consumption in China has increased too, and increased beef imports from Brazil is shaping an emerging connection between China and deforestation in the Amazon.^[9] China’s imports of commodities associated with tropical deforestation make it a net deforestation importer.^[10]

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): This map illustrates the loss of rainforest in the Amazon region in the last two decades in orange. Note how the southeastern portions of the region are a deforestation frontier, mostly for the expansion of cattle but also soybean cultivation. This orange outline in the southern parts of the Amazon in Brazil and Bolivia is know as the arc of deforestation (CC BY-NC-ND; Bricknell and Merrow via Council on Foreign Relations).

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): [right] Most tropical rainforests lost annually in the world are lost in Brazil. Deforestation in the Amazon is, to some extent, associated to increased international demand for beef and soybeans, the two principal land-uses in the country. It is important to note, however, that most beef consumption of Brazilian beef is domestic, and these figures here only illustrate the international trade. The graphic text states: The Biggest Contributors to Tropical Deforestation, Share of tropical deforestation associated with international trade attributable to selected countries/areas 2005-2017 (based on data and findings from satellite imagery and trade flow analysis, source: WWF). China (24%), European Union (16%), India (9%), USA (7%), and Japan (5%). (CC BY-ND; via Statista). Deforestation rates soared in 2019 under Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro who envisioned the Amazon rainforest as a developmental frontier weakening federal agencies and regulations protecting the region. [left] Globally, China is the biggest contributor to deforestation in the tropics. China is the top importer of Brazilian soy and an important importer of Brazilian beef. The graphic text states: Brazil Sees Worst Deforestation for a Decade, Estimated deforestation in the Brazilion Amazon (km²), Note: year from August to July 2019, figure is preliminary. Source: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais. (CC BY-ND; via Statista).

Railways and dams

China’s reach in the Amazon is further demonstrated through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a national strategy focused on expanding Beijing’s economic connections and influence worldwide through a network of ports, railways, and energy infrastructure. In the Amazon, the BRI includes investments in expanding ports and energy distribution to strategically secure access to Amazonian resources, such as soybeans.^[11] One example is the recent Chinese investment interests in the proposed Ferrogrão, a railway intended to facilitate the transportation of soybeans from the interior regions of Brazil to ports along the Amazon River, thereby reducing transportation costs and improving access to international markets. At the same time, the railway is projected to cut through the Amazon and the Brazilian Cerrado, leading to increased deforestation, biodiversity loss, and additional pressures on Indigenous lands.^[12]

Ferrogrão is just one of the many developmental projects taking place in the Amazon region. Hydropower, for example, is the principal source of energy in Brazil, and the country’s Energy Expansion Plans have called for expanding dams in the Amazon. While hydroelectric dams are often promoted as sustainable energy alternatives, critics often highlight that their environmental and social impacts in the Brazilian Amazon are understudied and overlooked.^[13] Such large-scale infrastructural projects raise important questions about who really benefits from them. Often, much of the wealth generated ends up in the hands of investors who live in the core cities or in other countries rather than local people. The costs of biodiversity loss, lost ecosystem services, carbon emissions, and the socioeconomic and cultural impacts on local populations are seldom considered or adequately addressed.

Oil and Gas in the Western Amazon

The Western Amazon region, encompassing parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and western Brazil, faces unique challenges. It is home to diverse Indigenous communities and vast stretches of exceptionally biodiverse and relatively intact tracts of tropical rainforest. Beneath this extraordinary landscape lies rich reserves of oil and gas. Oil exploration in the western Amazon started as early as the 1920s in Peru and Ecuador, with a production boom following in the 1970s. The ongoing demand for fossil fuels continues to drive new oil and gas exploration and extraction in the region, attracting numerous multinational mining companies that operate within mining blocks, areas allocated by national governments for oil exploration and production.

The development of oil and gas operations in the western Amazon have many social and environmental effects, including the clearing of forests to build access to roads, drilling platforms, and pipelines, and contamination from wastewater discharge and oil spills.^[14] In Ecuador, crude oil is the primary export, and the largest oil reserves lie underneath the Amazon. Oil operations in the Yasuní region create a complicated geography where mining fields, roads, and pipelines overlap with protected areas and Indigenous reserves.^[15]

Struggle for Life: The intersecting movement for the rights of nature and Indigenous peoples

Concerns surrounding tropical deforestation tend to highlight the ecological atrocity it represents. It is crucial, however, to broaden our understanding of the Amazon to include the Indigenous peoples who have ancestral ties to the rainforest. For millennia, Indigenous communities have found a home, a pharmacy, and a sacred sanctuary in the Amazon. Indigenous cultures possess a deep understanding of their natural environment, as their identities and livelihoods are intricately intertwined with the existence of the Amazon. The Amazon rainforest is as a biocultural system where biological and cultural diversity are inseparable. This more holistic view enables us to acknowledge the centrality of Indigenous peoples in environmental protection in the Amazon.

About 50 percent of the Amazon rainforest is under some form of protected area, mostly in Indigenous Lands (ILs) which are territories demarcated to guarantee Indigenous rights to land, livelihood, and social organization. Enshrined in the Brazilian 1988 Constitution, this legal recognition is a victory that stemmed from the alliance of environmental and Indigenous resistance movements. Indigenous lands are globally recognized to play a crucial role in preserving the Amazon rainforest.^[16] ILs are an obstacle to deforestation because they cover three times the land area of natural protected areas in the Amazon and are often in the immediate path of the expanding agricultural frontier.^[17]

However, the expanding pressures from agribusiness, logging, mining, and developmental projects continue pose imminent threats to protected areas in the Amazon. Illegal activities like mining and logging within Indigenous lands have resulted in violent clashes and the assassination of Indigenous leaders, environmental activists, and journalists. The lack of enforcement of demarcated Indigenous territories and pervasive discrimination are primary reasons why lethal violence continues be a threat for Indigenous peoples, particularly uncontacted tribes. The Amazon is home to the largest number and territorial expanse of isolated tribes in the world with up to 100 uncontacted groups with perhaps a total of 5,000 uncontacted people in total.^[18] The term “isolated” or “uncontacted” is relative, as these groups are aware of their surroundings, and some have had limited contact with the outside world. The choice to live in isolation can be interpreted as a form of sovereignty for survival when considering the perilous history of contact with prospectors, missionaries, farmers, loggers, and miners that have resulted in the spread of disease, violence, and the decimation of Indigenous peoples.

Several organizations in Brazil are currently responsible for advocating for Indigenous peoples and putting pressure on the government, including the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (APIB) and Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB). Facing a hostile government actively dismantling environmental and Indigenous protections, APIB made a historic move by filing a statement with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in August 2021. The statement denounced the Brazilian government’ actions in the Amazon and its impact on its peoples as a form of genocide.^[19] It was the first time in history that an Indigenous organization in the western hemisphere took a charge to the ICC, connecting the destruction of the rainforest to crimes against humanity. That same month, thousands of individuals from diverse Indigenous groups participated in the Luta pela Vida (Struggle for Life) protest in the Brazilian capital, Brasília.^[20] The increased visibility of Indigenous peoples in Brazilian politics is also evidenced by the 2022 election that placed five Indigenous leaders in the National Congress, the highest number in the country's history.

The intersecting struggle for Indigenous rights and environmental protection has sparked a growing movement for coding the rights of nature into law. The notion of the rights of nature stems from the deep understanding within Indigenous cultures of the interconnectedness of all life forms. In 2008, the new Ecuadorian constitution became the first in the world to embrace the rights of nature, declaring that “Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”^[21] Suspicions that the clause was merely symbolic were recently put to rest when, in December 2021, Ecuador’s Constitutional Court ruled that mining activities pursued by a state mining company and its Canadian partner threatened the Los Cedros protected area’s right to exist and flourish, legally halting the mining operation in the region. The landmark ruling provided a tangible legal enforcement foundation for safeguarding the rights of nature. Ecuador’s example has had a ripple effect, inspiring other countries to follow. Bolivia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, and India have all established legal clauses on the rights of nature after Ecuador.

“There is no other way forward but to recognize, strengthen, and promote the very important role played by us, Indigenous Peoples, within our territories. For us, talking about climate justice is precisely thinking about the fate of the present and future generations, as well as those who have chosen different forms of social structures like the Indigenous Peoples in isolation or recent contact who live in the Amazon. This is related to the need of respecting diversity. Indigenous cosmology makes us understand the signs of Mother Earth, imposing the duty to recognize ecocide. The rivers, lakes, animals, forests, and all cosmological beings that live within are subjects of rights just like us human beings, and their rights must be respected. Therefore, when talking about climate crisis, it requires recognizing the important role of Indigenous lands, and our own, who give our lives to protect the forests and its biodiversity, in balancing the climate and benefiting all Humanity. Yet, there exists a practical solution that we Indigenous Peoples have been pointing out. That is, demarcating our territories, shifting the production system, planting more trees, ending reliance on fossil fuels, and reducing the pressure on the Earth’s natural resources. This must be a commitment from everyone, including governments, the private sector, and individual people.” -- Tarumã Declaration: Statement on the climate crisis by the Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB)^[22].

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): [top] This map illustrates the Indigenous territories and protected natural areas in the Amazon (2020). Recognizing and protecting indigenous lands and natural areas are crucial steps for safeguarding the biocultural diversity of the region. Together, indigenous lands and protected natural areas account for close to 50 percent of land area in the Amazon (RAISG; within permitted use). [bottom] More than 8,000 people representing over 200 indigenous groups in Brazil's capital, Brasilia, in the annual demonstration for indigenous rights called Acampamento Terra Livre ("Free Land Camp") in April, 2022 (#ATL2022). The mobilization was around the theme of the demarcation of indigenous territories, the impacts of illegal mining, and the promotion and complicity of the Brazilian government in indigenous genocide. The left picture shows a large globe where indigenous groups imprinted messages like the one shown with the phrase "salve o Tapajos", or "save Tapajos", a river in Brazil. On the right, an indigenous peoples march and display messages criticizing Brazilian former president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose policies threatened indigenous lands and the environment. The phrase Demarcação Já (#DemarcaçãoJá), demands "land demarcation now." The event happened at a critical turning point in Brazilian politics, months before the 2022 election that elected Bolsonaro's opponent, Lula da Silva, as the new Brazilian president (CC BY-NC 2.0; Mídia NINJA via Flickr).

Ted Talk, Nemonte Nenquimo: The forest is our teacher. It is time to respect it.

In this powerful video, Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo explains how for thousands of years the Amazon rainforest has been a provider of food, water, and spiritual connection for Indigenous peoples. Nonetheless, endless cycles of invasion and resource extraction by oil companies is destroying the forest and indigenous lives. She demands that outsiders respect Mother Nature and Indigenous peoples, for their sake and for the sake of the planet. The video transcript is available in 8 languages.

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References:

[1] Statista. (2021). Distribution of beef import volume to the United States in 2021.

[2] Sesnie, S. E., Tellman, B., Wrathall, D., McSweeney, K., Nielsen, E., Benessaiah, K., ... & Rey, L. (2017). A spatio-temporal analysis of forest loss related to cocaine trafficking in Central America. Environmental Research Letters, 12(5), 054015.

[3] Devine, J. A., Wrathall, D., Currit, N., Tellman, B., & Langarica, Y. R. (2020). Narco‐cattle ranching in political forests. Antipode, 52(4), pp 1018-1038.

[4] McSweeney, K., Nielsen, E. A., Taylor, M. J., Wrathall, D. J., Pearson, Z., Wang, O., & Plumb, S. T. (2014). Drug policy as conservation policy: narco-deforestation. Science, 343(6170), 489-490. Also see: McSweeney, K., Richani, N., Pearson, Z., Devine, J., & Wrathall, D. J. (2017). Why do narcos invest in rural land?. Journal of Latin American Geography, 3-29.

[5] Magliocca, N. R., Summers, D. S., Curtin, K. M., McSweeney, K., & Price, A. N. (2022). Shifting landscape suitability for cocaine trafficking through Central America in response to counterdrug interdiction. Landscape and Urban Planning, 221, 104359.

[6] Our World in Data. Annual tropical deforestation by agricultural product 2010-2014.

[7] Shimada, J. and Nepstad, D. (Dec 2018). Beef in the Brazilian Amazon. Earth Innovation Institute.

[8] Fuchs, V. B. (2020). Chinese-driven frontier expansion in the Amazon: four axes of pressure caused by the growing demand for soy trade. Civitas-Revista de Ciências Sociais, 20, 16-31.

[9] Zu Ermgassen, E. K., Godar, J., Lathuillière, M. J., Löfgren, P., Gardner, T., Vasconcelos, A., & Meyfroidt, P. (2020). The origin, supply chain, and deforestation risk of Brazil’s beef exports. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(50), 31770-31779.

[10] Our World in Data. Who is contributing to tropical deforestation abroad?

[11] Chan, M. and Araujo, H. (Feb 15, 2020). China wants food. Brazil pays the price. The Atlantic.

[12] Costa, W., Davis, J., de Oliveira, A. R., Fernandes, F., Rajão, R., & Soares Filho, B. S. (2021). Ferrogrão railroad with a freight terminal in Matupá will split in half the indigenous lands of Xingu.

[13] Atkins, E. (2020). Contesting the ‘greening’ of hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon. Political Geography, 80, 102179.

[14] Finer, M., Jenkins, C. N., Pimm, S. L., Keane, B., & Ross, C. (2008). Oil and gas projects in the western Amazon: threats to wilderness, biodiversity, and indigenous peoples. PloS one, 3(8), e2932.

[15] Mason, V. (2013). The lure of oil. National Geographic Magazine.

[16] Garnett, S. T., Burgess, N. D., Fa, J. E., Fernández-Llamazares, Á., Molnár, Z., Robinson, C. J., ... & Leiper, I. (2018). A spatial overview of the global importance of Indigenous lands for conservation. Nature Sustainability, 1(7), 369-374.

[17] Nelson, A., & Chomitz, K. M. (2011). Effectiveness of strict vs. multiple use protected areas in reducing tropical forest fires: a global analysis using matching methods. PloS one, 6(8), e22722.

[18] Wallace, S., Fagan, C., and James, C. (October 2018). Isolated nomads are under siege in the Amazon jungle. National Geographic.

[19] Naknanuk, E. (August 23, 2021). Indigenous peoples sue Bolsonaro at the Hague for genocide and get ready for mass mobilizations in Brazil. Cultural Survival.

[20] Estes, N. (Sep 17, 2021). Indigenous people of Brazil fight for their future. Globetrotter.

[21] Haines, P. The rights of nature movement cannot be stopped. Waging Nonviolence

[22] Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB). (Oct 29, 2021). Tarumã Declaration: Statement on the climate crisis by the Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon.

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Attributions:

"Complex geographies and Indigenous rights" is adapted from Environmental threats over Amazonian Indigenous lands by Rorato, A. C., Picoli, M. C., Verstegen, J. A., Camara, G., Silva Bezerra, F. G., & Escada, M. I. S. (2021), CC BY 4.0; and The rights of nature movement cannot be stopped by Pamela Haines (2022), CC BY 4.0.