Brazilian Indigenous Leader Alessandra Munduruku Awarded Goldman Prize | Amazon Watch
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Indigenous Leader from the Brazilian Amazon Alessandra Munduruku Is Awarded Goldman Environmental Prize

April 25, 2023 | Ana Carolina Alfinito and Camila Rossi | Eye on the Amazon

Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

Alessandra Korap Munduruku, leader of the Munduruku Indigenous peoples from the Brazilian Amazon, has been awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition of her longstanding and extraordinary activism in defense of the Amazon rainforest and the rights of Indigenous peoples in Brazil and internationally.

Alessandra was born and raised in the Praia do Índio Village, a Munduruku Indigenous reservation located on the banks of the Tapajós River in the city of Itaituba, Pará state. The Tapajós is one of the most important Amazonian Rivers – and one of the last major tributaries of the Amazon that has not been impacted by a dam for the purpose of energy generation. The Tapajós River basin is the traditional territory of the Munduruku peoples, but today it is threatened by a series of government-sponsored infrastructure projects – from mining to timber extraction to land grabbing and more. This also includes the São Luís do Tapajós dam that threatens to flood the Sawré Muybu Munduruku territory and the “Soy Railroad,” a nearly 1000 km long railroad that cuts across Pará with the intention to cheapen the costs of exporting soy through the Amazon. The Munduruku resistance movement has been crucial in the protection of the forests against each of these projects. 

Alessandra Korap Munduruku and Cacique Juarez Saw. Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

Over the past decade, Alessandra has become one of the most prominent and outspoken Indigenous leaders in the defense of the Amazon, Indigenous peoples, and traditional communities. As of 2014, she participated in the struggle against a series of hydropower dams that were planned to be constructed in her region and, in 2016, she joined the Munduruku peoples in their successful opposition against government plans to build the São Luís do Tapajós Hydropower Plant. Although the project has not moved forward since 2016, the Munduruku fear it might be reactivated at any time.

Alessandra is part of the strong and organized Munduruku grassroots resistance movement, which includes traditional village chiefs, women, and children.

 According to Alessandra:

“Everything I do in my activism is done with and for the collective. Munduruku leaders do not act individually nor do they seek individual recognition. My struggle and my voice are part of collective processes, they exist because of and together with the traditional chiefs and other women who have stood up for our rights.” 

As part of an emergent movement of women Indigenous leaders, Alessandra has had to earn the recognition of Munduruku chiefs and society. She has also had to confront the challenges of reconciling unrelenting political activism with being a mother of two boys and a role model for other Munduruku women and children. In 2018, she decided to study law to better represent the Munduruku: “My dream is to one day be able to defend the rights of my people in front of the Supreme Court.”

Over the past years, the harm caused by illegal mining has been at the center of the Munduruku’s struggles and organization. Wildcat mining, called “garimpo,” has led to irreparable harm to the Tapajós River and the Munduruku peoples. In 2019, Alessandra and other Munduruku women demanded that scientists carry out research on mercury contamination in the Tapajós and upon the Munduruku. A series of investigations carried out by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) revealed that all of the Munduruku living in the villages of Sawré Muybu, Poxo Muybu, and Sawré Aboy suffer from mercury contamination and that women and children are most vulnerable. The origin of the mercury is wildcat mining, and Alessandra has dedicated the past few years to denouncing, carrying out, and organizing territorial protection measures against illegal gold extraction in the Munduruku lands. 

Stopping Anglo American’s plan to explore for copper in their territory was one of the many struggles taken on by Alessandra and the Munduruku that led her to be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. In May 2021, the British mining company formally committed to withdrawing 27 mining research permits that were slated to overlap Indigenous lands in Brazil, including the Munduruku territory of Sawré Muybu. These permits were a major threat to Indigenous peoples, as well as their territories and livelihoods. This victory resulted from our sustained campaign with the Munduruku and the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB). 

Awarded annually to environmental defenders from each of the world’s six inhabited continental regions, the Goldman Environmental Prize honors the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists from around the world. This year, the grassroots award recognized activists from Zambia, Indonesia, Turkey, Finland, the United States, and Alessandra from Brazil. 

We celebrate and honor the life and journey of resistance by the great Indigenous leader Alessandra Munduruku. May her example in defending her territory and advocating for the lives of Munduruku children and women be recognized by all and serve as a source of inspiration and strength for us to continue our work in defense of the Amazon in solidarity with all Indigenous peoples.

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