Last week, Brazil’s Munduruku people celebrated a hard-fought and emblematic victory upholding embattled Indigenous land rights.
On Wednesday, Brazilian Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski issued a long-awaited declaratory order moving the Munduruku territory of Sawré Muybu in Pará state towards definitive demarcation.
While the Amazon and other South American biomes continue to burn amid historic drought, this news offers a reprieve, demonstrating how the Munduruku’s determined struggle for their ancestral land represents a key solution to today’s crisis.
The demarcation of Indigenous territories is a critical long-term solution to both the fires in the Amazon and the climate crisis. Indigenous lands in the Amazon are the best-protected areas, with communities on the front lines defending them against numerous threats, including roads, mining, and industrial agriculture. Indigenous peoples are at the forefront of the global movement for climate justice, and this victory is not only a win for Indigenous peoples but for the entire world.
Minister Lewandowski’s declaration is an important step in the Indigenous land titling process, a complex procedure composed of several stages. His declaratory order officially approves the borders of the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land – which in this case were established by the federal Indigenous agency FUNAI in 2013 – and mandates the physical demarcation of the territory, the removal of non-Indigenous occupants, and the final titling of the land.
The Munduruku have pushed the Brazilian government to recognize their claim to Sawré Muybu for 17 years, during which the territory has suffered from a range of illegal activities – including mining, logging, and land grabbing – while their leaders have undergone death threats and violence. The 180 sq. km territory on the banks of the middle Tapajós River basin is also threatened by planned government mega-infrastructure projects such as the Ferrogrão railway and the São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric dam.
The minister’s declaration could significantly complicate the viability of these projects, while providing increased federal governance to drive land invaders off Sawré Muybu and protect its communities. The definitive preservation of this land is essential to the ecological integrity of the Tapajós basin, which is increasingly fragmented by both industrial and criminal economies.
As a longtime partner of the Munduruku people, Amazon Watch has supported Sawré Muybu demarcation efforts for more than ten years, providing financial, legal, and communications support to advance their struggle for territorial recognition. When speaking about the significance of witnessing the signing of the declaratory order, Chief Juarez Saw of Sawré Muybu village said:
“Yesterday was a victory for all of us who depend on the forest, which means the whole world. For forest defenders, the minister’s signature was very important in helping us to guarantee the preservation of nature and the standing forest. When I speak of our victory I speak of our collective victory. Everyone who fought alongside us, our partners who helped us to arrive where we fought to arrive. We wouldn’t have achieved this without our partners, whose support we depend on. This is not the end of our struggle. We are also fighting to demarcate Sawré Bap’im. We need to carry out the same process for this land as we did for Sawré Muybu.”
At the ceremony, Minister Lewandowski told Munduruku leaders: “The Constitution imposes on us the duty to preserve not only the lands of Indigenous and ancestral peoples, but above all their culture, their way of life. We are not doing a favor, a kindness; we are recognizing a constitutional right.”
His statement comes at a time when Indigenous land rights are under withering assault in both Brazil’s Congress and Supreme Court, severely undermining the federal government’s ability to fulfill its constitutional obligations to its native population. While the legal standing of many of Brazil’s Indigenous territories is being undermined and dozens of land demarcation processes are paralyzed by the implementation of the notorious and unconstitutional “Marco Temporal” (Time Limit) legal thesis, Sawré Muybu nonetheless moved towards the final stages of titling.
The “declaration” of Sawré Muybu was an enormous triumph for the Munduruku people, and for all of us who fight for Indigenous rights, for the forest, and for climate justice. It is proof that even in the most ruthless of contexts, it is possible to achieve remarkable victories.
Minister Lewandowski’s declaratory order officially recognizes that Sawré Muybu is traditional Munduruku territory and opens up the way for the removal of its unlawful, non-Indigenous occupants. We know, however, that the struggle is not over. The next stage of the demarcation process requires ongoing vigilance, as the land invaders may resist their removal and retaliate against the Munduruku. As we celebrate, the movement and its allies remain attentive, cautious, and mobilized.
