Versão em Português
Project

Ethno-environmental Protection of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon

Center for Indigenous Work (CTI)

Project official website
Total project value
R$ 19,043,330.00
Total support amount
US$ 7,514,829.72
Concluded

Presentation

Objective

Support the ethnoenvironmental protection of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact to ensure the physical limits and natural wealth of the areas where these populations live, contributing to reduce deforestation in the Amazon

Beneficiary

Support the ethnoenvironmental protection of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact to ensure the physical limits and natural wealth of the areas where these populations live, contributing to reduce deforestation in the Amazon

Territorial scope

Legal Amazon

Description

CONTEXTUALIZATION

The term “isolated indigenous peoples” refers to indigenous groups with no permanent relations with national societies or with infrequent interaction, either with non-Indians or with other indigenous peoples¹.

According to Funai’s data, there are 114 registros (records) of the presence of isolated Indians throughout the Legal Amazon². These are populations that live mostly in Indigenous Lands (TIs), with evidence of the presence of these groups in Conservation Units (CUs), generally National Parks or Forests, that is, areas with high levels of vegetation cover and biodiversity preservation. Given this context, activities to protect and promote the rights of isolated Indians, such as those carried out by the present project, contribute directly to reduce deforestation in the Amazon and to the objectives of the Amazon Fund.

In Funai’s structure, the topic of isolated Indians is under the responsibility of the General Coordination of Isolated and Newly-Contacted Indians (CGIIRC), a unit that organizes its technical teams in Ethnoenvironmental Protection Fronts (FPE) to work in the field. These FPEs have the mission of implementing the policies of localization and protection of isolated Indians. Currently there are 12 FPEs, of which 11 are active in the Amazon, covering 28 indigenous lands and adjacent areas in seven states, totaling about 31 million hectares.

¹ See http://www.funai.gov.br/index/php/nossas-acoes/povos-indigenas-isolados-e-de-recente-contato. The Brazilian State is legally responsible for protecting these peoples, via the Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI – National Indian Foundation). FUNAI’s guidelines for its action are set out in Decree No. 9,010/2017, Annex I, Art 2, item II, point “d,” which reads: “guarantee to isolated indigenous peoples the exercise of their freedom and traditional activities without the obligation to contact them”.
² In the nomenclature currently used by CGIIRC/FUNAI, ‘Registro’ (Record) is the basic unit used in the process of investigating and systematizing data on the presence of isolated Indians. The records are classified into three groups, according to the degree of knowledge one has about a given region: i) “Information,” referring to the news of existing isolated Indians lacking any qualification study; ii) “reference under study,” when there is strong evidence of the existence of groups, but still lacking proof by systematic localization efforts; and iii) “confirmed reference,” which is proven by systematic geolocation work. 

THE PROJECT

The project was presented by the Indigenous Work Center – CTI, a non-profit association founded in 1979 and with a long history of relationship and partnership with FUNAI. Within the framework of the technical cooperation agreement concluded between the two institutions and in force throughout the project, we sought to reinforce CGIIRC’s action strategy by providing new tools, technical training and the strengthening of dialogue with populations neighboring those of the territories of isolated indigenous peoples.

The project benefited the isolated indigenous peoples or of recent contact (Korubo, Suruwahá, Awá-Guajá, Zo’é, Yanomami, Parakanã, Asurini, Araweté, Arara, Amondawa, Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, Canoê, Akuntsu) and other indigenous peoples that inhabit the surroundings of these groups’ territories (Kanamari, Marubo, Matis, Mayoruna, Kaxinawá, Ashaninka, Kulina, Jamamadi, Jarawara, Kanamanti, Banawá, Guajajara, Wai-Wai, Hixkariana, Tiriyó).

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project is part of the “Land-use Planning” (3) components of the Logical Framework of the Amazon Fund. The expected direct effect, as defined in this Logical Framework, was as follows: “protected areas with infrastructure, territorial protection and consolidated management.”

To achieve this goal, the project should promote the strengthening of the protection of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact in dialogue with surrounding populations and support the strengthening of the official indigenous body (FUNAI) for researching, qualifying and monitoring information related to the presence and location of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact, contributing to the direct effect of consolidating the management of indigenous lands and to the indirect effect of the Legal Amazon’s land use.

There is strong adherence of the project to the strategic objectives of the Amazon Fund and the PPCDAm. Systematic actions to monitor and promote the rights of isolated peoples and recent contact in the field directly contribute to consolidating land-use planning and environmental conservation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Similarly, the institutional strengthening of Funai by the technical training of its employees and the use of technological tools for producing and storing geographic information on isolated indigenous groups directly contributes to improving the management of land-use planning. This in turn contributes to the overall objective of the Amazon Fund of “reducing deforestation with sustainable development in the Amazon.”

Click on the following image to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impact.
quadrologico_EN

Evolution

Date of approval 10.28.2014
Date of the contract 12.23.2014
Date of conclusion 03.04.2020
Disbursement period 49 months (from the date the contract was signed)
approval
10.28.2014
award
12.23.2014
conclusion
03.04.2020

Disbursement

date amount
1º disbursements 01.29.2015 R$3,140,678.59
2º disbursements 12.15.2015 R$7,763,686.21
3º disbursements 06.28.2017 R$7,574,961.75
4º disbursements 12.14.2018 R$564,003.45
Total amount disbursed R$19,043,330.00

Total amount disbursed in relation to the Amazon Fund’s support

100%

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED 

The project was structured in 5 finalistic components, fully supported with resources from the Amazon Fund. The description of each component, to which the project management item is added, is presented below:

  1. search (location) in at least 20 unconfirmed references of isolated Indians;
  2. methodological improvement of the research for references of isolated Indians with the use of remote sensing tools; 
  3. increased dialogue with indigenous peoples and populations surrounding territories of isolated indigenous peoples for developing and managing territorial management strategies;
  4. expansion of civil society’s participation in an international agenda for protecting and promoting the rights of isolated and recently-contacted indigenous peoples located in countries that make up the Amazon basin;
  5. training of employees working in FPEs in indigenous policy and methodologies for protecting isolated indigenous peoples. 

Given the characteristics and challenges of each FPE, a work plan was developed detailing each activity to be carried out, observing their breakdown in the 5 components of the project. The following table, important for visualizing the scope and complexity of the project, summarizes this planning¹:

CTI-Isolados-FPE-Quadro-Plano-Trabalho

Component 1 comprised support for land and air expeditions promoted by Funai in the area covered by eight Ethnoenvironmental Protection Fronts (FPE), aiming to ascertain and qualify the records of isolated indigenous groups. The support from the Amazon Fund focused on hiring workforce (coordination, assistants and mateiros), associated consultancies and overflight services, as well as acquiring consumer material for expeditions.

The activities related to component 2 directly benefited CGIIRC and all FPEs and comprised: i) the development of the Information System on Isolated Indigenous Peoples and Recent Contact in Brazil (SI3RC), which allows Funai to storage, qualify and manage information regarding the records on isolated Indians and recent contact, in an integrated and safe manner; ii) specialized consulting expenses for the evolution and maintenance of SI3RC; iii) technical support to Funai’s team in using the system; and iv) the acquisition of servers and computers for operating SI3RC. Importantly, as part of the support for strengthening CGIIRC/FUNAI’s capacity to act, it was contractually planned the donation, at the end of the project, of these and other equipment to the institution.

Other activities in this component also include: the hiring of a technician specialized in geoprocessing dedicated exclusively to producing cartographic information pertinent to the project, essential to developing field activities (expeditions and overflights) and the subsequent systematization of its results.

Component 3 considered the fact that the protection of isolated and recently contacted peoples is directly related to the situation of neighboring populations and their involvement in actions aimed at protecting these peoples and their territories.

The activities were divided into three by-products: i) socio-environmental surveys to characterize the surroundings of isolated Indian territories, whose delivery was conducting thirteen investigative studies and data systematization for later development of Protection Plans for Isolated Indigenous Peoples by FUNAI; ii) holding 122 thematic workshops with indigenous peoples and communities around isolated Indian territories, involving 6,512 participants; and iii) carrying out pilot actions of territorial protection and environmental management with the recently contacted Zo’é and Matis peoples, including the distribution of equipment that make up the surveillance and territorial monitoring kits.

Due to records of isolated peoples in international border regions, interinstitutional articulation actions were also promoted (component 4) to develop relations and cooperation efforts in this topic, bringing together technicians, specialists and indigenous representatives from countries in the Amazon basin. Two international meetings were held on policies to protect isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact with indigenous representatives and civil society organizations from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela, as well as 12 exchanges focused on indigenous organizations in the Amazon basin.

Both activities mobilized more than 650 participants. Also in this component, we planned the production and disclosure of qualified information on the topic of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact, through the Boletim Povos Isolados na Amazônia (Bulletin Isolated Peoples in the Amazon). Throughout the project, 12 editions of the Bulletin were published, totaling 34 reports, 12 editorial texts and 11 videos².

Finally, the fifth component of the project included training actions for Funai’s employees based on demands directed to the performance of each FPE and CGIIRC. Throughout the project, 106 employees were trained, also extending the participation to 109 indigenous peoples and 45 professionals from other institutions, many of them collaborators of the FEPs. The trainings addressed contents related to legislation, linguistics, ethnology, indigenous policy, cartography, information technology, among other topics relevant to the work of protecting and promoting the rights of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact.

¹ This configuration was in force at the time of the project’s analysis. In August 2014, the Madeira and Purus FPEs were unified. In the same year, the Legal Amazon Monitoring FPE was created, based in Brasilia, thus maintaining a total of 12 FPEs. See https://boletimisolados.trabalhoindigenista.org.br/2016/05/02/entenda-o-sistema-de-protecao-ao-indio-isolado/

Final Evaluation

RESULT AND IMPACT INDICATORS

Project activities contributed to the results related to the “spatial planning” component (3) of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework.

Direct effect 3.2:  Protected areas with infrastructure, territorial protection and consolidated management.

Several indicators were agreed upon to monitor this objective. 

• Number of records of isolated indigenous peoples and number of recent contact peoples and surrounding populations directly benefited by the activities supported by the project (outcome indicator)

This indicator, central to the project’s objectives, aimed to measure the effect of carrying out expeditions with the objective of confirming or discarding the presence of isolated Indians, thus qualifying the records present in Funai’s CGIIRC database.

Goal: Not defined | Results achieved: 44 records of isolated indigenous peoples were qualified (of which 28 in the subgroups “reference under study” and “information”), benefiting 1,166 individuals from recent contact (outcome indicator)

• Number of records of qualified isolated Indians from the improvement of information technology tool – georeferenced database (outcome indicator) 
Goal: Not defined | Results achieved:  114

• Number of information on isolated Indians provided to the FPEs by indigenous peoples or surrounding communities (outcome indicator)
Goal: Not defined | Results achieved: 146

As previously reported, developing the Information System on Isolated Indigenous Peoples and Recent Contact in Brazil (SI3CR), with support from the Amazon Fund, allowed a remarkable advance in the storage and qualification of data and records about these peoples. Also during the execution of the project, initial loads of information were introduced, allowing Funai to improve the planning and scope of location and monitoring expeditions. Note that of the 114 records currently in the CGIIRC/FUNAI database, 52 were subject to expeditions and/or overflights in the period 2015-2017, 44 of which were supported under the project. 

Regarding training actions for employees and sensitization of the populations directly involved in the issue, the following indicators were highlighted, both with results far superior to the goals:

• Number of Funai employees effectively using the knowledge acquired (outcome indicator)
Goal: 85 | Results achieved: 106

• Holding exchanges, meetings and publication of bulletins aimed at promoting the rights of isolated indigenous peoples located in the border regions of the member countries of the Organization of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (OTCA), with the participation of civil society (output indicators).

No. of events
Goal: 11 | Results achieved:  14

No. of electronic bulletins disclosed
Goal: 24 | Results achieved:  12

Regarding this indicator, the number of editions below the target was justified by the undersizing of the difficulties encountered in its bimonthly publication. Thus, the focus on content considered more strategic for the project in a smaller number of editions was prioritized. It is thus evaluated that the bulletin satisfactorily achieved its objective, producing and disseminating qualified information on the topic of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact in the Amazon.

• Number of thematic workshops with indigenous peoples and surrounding communities of isolated Indian territories (output indicator)
Goal: 54 | Results achieved:  122

Finally, it should be noted that the project’s set of actions has resulted in the strengthening of control over the territory in TIs over an area of 184,712 km².

Institutional and administrative aspects

The project was developed and executed in close technical cooperation with Funai, involving various sectors and units of the agency, in addition to the partnership and collaboration of various indigenous organizations and institutions whose work has an interface with the protection and promotion of the rights of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact.

CTI’s experience in interlocution with international actors operating in the Amazon basin deserves to be highlighted, allowing the project to promote the exchange of experiences on policies to protect isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact.

Risks and lessons learned

Managing resources and operationalizing project activities were a great challenge, given the wide geographic range and the fact that most of the implementation sites present difficulties of access, communication, infrastructure and service offer.

CTI’s previous experience and the adoption of administrative procedures and routines for executing the project were fundamental to overcome these difficulties and ensure its favorable evolution, allowing, in terms of results, that all the expected products and services be executed and their objectives achieved.

In turn, the participation of the surrounding populations consisted of a central strategy of the project, requiring a major joint effort to raise awareness around the issue associated with protecting isolated peoples and recent contact.

Sustainability of resultsSustainability of results

The project has provided important improvements in the management of protection policies for isolated peoples and recent contact in two dimensions. In quantitative terms, it expanded the number and scope of field expeditions by Funai teams, contemplating both confirmed records and greater detail of unconfirmed records for later qualification. In the qualitative dimension, the project resulted in a wide production of information and technical subsidies for Funai professionals and other actors linked to the topic of isolated peoples and recent contact.

Similarly, the Information System on Isolated Indigenous Peoples and Recent Contact in Brazil (SI3RC) has proved to be a highly functional tool for the policy of protection and promotion of the rights of isolated and recently contacted indigenous peoples, improving information management by the CGIIRC/Funai. 

Although gaps remain for the full care of the policy of protection and promotion of rights of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact, it is undeniable that the project has made a significant contribution to meeting this challenge on a more qualified technical basis, constituting an important driving force for the sustainability of future actions associated with this issue.  

 

 

Collection

In this area we offer some PDF files with the main publications generated by the project. Click the filename to start the download.