Amazon communities fight for land recognition to protect forests

In the Brazilian Amazon, a society of quilombos (escapee slaves) are preserving their heritage and the rainforest with an ancient custom: weaving a palm ring used to scale the acai trees, harvesters like Zaqueu Belém Araújo gather berries without harming the trunks, a sustainable technique that protects the rainforest. According to Africanews on December 12th, communities of quilombos and Indigenous are urging their government to provide them with land titles as legal defences against exploitation.

For leaders like Erica Monteiro, a coordinator from the Itacoa Miri quilombo, this legal document, recognising ownership of their land, is a shield. “If you can’t prove that the land belongs to the community, agribusiness ends up doing what we call in Brazil ‘grilling,’ which is forging false documentation in their favour,” Monteiro told Africanews. Her community’s hard-won land title, obtained over more than 2 decades ago, enables stability and official funding from philanthropists such as the Ford Foundation, and the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA). The quilombo community can then benefit from a health center, a school, as well as electricity and running water, integral elements of a fully-functioning society.

However, this security is a reality for only a small minority. Official government institutes cover a mere 258 of the nearly 2,500 quilombos in the Amazon, just over 10% of these communities are legally recognised. The Menino Jesus community, for example, have recently received their land title in November 2024, which only accounts for less than half of its claimed ancestral territory. Local residents are now facing a new threat: a proposed landfill just 500 meters from their homes, which they fear will contaminate their water supply that they depend on for fishing and daily life. Without complete legal accreditation, the Menino Jesus quilombo’s ability to defend their land and lifestyle is dangerously compromised.

Their fight aligns with the demands of Indigenous groups at the recent COP30 climate summit in Brazil, who, as reported in Maghrebi staged protests and blockades, calling for an end to harmful industrial activities in the Amazon rainforest.

For the quilombos, a land title is more than just a legal document; it’s an essential tool for their culture’s survival and the longevity of the Amazon for future generation.

Africanews, Maghrebi.org