A survey by the De Olho nos Ruralistas observatory, which monitors the dynamics of agribusiness, found that 1,692 farms are located inside indigenous lands, which means that the properties have irregular ownership processes, as they violate the rights of the original peoples. The 101-page document “The Invaders” is one more of the initiatives that denounce the vulnerabilities of indigenous peoples throughout this month, which marks the struggles of their organized movement. This type of maneuver, in which a space reserved for indigenous people is invaded, is called overlapping, and, in the case of the observatory, the total area encompassed is 1.18 million hectares. The perimeter is equivalent to the territory of Lebanon. Most of the rural properties detected (95.5%) are in indigenous territories with the demarcation still pending, which highlights the urgency for the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) to finalize the processes, ensuring the protection of the peoples who live there. The autarchy and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples have been signaling that they are aware of the speed that the scenario requires. Another piece of information in the report concerns land use. In all, 18.6% of the territories are used for agricultural production, with a portion of 55.6% used for pasture and another 34.6% for soybean cultivation, which occupied more than 76,000 hectares. Among the farm owners are business conglomerates and renowned brands such as Bunge, Amaggi and Lactalis. Indigenous lands Bunge and Amaggi appear as the companies that capture portions of the Morro Alto Indigenous Lands, in Santa Catarina, and Tirecatinga and Enawenê-Nawê, in Mato Grosso. As the observatory clarifies, the issue with that of Morro Alto is that it houses the property “Projeto São Francisco 135”, an obstacle to the Guarani Mbya and threatens their way of life. As members of the network that threatens indigenous lands in this context, the financial market also appears, through large banks and investment funds. As for these, what the report emphasizes is that illegality and violation of indigenous rights have not prevented them from offering credit to entrepreneurs. Other connections with landowners, exposed by the observatory, are with other figures of similar mentality in relation to the way they conduct business, by circumventing the law and focusing on profit, and with organized crime. The investigation took six months and required the team of journalists, geographers, historians and a legal specialist to analyze information on rural properties registered and certified by the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra). The sources were the Land Management System (Sigef), the National Rural Registry System (SNCR) and the National Real Estate Certification System (SNCI). Based on the initial list, a cross-referencing was carried out with the metadata of land cover and land use from the MapBiomas – Collection 7 platform, which contains data referring to the year 2021. By taking over indigenous lands, the agribusiness business community had an impact measured by the observatory team, which used reports produced by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). What was discovered was a deforestation of 46.9 thousand hectares, the result of the period between 2008 and 2021. Illegal situation In an interview given to Agência Brasil, the director of the De Olho nos Ruralistas observatory, Alceu Castilho, emphasized that, although the report reveals a large number of farms in an illegal situation, the cases of irregularity do not end there. “All the data that we released can be multiplied. They are a very significant, very relevant sample, but still a sample of what would be a final number of farms, supposedly private properties, on indigenous lands”, he said. “Agricultural expansion as a process of territorial expansion, over territories that are occupied by people and the environment. So, that means destruction and violence. And this violence is also racist,” he added. Agência Brasil sought out Lactalis to obtain a position on the irregularities. The company did not respond. Amaggi, in turn, stated that the company does not own any of the farms indicated in the report and that, in fact, they belong to the company’s shareholders and directors, Sérgio Luiz Pizzatto, named as the owner of one in Portos dos Gaúchos ( MT), and Itamar Locks and Pedro Jacyr, who owned three in Sapezal (MT). They argued, in a note, that there is no conflict or dispute over land with the indigenous people, nor an environmental embargo on ownership. As for what is pointed out in the report about Bunge, the company replied that the property mentioned was sold in 2022 and that “it is up to the buyer to carry out the bureaucratic procedures for the transfer of ownership before the Real Estate Registry Office. Bunge is not a party to any administrative process where the demarcation as an indigenous area is being discussed and, based on the public information available, this demarcation did not take place, therefore, there is no illegality on the part of the company”, he said. “Bunge reaffirms its commitment to its Biodiversity and Land Use Policy and other social and environmental policies, acting with ethics, transparency and respect for human rights in all its operations”, he concluded.
Agência Brasil
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