The Fate Of The Planet Lies With The Fate Of Brasil's Indigenous People
Sign to prevent a new directive that could allow the widespread seizure of Indigenous land and resultant downfall of Brasil's biodiversity, from which all life on Earth relies. Support the Xokleng Indigenous Community's claim to land rights.
We of the international movement for ecological and social justice are writing to you to express our concern about the notorious intention of the Brasilian government to seize indigenous land in the country, and also to review and deconstruct the demarcations that have already been made. In the Brasilian and international press there have been abundant examples in which the representative of the Brasilian executive branch expressed the desire to claim this land. This is in direct opposition to the Brasilian constitution, which is unequivocally clear in promoting indigenous rights over territories traditionally inhabited by these peoples, as well as assigning the duty to demarcate and protect them to the Union.
We recognise that indigenous rights in Brasil are fundamental to the preservation of the global ecosystem and consequently for the survival of humanity itself. Indigenous peoples and other traditional communities protect 80% of Earth’s remaining biodiversity. Due to their ecological worldviews and practices, indigenous peoples are essential to the health of ecosystems.
We have seen that, where indigenous communities have been dispossessed of their land, agribusiness and other industrial corporations have degraded or destroyed those ecosystems to produce goods for profit. A third of Earth's soil is already acutely degraded due to industrial agriculture and climate change. Therefore, the health of Brasilian ecosystems depends on the protection of indigenous land rights enshrined in the constitution and in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Furthermore, the survival of the Brasilian biome is absolutely central to the preservation of our global ecosystem. The indigenous people of Brasil make up just 0.4% of indigenous people worldwide, yet they defend and preserve 20% of the Earth's biodiversity.
Our planet is currently undergoing a climate and ecological emergency, where human economic activity has already pushed our global ecosystem to the brink of collapse. Consequently, the protection of the lands currently inhabited by indigenous peoples in Brasil is absolutely central to the survival of the global ecosystem. If the climate and ecological emergency continues to unfold, authoritative studies predict a collapse of the human population throughout this century.
In conclusion, indigenous peoples’ rights to land, specifically those of Brasilian indigenous peoples, are the most important defense of humanity against the ecological catastrophe and have a huge hold on the future of this planet. Because of this, we will stand in solidarity with them whatever the costs. We urge you to do the same. We are aware of the requests for incidental provisional protection made by the Xokleng Indigenous Community and the Public Defender's Office, as well as other supporters.
We know that, as well as having general repercussions, this decision will have fundamental consequences for indigenous land rights in Brasil. We also consider that the so-called “timeline thesis” currently defended by the Brasilian Government is a serious attack on indigenous rights, and runs counter to all international legislation to which Brasil is a signatory. The international community is attentive to the responsibility that the Brasilian Supreme Court has in definitively removing the so-called “timeline thesis” and preventing attempts by those who want to reverse or prevent demarcation of indigenous land in Brasil.
Therefore, at this moment, we bring to the attention of Minister Edson Fachin Do Supremo Tribunal Federal of our full support to the requests made by the Xokleng Indigenous Community for the Supreme Federal Court to:
a) Suspend the effects of Opinion 001 / AGU and, with that, the Brasilian Government be prevented from reviewing and reversing indigenous land demarcations based on the "timeline thesis";
b) Suspend all legal proceedings that currently prevent the continuation of land demarcation processes in Brasil;
c) Declare the "timeline thesis" out of the way, and to reiterate the original and imprescriptible character of the rights of Brasilian indigenous peoples over their lands.
Minister Edson, your choice will shape the survival of millions of indigenous peoples, of the Brasilian rainforest, of our global ecosystem, and ultimately, the very fate of humanity itself. Is the production of soya beans and cattle more important than our collective survival on this planet? Will the profits made from turning the Amazon into an agribusiness do any good when the climate and ecological collapse destroys our global economic and social systems? This choice is in your hands,
Please, choose wisely.
Kind regards,
