Uru Eu Wau Wau, Paumari, Catawixi, Juma, Apurin~a, Rimarim~a, Deni, Tenharim,Parintintin, Diahoy. These are the names of just a few indigenous peoples living in Brazil, a country with the indigenous population at some 550,438, comprising 225 tribes, and speaking about 180 different languages. During the last few weeks, it has also been a country of large-scale, controversial projects, most notably that of the Uructu-Porto Velho gas pipeline. This project itself came into being as a consequence of the recent federal government economic plan, Advanca Brasil (Advance Brazil)
Indigenous peoples and representatives of the gas pipeline company Petrobas have been recently involved in discussions initiated by environmental organizations. According to the plan, the gas pipeline has a projected extension of 522 to 538 kilometers, at an estimated cost to Petrobas of US$250 million. 90 percent of the project passes through the state of Amazonas and the cost to the traditional indigenous communities is a 20 meter-wide swathe through the rainforest in its entire length. In addition, two smaller pipelines will be built in the municipalities of Labrea and Humaita, some 600 kilometers from Manaus.
Public hearings to discuss the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) carried out by Petrobas were held in several Brazilian cities prospectively affected by the installation of such a gas pipeline. The hearings, which began on February 17 in Coari, Tapaua, Canutama, Labrea, Humaita and Port Velho, have so far shown a reluctance to embrace the project among the vast majority of the thousands consulted. As many organizations claim, including the Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Middle Purus (OPIMP), the indigenous peoples of the region are very concerned about the social impacts of the plan, primarily for those communities living close to the route of the pipeline. According to Antenor de Assis Karitiana, the CUNPIR coordinator, these groups continue to maintain a different concept of land, property and the environment from that prevalent in the non-indigenous population. This concept, based on a semi-nomadic way of life, would be impeded by the implementation of such large-scale projects.
"It will provoke changes in habit and customs,” said Karitiana. “Men will leave their villages to work for the company as fishermen, hunters and gatherers. The project interferes with the socio-economic system of obligations and family responsibilities, as it represents an individualist and profit-driven economy."
The validity of the EIS process is a matter of further concern for a number of reasons. Firstly, it does not contemplate alternative solutions for the procurement of energy, nor has a public hearing been proposed for threatened indigenous peoples in the Manissua Area. Secondly, the government -- supposedly monitoring the EIS process, as well as the prospective development of the project -- has lent no representative support to the weaker minority interests involved in the discussions.
