The Brazilian Embassy in Washington recently announced the results of a cooperative effort by four tribes of the northeast Amazon, the Brazilian government’s Indian agency and the Amazon Conservation Team to map ten million acres of the tribes’ ancestral lands. The regions mapped included the Tumucumaque Indigenous Park and the Rio Paru d’Este Indigenous Land, covering areas occupied by the Apalia, Wayana, Tirio, and Kaxuyana tribes. The mapping process involved consulting tribal elders on their traditional knowledge of the heavily forested areas and its place names, and Global Positioning System technology was used to plot the boundaries. These four tribes will now be able to better organize and develop their resources, and they have been careful to document hunting trails and holy places, while not revealing the location of coveted medicinal plants. The map also proves that the four tribes occupy the entire territory, which will help them in their fight against gold miners on their land. The Amazon Conservation Team hopes the effort will serve as a model for indigenous mapping initiatives in other parts of the Amazon.
