TERRA FIRME, Brazil Growing up, Maria de Fátima Batista often studied in the dark, using a candle or lantern for light because the riverine community where she lives in Brazil’s Amazon did not have electricity. Today, aged 58, Batista, her family and the rest of the Terra Firme community, which sits by the banks […]
Impacts of grain crop cultivation spill into Brazil’s oldest indigenous reserve as farmers work with tribes to restore degraded land
The peoples of the Xingu say agricultural activity beyond the borders of their territory has impacted fish populations (image: Alamy)
Watatakalu Yawalapiti is 40 years old. She was born in the Amakapuku village, surrounded by a large preserved forest in the heart of Brazil. She spent part of her childhood on the white sands and clear waters of the Tuatuari river.
At other times, she would sit in a circle listening to her great-grandfather telling stories, like the one about how the white man would arrive with a huge blade and cut down the trees as one shaves one’s body hair.
The peoples of the Xingu say agricultural activity beyond the borders of their territory has impacted fish populations (image: Alamy).
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 21 2021 (IPS) - Watatakalu Yawalapiti is 40 years old. She was born in the Amakapuku village, surrounded by a large preserved forest in the heart of Brazil. She spent part of her childhood on the white sands and clear waters of the Tuatuari river. At other times, she would sit in a circle listening to her great-grandfather telling stories, like the one about how the white man would arrive with a huge blade and cut down the trees as one shaves one’s body hair.