XINGU RIVER, Brazil Deep in the Brazilian Amazon, our motorboat slides past an emerald canopy of rainforest, cascading down to the banks of the Xingu River. Beyond, in the Terra do Meio Ecological Station, hundreds of plant and animal species thrive in one of the best-preserved slices of the Amazon. Under federal protection since […]
TRIUNFO DO XINGU, Brazil Lenice Divina Ramos weaves through knee-high weeds and scorched shrubs before halting abruptly near the slice of jungle where, not long ago, she found the charred carcass of her pet monkey. “The little fellow had no way to escape,” she says wistfully, waving toward the burnt-orange patch of vegetation that […]
APYTEREWA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil Deep in the Apyterewa reserve, Tye Parakanã waves a hand toward the lush rainforest flanking his village. In the distance, a faint cloud of smoke rises above the emerald canopy of the Brazilian Amazon. “You see this forest here? Behind it, it’s all ranches,” the 35-year-old Indigenous leader says as […]
The Americas have a long history of occupation based on the destruction of nature and the violent massacre of native peoples, all in the name of a particular idea of “progress.” Brazil’s military dictatorship, which ran from 1964 to 1985, embraced this ideology to the point it had a specific motto “integrate to not […]
BRASILIA In the last four years, threats on different fronts have intensified in the Xingu Basin. In 2021 alone, more than 1,753,700 acres were deforested in the region. That’s more than 194 trees felled every minute.