Amazon tribes appeal to the world for help to fight coronavirus
Andres Schipani in São Paulo
Amazonian indigenous groups on Wednesday slammed the “inaction” of governments in the face of coronavirus in the world’s largest tropical rainforest calling for donations to help them survive the pandemic.
The Amazon Emergency Fund wants to raise $8m in two months to help over 3m indigenous people who live in the vast rainforest and are vulnerable to the Covid-19 due poor healthcare and sanitation, said COICA, a grouping of Amazonian indigenous people from nine different countries.
“If the governments of the region are not going to help, let the international community do so,” said José Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, general coordinator of COICA and a member of the Wakuenai Kurripaco people from Venezuela. “States always talk about the sovereign power of the territory, but such power goes hand in hand with the responsibility of caring for their people.”
COICA warned that as the virus spreads through the Amazon basin, indigenous peoples are “disproportionately vulnerable to disease”. The goal of the fundraising campaign is to provide food, medicine, as well as protection against impending intrusions on indigenous lands.
“Covid-19, which affects the whole world, has reached indigenous territories putting our lives at risk. But it should be said that this virus joins other pre-existing threats, of which we are permanently living with in indigenous communities. Such threats are the direct environmental contamination due to the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources, which limits access to public health,” said Francinara Soares Baré, native of the Baré people in Brazil.
The struggle of Amazonian indigenous peoples has gained renewed prominence since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office last year. These indigenous groups have long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the rainforest, living off the land and protecting it in turn. As deforestation gains pace, they find themselves vulnerable.
Mr Bolsonaro has condemned what he sees as excessive legal protection for Brazil’s ethnic groups and the sheer size of their constitutionally mandated land reserves.