{"id":19492,"date":"2011-02-14T17:11:02","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T22:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=19492"},"modified":"2011-02-14T17:11:02","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T22:11:02","slug":"uncontacted-amazon-indians-face-annihilation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=19492","title":{"rendered":"Uncontacted Amazon Indians face annihilation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A shocking report obtained by Survival International<\/a> reveals that the home of the nomadic Aw\u00e1 tribe<\/a> suffered more deforestation than any other indigenous territory in the Amazon in 2009.\u00a0 (Photo: An Aw\u00e1 man stands amidst the burnt remains of his tribe’s forest. \u00a9Survival)<\/em><\/p>\n

Around 60 to 100 Aw\u00e1 have managed to remain uncontacted, but their last refuge is now being destroyed.<\/p>\n

A huge influx of loggers and settlers has invaded the territory, but virtually nothing has been done to remove them, despite the authorities being aware of their identities.<\/p>\n

The report, by Brazil\u2019s Indian Affairs Department FUNAI<\/a>, shows that 31% of the forest in the Aw\u00e1 territory has been illegally cut down.<\/p>\n

The tribe lives in three of the five indigenous areas which suffered most deforestation in 2009 \u2013 the latest year for which statistics are available. There are about 360 contacted Aw\u00e1, living in several communities.<\/p>\n

Satellite images show that deforestation in the area has hugely increased over the past two decades and is now occurring close to where uncontacted Indians<\/a> have been sighted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pire\u2019i Ma\u2019a, an Aw\u00e1 man, told Survival, \u2018The loggers are destroying all the land\u2026 This is Indian land\u2026 I am angry, very angry with the loggers, extremely angry. There is no game for me to hunt, and my children are hungry\u2019.<\/p>\n

Watch video<\/a> of Aw\u00e1 men talking about logging and deforestation threats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some Aw\u00e1 have stopped hunting altogether as they feel threatened by the illegal loggers <\/a>working nearby.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, the BBC\u2019s \u2018Human Planet\u2019 featured Aw\u00e1 women caring for orphaned baby monkeys by suckling them.<\/p>\n

A Brazilian anthropologist has stated the tribe faces genocide, and a FUNAI official declared on Globo TV that it will become extinct if the authorities do not take urgent action.<\/p>\n

(The devastating impacts of deforestation on the Aw\u00e1 will be highlighted in the BBC programme \u2018The Chinese are Coming\u2019, to be shown tomorrow on BBC 2 at 9.00 pm.)<\/p>\n

As a nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe, one of only two such tribes remaining in Brazil, the Aw\u00e1 rely totally on their forest to survive. Many Aw\u00e1 have died in brutal massacres<\/a> at the hands of ranchers and loggers.<\/p>\n

Contact between these Indians and the outsiders<\/a> could have devastating effects as the Indians have very little resistance to outside diseases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brazilian law requires that the Aw\u00e1 land be protected for the Indians, but the authorities have failed to act.<\/p>\n

Survival\u2019s Director, Stephen Corry, said today, \u2018We are watching a tragedy unfold before our eyes\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and the cause of it is quite simply a total failure of Brazil\u2019s authorities to uphold the law and protect the Aw\u00e1 territory.\u2019<\/p>\n

Download maps<\/a> showing the increase in deforestation in the Aw\u00e1 territory from 1985 until 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Survival International<\/em><\/p>\n

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A shocking report obtained by Survival International reveals that the home of the nomadic Aw\u00e1 tribe suffered more deforestation than any other indigenous territory in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[751,1],"tags":[6951,2261,4188,6952],"class_list":["post-19492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-news","category-uncategorized","tag-awa-tribe","tag-deforestation","tag-illegal-logging","tag-tribe-extinction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}