Earth’s ‘most threatened tribe’ has made a desperate appeal for the Brazilian government to halt the illegal logging that is ravaging its territory, as the Amazon’s logging season starts in earnest.
The Awá are a small tribe of around 450, who have survived brutal massacres. They live in the eastern Amazon, and are one of the world’s last remaining nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes. Some members of the tribe remain uncontacted. The Awá depend on the forest for everything, and intensive logging is destroying their land.
The Awá tribe already suffers the fastest rate of deforestation in the Amazon, and the start of the dry season has in previous years brought a huge upsurge in illegal loggers. Experts warn that the Awá will face extinction unless more is done to protect their land rights, which are being abused by illegal loggers and cattle ranchers.
The Awá’s urgent message pleads with Brazil’s Minister of Justice to “evict loggers from our land immediately… before they come back and destroy everything.”
Survival International’s campaign to save the Awá tribe has already generated over 27,000 messages to Brazil’s Justice Minister, calling for him to remove all invaders. It has also prompted Maranhão state’s public prosecutor to order an investigation into those responsible for invading Awá land, and to demand they are brought to justice.
However, thousands of illegal loggers are still believed to be operating in the area.
Since Colin Firth launched Survival International’s campaign nearly six weeks ago, Brazil’s indigenous rights organization CIMI (Conselho Indigenista Missionário) has shared the film with members of the Awá.
One Awá man reacted by saying, “Very good, non-Indians, what you’re doing is really important, and really good! Help us as fast as you can. Send lots of messages [to the Minister].”
The centerpiece of the campaign is a short film, featuring an appeal by Colin Firth and music by Grammy-winning composer Heitor Pereira. Astonishing graphics on the campaign website show the devastating destruction of the Indians’ forest, which is happening faster than any other Amazon tribe. The situation is now so critical that several Brazilian experts have spoken of a ‘genocide’ and ‘extinction’.
Survival International’s Director Stephen Corry said on June 8, “The Awá may only number around 450 people, but in a short time, their cause has become global news. Brazil’s government must stop ignoring the Awá, and put them at the top of its agenda. The start of the logging season is a critical time. Pressure must not cease.”
Survival International is urging people to support the Awá by messaging Brazil’s Minister of Justice.
Source: Survival International.
