Porto Velho, Rondonia

25 February 2002.

Gas pipeline: how much will it cost the indigenous peoples?

The Urucu-Porto Velho gas pipeline is clear threat to the physical and cultural integrity of the indigenous peoples who live along its 550 kilometre trajectory.

Large-scale projects in Brazil, and particularly in Amazonia: the construction of the BR-364 highway cut through the traditional territory of the Nambikquara; the Junqueira company decimated a Cinta Large village in Mato Grosso with arsenic, bombs and bullets; the construction of the Balbina hydroelectric dam in Amazonas cut through Waimiri-Atroari territory; the construction of the BR-319 highway in Rondonia cut through the traditional territory of the Uru Eu Wau Wau, among many others.

What happened to the indigenous peoples who were victims of these large-scale projects? The Nambikquara were decimated and lost traditional lands, cemitaries and plantations; to the Cinta-Larga people remains only the memory of decimation and the hope for justice; the Waimiri are still waiting for the promised benefits of the hydroelectric plant...the lands of the Uru Eu Wau Wau have been penetrated by smaller snakes (roads), born of the big snake (BR-364)...

Throughout the 20th Century and now in the 21st Century, the threat continues... from the interests of international capital camouflaged as Petrobras investors, victim of the process of privatisation promoted by the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, of globalisation...the demands of energy production. They can do anything they want... including breaking environmental laws considered to be the best in the world. In practice, financial interests talk louder and who benefits are the electricity generating companies, whose incompetence was proved during last year's blackouts.

In this context of governmental irresponsility, comes the proposal to construct a gas pipeline between Urucu and Porto Velho, which has no commitment to the traditional populations of Amazonia and is being sponsored by politicians in search of funds for their electoral campaigns...

To keep up the farse, it was necessary for Petrobras to "commission" an Environmental Impact Study, analysing the proposal, possible alternatives and the social and economic costs of the project. A company was contracted to elaborate the EIS. When it was finished, it was made available to people interested in or affected by the project...In the light of this EIS, we can state what we see, how we feel and how we perceive our future...

It is regrettable that the EIS does not even give a precise figure for the number of indigenous people living in the "influenced area". It does not mention little-contacted, fragile groups like the DENI (on the middle Cuniua river) and the RIMARIMÃ (Piranhas, Riozinho and Cuniuá river).

These peoples, and the Paumari, Catawixi, Juma and Apurinã still maintain a different concept of land and the environment. They have a semi-nomadic life. After exhausting resources in one area they move to another, rich in resources for their subsistence and the production of baskets, fabrics, ceramics, weapons and other objects typical of their culture.

The logic of letting exploited areas 'rest' prevails, thereby guaranteeing the abundance of natural resources, which is celebrated by an ideology of production in which the aim is not to accumulate resources, but to distribute them at large parties to which neighbouring communities are invited. This is a manner of establishing communication, interrelationship between different communities. New social relations are created, marriages arranged and hunting and fishing expeditions organised. It is an exchange of goods in a reciprocal system: an economy of sharing.

In summer, the Paumari communities move to the river floodplains, where they catch turtles to eat. This semi-nomadic lifestyle is placed at risk by the construction of large-scale projects, such as the gas pipeline. Contact is imminent and real. It will provoke changes in habit and customs. Men will leave their villages to work for the company as fishermen, hunters and gatherers. The project interferes with the socio-economic system of obligations and family responsabilities as it represents an individualist and profit-driven economy.

The world of the men is the forest and the world of the women is the village. The pipeline company would give the men a new role, which is related to the company and not the village. The desintegration of village life is inevitable.

Little-contacted indigenous groups in the "influenced area" are also threatened, namely the Rimarimã, Catawixi and Juma peoples. The Rimarima hunt between the Piranhas, Riozinho and Cuniua rivers, in an area which still abounds with natural resources and is consequently coveted by other river dwellers and also by the company which will need to provide food for a large contingent of workers. Invasions, indiscrimate contact, the spread of disease, the impoverishment of the area are among the probable consequences of the project.

The Catawixi live on the Jacareuba inlet of the Mucuim river in the municipality of Canutama. These Indians are already cornered by the advance of the soya frontier, sponsored by the Maggi Group. The source of the Jacareuba is located close to the proposed pipeline. There is, therefore, an imminent danger of indiscrimate contact with this people. There are no mechanisms in place to protect and defend this people. Government environmental bodies have not been involved in plans to mitigate the impact of the project. They fly over the area once a month - which does nothing to impede miners operating in the area.

The Juma inhabit an area directly affected by the project, between the Mucuim and Joari rivers. They have been transferred to the Uru Eu Wau Wau indigenous area in the interests of guaranteeing their physical survival through intermarriage with this people of the same linguistic family (Kawahib). By doing so, FUNAI has effectively cleared the Juma territory for the construction of the pipeline. The Pilot Programme for the Demarcation of Indigenous Lands in Legal Amazonia (PPTAL) withdrew proposals to demarcate the area, scheduled for 2001, without stating what the future of the area as an indigenous territory would be. Organisations which support the indigenous peoples, together with the Juma, CUNPIR and the Uru Eu Wau Wau, have demanded that the PPTAL prioritise the demarcation of the Juma Indigenous Territory in 2002.

In the light of so many threats to the Juma, Apurinã, Deni, Paumari, Catawixi, Rimarimã, Tenharim, Parintintin, Diahoy and Pirahã Indigenous Peoples -- the opening-up of the region for colonists and loogers -- CUNPIR repudiates the construction of the Urucu-Porto Velho gas pipeline and affirms that it will bring no benefit to the Indigenous Peoples. On the contrary, on the basis of the social, environmental, economic and cultural impacts, there is no reason to celebrate with the multinationals and the energy companies.

We ask the People of Rondonia to open their eyes. The promises of increased energy supply and lower prices are lies. Only a limited number of companies will be benefitted, not the People. If it does not benefit the People, the People do not need it. We need energy alternatives which use the hydroelectric potential, the waste from the timber industry, solar energy, among others.... Let's defend Life...

Antenor de Assis Karitiana - CUNPIR co-ordinator

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