The Amazon lives with a particular challenge: to develop the space and quality of life of its people

The exuberance of Amazon's natural wealth contrasts with the severe and historical social and environmental issues of the region. The Amazon Biome has as nearly seven million square kilometers, distributed in the territories of nine countries of South America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Most of it, about 60%, is in Brazilian territory. The  Amazon Day (September 5th) remembers the historical challenge of the region: conciliating the development with the assurance of wealth and better quality of life to its population. 

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In Brazil, it was instituted in 1953 the concept of Legal Amazon, as a way to plan the social and economical development of the region. The Legal Amazon covers 59% of the national territory, embracing the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima e Tocantins and a part of Maranhão: 5 million square kilometers, home to 28,1 million inhabitants by 2020 - 13% of the whole national population, despite the low demographic density, of 5,6 inhabitants per square kilometer. Data from Ipea sum up the challenge: the nine states of the Amazon region have a Municipal Human Development Index below 0,750, lower than the rest of Brazil, which is 0,778.

"This shows us that, for the region to turn the table of its deep inequality, the environmental issue will only achieve success if there is a systematized attention to the caring of the 26 million people living in the Amazon, 9 million in Pará. Projects of immediate assistance of the government, such as Renda Pará, have been establishing income transference, assistance to the improvement of housing quality and stimulation of the rural production to families that are economically vulnerable, but they don't yet solve the problem. On its higher scale, the challenge bumps against the way Brazil sees Amazon, beginning with the Federactive Pact", he states. 

To Mauro O' de Almeida, the path to a sustainable future is the stimulation of collective and individual reeducation of what is, in fact, development. "Human development mustn't get mistaken for economic growth. Not every economic growth represents social development, quality of life, or the common good. Pará's last decades history shows that the environmental cost of the big human interventions didn't translate as local social benefit".

"Take a look: none of the great companies operating in Pará possess a decision room in the state, and most of the time not even in Brazil. They control operations and laboral fronts from outside the country. Our Federactive Pact needs, also, to be revised. There is a high dependence on the central power (Brasília), to the point of even going through legal paths to solve deadlocks from the Union (the federal government legal persona) about loans coming from international banks, despite many of them having financial health to credit operations", points out O'd de Almeida.

"In the environment area, it's an example of the difficulty of the inoperation in Pará's territory, once considered that two thirds of Pará are under Federal Government Control control. For the environment and development agenda to work, it is needed that the stakeholders are imbricated, articulated and marching on the same drum", he states.

President of Amazon's National Integration and Region Development Commission, congressman Cristiano Vale (PL/Pará) affirmed that, despite all historical difficulties, Amazon reunites, nowadays, all the conditions to stand on the same level or even to surpass other further developed regions, even on a midterm run.

"Our region is estrategica in numberless aspects. In the last few years, with globalization, we have heightened our comprehension about it. We possessed a unique biome on the planet. We have a mineral rich soil, a giant hidrical system, that allows us to stimulate agriculture, livestock, supply and energy generation, and a continental territorial extension. If our Legal Amazon were a country, we would be the 6th largest in the world". 

As president to the commission and representative for the more populous state of Brazilian Amazon, one of his objectives is to lead the region to a higher mark in sustainable development through public policies that are viable and efficient, with the participation of governments, private companies and all of society. "We are continuously working, whether on the accomplishment of studies, projects or the proposition of laws and resources to structurate the municipalities and create conditions".

On that matter, former Defense Minister Aldo Rabelo states that the Amazon cannot remain as the richest region in natural resources and biodiversity, but with the worst social indicators. To him, Brazil as a whole needs to have a project with Amazon, gathering four key points. First is the national sovereignty over Amazon. The second matter is the right of the population of the Amazon to develop. And of its aspects goes through education, science and technology, to provide Amazon, and not only to the extractivism, but for the transformation industry. "Amazon already is as of today the biggest producer of cacao in Brazil. But, are we going to export all of it? Why not manufacture it, embrace the Amazon brand, a strong brand in the world, to increase value to what is produced and extracted from the Amazon, not only on flora, but also fruticulture, also in mining?", argues Rebelo.   

Projects for the Amazon need to value science to include people from the region

The Amazon needs development projects that include the people from the region. It is the statement of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) Dean, Emmanuel Tourinho, citing the successive policies that constructed interventions in the region without hearing its population, ignoring Amazon's reality and, when push comes to shove, don't generate wealth and income to its people. "We need development projects built on the protagonism of the people from the Amazon and with an internalization of these project's benefits". 

Until today, says Tourinho, there are still no development projects for the Amazon that guarantee a sustainable use of its natural resources and social development. "We have been experimenting with initiatives that translate into large projects to generate energy and environmental assets for other regions of the country."

Tourinho warns: the problem is that, in the region, the generation of these energy and environmental assets has been done at a cost to the peoples of the Amazon. “We need development projects that are for the Amazon, including the peoples of the Amazon. In other words, projects that represent an improvement in the living conditions of the region's population”.

Tourinho highlights the challenges imposed by regional indicators. “We have the worst HDI (Human Development Index), the worst Ideb (Basic Education Development Index, in Brazil), and high illiteracy. We have the highest rate of occurrence of slave labor. We have the worst rate of water supply in households and of the sanitary sewage network. So, the peoples of the Amazon no longer accept that the region is seen only as a generator of energy and environmental assets for third parties”.

The Dean of UFPA highlights the contribution of science in the search for solutions to this situation. “It is estimated that only 20% of the Amazon's biodiversity is known and science can tell us how to take advantage of this wealth without destroying it. For that, we need, first, to conserve this biodiversity, which has been dramatically threatened. It is as if we were killing the chicken that laid the golden eggs, because precisely what can generate so many benefits and gains for us has been devastated”.

Tourinho points out: “We have a great scientific capacity installed in the region. Our universities and research institutes are internationally competitive, but they are underfunded and do not realize their full potential. With the right support, we can create conditions for the conservation of our natural resources and we can develop products with high added value. With investment in science and commitment to local populations and the environment, the Amazon can build a new and promising development cycle”.

A look into the future of the “forgotten pieces” 

Scientific knowledge is important to help small farmers in the region to generate wealth. Anacleto Pantoja Quaresma, 45, was born and raised in Igarapé-Miri, northeast of Pará, and says that the Amazon must be preserved. “This is where we survive. We created an association that aims to preserve the environment, rivers, streams and riparian forests. But it is also necessary to have more support from the government, with financing, garden projects, for example”, he ponders.

The producer would like his children to be able to start and complete their studies in the community, without having to go to the city in search of training. “Chasing that, you end up having an experience that is out of your reality. If there were a school here, on our own river, up to high school, it would be great”. Givanildo de Jesus Guimarães, 46, also born and raised in Igarapé-Miri, agrees with him. “It is a blessed region, very rich and fertile. We have everything here. What is needed is to know how to take advantage of what we have, to value it more. Preserving the environment”, says Guimarães, who earns a living as a cocoa producer. 

Miles from the forests of Igarapé-Miri, sitting at the door of her house, with the sumptuous Guajará bay in the background, 50-year-old Ana Cláudia Beltrão lives another reality, but agrees that she shares the same challenges as Givanildo and Anacleto. She has lived for seven years in Vila da Barca, the urban agglomeration that is considered the largest stilted neighborhood in Latin America, and is located in the capital of Pará, the city of Belém.

“In this environment, we have several qualities. It depends on what we want to take out for us”, she asserts. “From here, we have a livelihood, there is a play area. At that time of the pandemic, as I couldn't be out, this was our beach. It was our leisure area. Children run, play. Adults play among the children”, looking at the horizon. Ana Cláudia would like the governors to look more into the community. “When they want this voting business, they just show what is on the outside. What's inside, that's what we live, they don't pay attention, they don't look at us. Got it? At election time, come here. But when they win, they forget about this piece they saw. That's the difficult".

"The Amazon does not speak for itself", says the researcher

Amazon does not speak for itself. Those who speak for it are the peoples who inhabit it”. With this phrase, the anthropologist, researcher and professor at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), Jane Beltrão, sums up: in order to talk about the Amazon, it is necessary that everything be placed in the plural, because of its diversity.

“In every corner, the people who live in these places are different. We have a historical treatment of the Amazon that is very colonial. And in this sense, it is important to consider the original peoples, because, as they say in their demonstrations, they were here before the European invasion”.

The historian claims that the treatment given to the peoples of the Amazon over time has always been unequal, since the colonial Brazil period, between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the arrival in the Amazon territory. With them, the Portuguese also brought conflicts and diseases that left thousands of natives dead. Since then, throughout all periods of the region's history, the peoples of the Amazon have had to resist, highlights the researcher.

The anthropologist, who worked at the National Indian Foundation (Funai) during the military regime (1964-1985), reports that even in recent history, traditional peoples still suffered attacks. She claims that many cases of death and torture of indigenous people were not even registered, because of censorship. Logistics works for the region, which helped to reinforce the occupation of the region and supported the productive sector, also ended up driving deforestation, as is the case of the Transamazônica highway, which is almost 6,000 kilometers long. According to the professor, even after the redemocratization of Brazil, in 1988, with the new constituent and the return of direct elections, few changes in this treatment were noticed, says professor Jane Beltrão. And even with the advances, many issues were not addressed by the rulers, such as the demarcation of lands for the usufruct of peoples who had previously lived there.

“In recent history, there has been a difference in public policies, but the demarcation of indigenous lands, which should have been carried out by 1975, did not take place. The Constitution gave another deadline, which was also not met. There is a huge amount of unrecognized land. And this recognition is important. It is not enough for this territory to be identified, it is necessary, by hegemonic law, for it to be recognized and registered in a notary's office. The diversity in the Amazon, especially of the people, needs to be preserved”, asserts Jane Beltrão.

Amazon: a history through the eyes of the originary people

Occupation benning
The book "The inhabited forest: History of human occupation in the Amazon", by Jakeline Pereira and Tatiana Corrêa Veríssimo, defends that the occupation of the Amazon begins when the asian immigrants arrives in the Amazonas vale, plus 14 thousand years ago, moment when the indigenous society emerged on the region.

Colonial Brazil
In the 16th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese to the region, through the Amazonas river, the land and natural wealth (gold and minerals) conflicts began. Lots of diseases were brought. Indigenous peoples had their populations drastically reduced throughout the years. 

Military Dictatorship
From 1964, to 1985, the exploitation of indigenous territories in the Amazon grew. Alongside with it, the conflicts in the region. Many from the indigenous people were tortured and killed, but few cases made to a proper register, because of the censorship. The Transamazônica Road was built, with a big impact to the biome. 

After the dictatorship and nowadays
The 1998 Constitution included indigenous peoples rights, with assurance concepts about social organization, culture, language, faith and traditions. Landmarks and affirmative actions were established, such as special spots in the public education system for the indigenous peoples.