In July 2003, a Greenpeace team helped the indigenous Deni Indian communities in the Amazon to demarcate their homeland. The land was under threat from a Malaysian logging company.
The demarcation (marking of boundaries) saw over 1500 square kilometres (approximately 4 million acres) of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest identified as Deni land with a visible border, protecting the area and rendering the land legally defensible.
Our collaboration with the Deni began in 1999, when Greenpeace learned that the Malaysian logging giant WTK had purchased 151,000 hectares of land that overlapped with the Deni's traditional territories. Greenpeace went to the area and met Deni representatives, who at that time were unaware that WTK had been sold this land and intended to start logging.
In response, the Deni asked us to help them demarcate their land. Working alongside indigenous organisations (CIMI and OPAN) , we helped them to develop the practical information and skills needed to take direct charge of their land, and shut WTK out of the area. This included cutting 53 km of trails through thick jungle and 218 km along the banks of rivers and creeks. Along the routes, the Deni posted signs reading "Entry Prohibited. Deni Land." Greenpeace also held discussions with WTK in the UK, (the company's main market for Amazon wood products). The company agreed that they would not challenge the demarcation.
Whilst the Deni have taken the protection of their lands into their own hands, they still need government support to ensure full legal recognition. Once the Government recognizes demarcation, permits for logging and other destructive industrial activities cannot be issued for these lands. Although the Brazilian Constitution states that the Government should have demarcated all Indian lands by 1993, many territories have yet to be formally demarcated. This is only the second time that an Indian group has, without government assistance, demarcated their lands in the Amazon.
Greenpeace calls on the Brazilian government to complete the demarcation of all Indian lands in the Amazon. The Amazon is the biggest rainforest left on Earth, and such recognition by the Brazilian President will go a long way to ensuring that the Indian lands - 20 per cent of the Amazon - is safe from any illegal and destructive exploitation.
