Paper short abstract:

Based on a conflict involving riverine communities from the Xingu River basin, Brazilian Amazonia, where legal instruments called “commitment agreements” have recently been discussed and implemented, this paper debates the relationship between environmental policies and territorial rights.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to analyze contradictions in Brazilian environmental policies that are expressed by the superposition of restrictive conservation units on traditionally occupied territories, as well as the resistance by the communities affected by these policies. I focus on the drawing up of termos de compromisso (commitment agreements), which the law defines as a transitional means for guaranteeing biodiversity conservation and for safeguarding socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of social groups involved.

We here observe riverine communities who self-identify as beiradeiros: in 2005 the creation of a national park and an ecological station impacted their traditionally occupied territory, located in the Xingu River basin, in the Amazonian state of Pará. Several violations of these families’ rights have ensued because of this overlap, but they have devised multiple resistance strategies to remain in their territory. The State then summoned them between 2013-2016 in order to draw up agreement terms. I participated as a researcher and mediator in this process.

Mainly due to their temporary nature, I believe that agreement terms are limited instruments to ensure effective guarantees of traditional communities’ territorial rights. In the case at hand, however, they transpired as a source of backing – not only to prevent repetition of violations previously experienced – but also within an adverse political context, where we see the advance of predatory activities such as land grabbing, deforestation, timber theft, and mining, as well as and political attempts to annul conservation units.