Brazil
Protecting The Tembe Indigenous Reserves in Para, Bazil
Overview
The Tembé indigenous people of Brazil, like other native populations, have proven to be the best protectors of rainforest areas. A map of the Tembé reserve showed us an island of rainforest surrounded by deforestation and destruction along its borders. This is also what we saw in person when we met with the Tembé.
Above: A patch of forest destroyed due to illegal logging in the Tembé reserve.
The Tembé project represents a rare opportunity to recognize and establish an international model for indigenous rainforest preservation by supporting the Tembé as protectors of their land. The Tembé are currently reporting massive illegal logging operations on their reserve.
Above: Photo of indigenous Tembé range on a bike. About 30 young rangers patrol the area and need help securing the borders.
With only 1500 members in the tribe, and incursions over large areas, there are many difficulties in monitoring the area. The Tembé are extremely well organized and driven. Technical challenges to the project are the area’s remoteness and weak cell phone service. The Tembé have asked for help developing technological solutions to aid their ability to monitor their lands and collect data to measure the scope of illegal activities, create legal evidence of these activities, and use the information to pressure government and law enforcement for protection and response. In the words of the Tembé, the current destruction of their rainforest is an existential threat to their lives and threatens their ability to exist as a people.
Watch our mini documentary on the Tembé project.
Partners
Primary partner: ECAM has been working with indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon since 2002, with a specific focus on strengthening their autonomy in managing and protecting their traditional lands. ECAM specializes in helping develop and strengthen indigenous planning processes through a series of participatory and collaborative methodologies tested over the last decade with indigenous communities through the Brazilian Amazon.
Implementing Organizations: Tembé Rangers, ECAM, Rainforest Connection
Objectives
Main Objectives:
Map and establish key nodal points for monitoring illegal logging activities, entrance and extraction points. Test and implement the Rainforest Connection system at key access points with cell service in the Tembé Reserve (such as areas where trucks enter for illegal logging) per their request.
Conduct a comprehensive feasibility study that determines which technological tools and innovations will give the Tembé the best ability to monitor and protect their traditional lands. Additionally, how to use this information to recognize patterns of illegal activity and to motivate local and federal authorities to intervene, per the request of the Tembé.
Secondary Objectives:
Determine the potential for developing connectivity across the reserve to enhance the security of the Tembé, capture illegal activities, and address other needs, such as promoting real-time communication between villages and coordinating leadership and governance activities. Test infrastructure and technology adaptations that could promote faster emergency response times within the context of territorial protection, healthcare, and coordination with external law enforcement (FUNAI and SEMA-Pa).
Work with the Tembé to establish a Tembé Technology Working Group that serves as the point of contact for leveraging future technological implementations, opportunities, and partnerships; training; institutional knowledge; infrastructure expansion; and encouraging a culture of innovation (as evidenced by the Tembé youth).
Determine which innovation strategies would allow the Tembé to leverage existing infrastructure in their area to the greatest effect, and which strategies require expanded coverage and communications around the reserve.
Set up permanent RFCx systems in the Tembé Reserve that enable continuous use of rainforest data to help our local partners protect the critically endangered rainforest.
Enable the sharing of data with partners and the international research community, including scientists, researchers, NGOs, conservationists, and policymakers.
Implementation
We developed the first real-time anti-deforestation monitoring platform. Existing platforms are either satellite-driven, which renders them too late to intervene in illegal logging as it occurs, or too expensive and proprietary to scale effectively.
We recycled old mobile phones into solar-powered devices that pinpoint the location of illegal logging in rainforests as it occurs.
Above: Setting up RFCx guardians in the Tembé reserve.
Outcomes / Challenges
Today, after a 30-year wait, the Brazilian Government has finally returned the rightful land of the Alto Rio Guamá to the Indigenous people, including our partners, the Tembé Indigenous community. Since 2014, we have stood by the Tembé, forging a close and enduring partnership. Through our Guardian devices and comprehensive system, we have worked hand-in-hand with them on a near-daily basis, empowering them to protect their land from illegal deforestation, poaching, and invaders - direct threats to their invaluable resources, their people, and the very survival of their unique culture. This historic milestone marks a significant step towards ensuring the long-term sustainability and preservation of their land. However, our journey is far from over. We now face the important task of expanding our monitoring and threat detection efforts, implementing reforestation initiatives, and much more. We are dedicated to continuing this work, knowing that it is only the beginning.
Chief Sérgio Tembé expressed his gratitude with these inspiring words:
“…when we began the patrols and setting up the Guardians, the loggers disappeared. They got spooked away, so they are not here as they used to be. This means that the Guardians, which are being put up, and the work we are doing together are giving positive results.”
Left: Chief Ednaldo Tembé of the Tembé Tribe.
Right: Founder of Rainforest Connection, Topher White
