The people of the forest

Around the world, an important reference to the Amazon is its vast forest and, moreover, the Indigenous people who inhabit it. Indeed, the biome is home to the majority of the Amazon population in Brazil, approximately 440 Indigenous people. There are more than 180 Indigenous peoples, in addition to several isolated groups³ living in the biome. They occupy an area of ​​approximately 110 million hectares. To give you an idea of ​​its enormity, the Yanomami territory, located in Roraima and Amazonas, is home to more than 25 Indigenous people. Indigenous lands play a fundamental role in ensuring the protection of the rights and identity of these peoples, whose livelihoods have enabled the maintenance of the forest and its resources for so many generations. 

However, indigenous peoples are not the only ones living in the biome. This was evidenced by Chico Mendes's⁴ struggle in the 80s, when he brought global media attention to the issue of rubber tappers, who were fighting against deforestation. Their profession could have been like any other, but because it depended directly on rubber extraction, it required rubber tappers to fight tooth and nail to protect the forest and their right to make a living from extractivism. This struggle gave rise to Brazil's first extractive reserves in 1990 and became a symbol of the possibility of harnessing the forest's resources and preserving it.

Although not as well-known as indigenous peoples and rubber tappers, there are also other traditional populations in the biome's meanders, such as quilombolas, riverside communities, artisanal fishermen and fisherwomen, family farmers, piassava tappers, peconheiros, and others.

Quilombos, communities made up of enslaved men and women who fled during slavery, are also found in the Amazon. The biome's formation is unique, as many of them brought together Indigenous, mixed-race, and white people alongside enslaved Black people. According to the New Brazilian Social Cartography project, more than 1.000 quilombola communities have been mapped in the Legal Amazon, distributed as follows: approximately 750 in Maranhão, over 400 in Pará, almost 100 in Tocantins, and dozens in Amapá, Amazonas, and Rondônia.¹

The traditional populations of rubber tappers, piassava gatherers, fishermen, and peconheiros, among others, were so named because of their trade. Recognizing the importance of organizing to fight for their rights, they have been seeking to strengthen their identity. For example, piassava gatherers make their living by extracting fiber from the piassava palm (used to make brooms), a Tupi word meaning "fibrous plant." It is one of the main economic activities of the populations living along the middle and upper Rio Negro and its tributaries in the Amazon.⁵ Peconheiros⁶ are the name given to açaí gatherers who venture into the palm treetops and fight for labor regulations to ensure better conditions for their work.

It's important to mention the riverside communities, a group of people who, despite global pressures, still maintain a traditional lifestyle based on fishing.⁷ The Amazon is often seen with its rivers interspersed with wooden stilt houses (houses built on logs or pillars to prevent flooding). Fishing is the main source of protein for these local populations, even more important than hunting.²

All this ethnic and population diversity aligns with sustainable management for biodiversity conservation. The traditional peoples and communities of the Amazon rely on hunting, fishing, and extractivism as sources of food and income. Furthermore, they combine this way of life with traditional knowledge that contributes to the conservation of the biome and, thus, the maintenance of ecosystem services. These populations have domesticated several fruit species in the region, reinforcing the potential of this activity for the sustainable development of the Amazon.

The guarantee and protection of traditional territories is fundamental to maintaining the biome's ecological functions and all its biodiversity, as well as to fair and sustainable development. The practices of indigenous peoples and communities traditionally follow a management logic for sustainability, often rejected by society, but which has proven to be the most viable alternative for the survival of the Amazon.