In Maranhão, six Indigenous Territories and one Biological Reserve join forces with civil society and government representatives to form the Gurupi Mosaic, a network that works to protect and conserve the traditional territories and cultures of the peoples.
What would become of a people's history without their culture and territory? Indigenous peoples understand this defense as fundamental to maintaining their narratives and guaranteeing their rights. “The defense of our territory is what ensures our culture. Through the use of the land, we make our instruments, develop our music, and live our well-being. Without the forest, without the land, we are nothing. We need our territory free,” says Marcilene Guajajara, from the Caru Indigenous Land. In this sense, in northern Maranhão, since 2010 indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and partners have been working together to guide actions in defense of the sustainability and protection of their territories, based on integrated management strategies.
The shaping of such strategies through the creation of a mosaic of protected areas began in 2014 when, through dialogues between indigenous peoples and the Management Unit of the Gurupi Biological Reserve of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), a series of debates and actions were developed through the Arpa Project to promote the coordinated management of Indigenous Lands and the Biological Reserve itself. This initiative brought together various actors and institutions and today unites six indigenous territories, traditional communities, representatives from the socio-environmental field, the Brazilian State and the State of Maranhão, universities and research institutes, indigenous associations, and actors from organized civil society. The actors involved in the process decided to name the set of articulated territories the Gurupi Mosaic.
The Gurupi Mosaic comprises the Indigenous Lands of Alto Rio Guamá, Alto Turiaçu, Carú, Awá, Rio Pindaré, and Araribóia – encompassing the Tembé, Ka'apor, Guajajara, and Awá-Guajá Indigenous peoples – as well as the Gurupi Biological Reserve. Its governance is organized through a Council, which, in addition to ISPN, includes the Maynumy Association of the Rio Pindaré Indigenous Land, the Wirazu Association of the Caru Indigenous Land, the Ka'apor Ta Hury Association, the Bom Jesus Association, the Coordination of the Commission of Chiefs and Indigenous Leaders of the Araribóia Indigenous Land (Coccalitia), the Awá Indigenous People, ICMBio, the National Indian Foundation (Funai), the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the Secretariat of the Environment of Maranhão (Sema-MA), the Institute for Forestry Development and Biodiversity of the State of Pará (Ideflorbio-PA), the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), the Federal Institute of Education of Maranhão (IFMA), the State University of Maranhão (UEMA), the Emílio Goeldi Museum of Pará, the Federal Police, the Environmental Police Battalion, and the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi).
In addition to the Council, the Gurupi Mosaic has an Executive Secretariat, currently run by ISPN. “Participating in the Gurupi Mosaic is important because, in this way, ISPN can contribute to the coordination of indigenous peoples and traditional communities in the region in their strategies for environmental management, sustainable development, conservation of territories, and the well-being of their communities,” emphasizes João Guilherme Nunes Cruz, coordinator of the ISPN Indigenous Peoples Program.
Based on the coordination of this group of peoples and institutional actors around the articulated management of the Gurupi Mosaic territories, three main areas of focus were defined: territorial protection, environmental conservation and restoration, and strengthening of indigenous cultures, themes organized through Working Groups.
The Gurupi Mosaic Council holds its first meeting.
Last February, in the city of Santa Inês (MA), the first meeting of the Gurupi Mosaic Council took place, held with the objectives of evaluating the actions developed so far to strengthen the Mosaic, as well as projecting strategies for its formal recognition.
During the meeting, it was decided to maintain the existing Working Groups, incorporating new actions; and to create a new Working Group, exclusively dedicated to researching the possibilities and strategies for formal recognition of the Gurupi Mosaic.
In addition to these next steps, the commitments between the actors and institutions involved were discussed in order to ensure the continuity of the Council meetings, thus keeping the collaboration alive. "The work of Mosaico only serves to strengthen the protection of our territory and our culture, and in doing so, it also strengthens us," concludes Marcilene.