the frontier. Flagrant abuses of the law often go unprosecuted. Therefore, the integrity of the Amerindian borders cannot be attributed merely to their protected status under the law. Of course indigenous peoples actively—even militantly— protect their land rights. But in the face of intense and Figure 1. A July 2004 MODIS satellite image showing the powerful economic forces, lack burning of forest outside the (protected) Kayapo territories of governance in the frontier and and Xingu Indigenous Park. From the air it is clear how the large numbers of settlers pouring destruction of the forest stops at the Kayapo boundaries. into the region, how do relatively few Indians manage to keep the chainsaws and bulldozers at bay over a vast area of pristine forest? In this chapter, I examine the case of the Kayapo who protect the largest block of indigenous territory in the region; indeed, contiguous Kayapo territories form the largest protected tract of tropical forest anywhere in the world. I propose that the remarkable conservation success on Kayapo lands can be traced to the social organization of its inhabitants and their ability to capitalize on external resources and partner with external organizations to meet their livelihood. Furthermore, as the Kayapo example demonstrates, traditional Amerindian social organization presents unparalleled conservation opportunities in the Amazon.
Brief Recent History of the Kayapo and their Involvement in Gold Mining, Logging and the Environmental Movement
The Kayapo inhabit six legally ratified indigenous territories in the southern Para and northern Mato Grosso states. A contiguous block of five Kayapo territories totals almost 105,000 km2 and the total contemporary Kayapo population there approaches 7,000 living in 18 villages. After decades of fighting and fleeing eastward in front of the advancing frontier, leaving behind predominately savanna (cerrado) ecosystems and entering predominately forest ecosystems, most remaining Kayapo groups were “pacified” by government agents and missionaries in the late 1950s and 60s, although this hardly stopped the threat to Indian lands or the violence between Indians and settlers. During the first half of the 20th century, introduced diseases decimated Kayapo groups even as they warred with settlers and each other. As late as the 1960s, they were a warrior culture that practiced raiding, and boys were raised to fight.
Chapter 7
47