The human cost of Amazon deforestation
For centuries, over 400 native tribes have lived alongside Amazon rainforests, shaping ecosystems in a way that allows communities to use natural resources without overly compromising forested land. Thus, deforestation doesn’t just threaten forests—it threatens the very way of life of the Indigenous communities who rely on them.
“With each passing day, we see the destruction advance: deforestation, invasion, logging. We are sad because the forest is dying at every moment. We feel the climate changing and the world needs the forest,” says Handerch Wakana Mura, one of the leaders of the Mura Indigenous tribe in Brazil. Like many tribes in the region, the Mura people have seen protections stripped from their land as loggers and ranchers desecrate every last acre in pursuit of profit.
Traditionally, Indigenous tribes engage in farming practices that promote ecological resilience in the Amazon. Farmers cultivate useful crops alongside the natural vegetation, alternate crops, and add natural compost to enhance soil health, working with the natural ecosystem instead of against it. In contrast, outside companies that grow corn and soy for livestock feed clear the land entirely, creating “monocultures” where only one crop will grow for years at a time.
While this practice yields high amounts of livestock feed for the short-term, these monocultures exhaust and erode the soil over time. Deforestation makes soils that were once healthy and hospitable completely barren. Indigenous farmers rely on healthy rainforest soil to produce enough crops to feed their communities. When deforestation takes away this high quality soil, it can push Indigenous communities into hunger and food insecurity.
As deforestation threatens their food sources—and, by extension, their very survival—Indigenous communities have had to take matters into their own hands. While Brazil’s current administration erodes Indigenous land protections and allows deforestation to go unchecked, members of local tribes act as “forest guardians,” monitoring and protecting their lands from illegal farming, ranching, and other industry. These guardians are not just fighting for their own survival, but the survival of nature and the planet itself.
“The whole world needs fresh air and nature. This is our job, not only to save this territory but to help preserve nature in general,” says one of the leaders of Guardians of the Forest in Brazil. Researchers noted that Indigenous Brazilians with full ownership rights over their land saw a two-thirds decrease in the rate of deforestation, which translates to less carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and more protection against climate change. When Indigenous people succeed in their fight against deforestation in the Amazon, we all benefit from cleaner air and more livable futures.
However, these communities shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibility of protecting the Amazon alone. As UN Secretary General António Guterres noted, these Indigenous communities contributed the least to the climate crisis we are in, yet they are left to fight on the frontlines against its worst impacts—a glaring example of climate injustice in action.
Although the Brazilian government could be doing more to protect forests, our own consumption habits in the US contribute to deforestation in the region. Much of the livestock grazing and feed grown in the Amazon goes toward feeding the global demand for beef and other animal products. While we continue to hold governments accountable, we can also show solidarity with Indigenous communities protecting Amazon rainforests by staying informed about where our food comes from and cutting down—or eliminating—our meat consumption. This shows industrial animal agriculture operations that consumers won’t support their destruction of forests—a crucial step towards climate justice.
Amanda Waxman
