People and Solutions: Indigenous Peoples' Leading Role in Keeping the Forest Standing

August/September, 2024 -– The World Weather Attribution (WWA) published studies developed by Brazilian and foreign scientists estimating that climate change has played a part in around 40 percent of the forest fires affecting the Brazilian Pantanal. According to them, climate change has both worsened the situation and anticipation of  the burning season. The Amazon is facing one of the worst droughts in history – the most severe in the past 45 years. 

In view of this, Amazon Day (on September 5) is an important date to talk about people who are on the front line in the fight to protect biodiversity and the standing forest. Over 1,400 firefighters from IBAMA and ICMBio are fighting fires in the Amazon and other biomes, in addition to local volunteer fire brigades, including Indigenous ones.

These people have a noble mission: looking after their territories, keeping the forest alive, and guaranteeing a future for all people and the planet. One of them is Daiana Bento Gavião, a firefighter from the Governador Indigenous Land (MA): she is a mother of eight children and a defender of female empowerment in integrated fire management.

“For me, being a firefighter is very important. Our land needs protection,” says Daiana, who has been part of the fire brigade since 2019. She says that visiting other villages has expanded her horizons through her contacts with other families. It was while walking through her territory that Daiana saw the importance of taking care of the land and bringing more people closer. 

Of the 15 people selected to be part of the brigade, she was one of only two women who joined the group at the time. “We worked for six months and began to see that it was necessary to form a women-only group in our volunteer brigades,” says Daiana during the activities of the Forest Fire Prevention and Firefighting Training Program in the Governador Indigenous Land, in the state of Maranhão.

Carried out within the scope of the partnership between USAID and the United States Forest Service (USFS) under the Forest Management and Fire Prevention Program in Brazil, the activity is supported by PrevFogo/IBAMA and FUNAI. Participants included the Xerente Women's Fire Brigade, the first one entirely formed by Indigenous women.

The objective of the training program for Indigenous community brigades is to support and strengthen actions to prevent and respond to forest fires in their territories.

Conquering More Space – According to Daiana, the course is an important tool for female empowerment in the villages, showing that women can occupy any space and act in territorial management and protection. “When we are at work, we have a mother’s approach to what we do. When we like something and want it to happen, we need to know how to find time for it,” she says, mentioning that her children, including five girls, are left under their father’s care when she needs to go out. 

Her eldest daughter has joined the fire brigade, sharing her mother's desire to protect, care for, encourage, and include more women in this movement. “We want to show our future children and other generations that it is extremely important for us to work as volunteers and protect and take care of our land.”

In addition to the program at the Governador Indigenous Land, a group of 29 women from Krikati Indigenous Land received training.

Their testimonials are available here.