Indigenous leaders and organizations held a demonstration at COP29 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to denounce the impacts of the Ferrogrão railroad and other infrastructure projects in the Amazon. Held on Thursday (21), the protest happened in the event's Blue Zone, the pavilion where the official negotiations, working group meetings and plenary sessions of the climate conference take place. In this area, country representatives meet to discuss and negotiate agreements and make decisions.
The 933-kilometer Ferrogrão railroad, aimed at transporting soybeans and corn, is due to be built between the cities of Sinop (Mato Grosso state) and Itaituba (Pará state), crossing through protected areas such as the Munduruku Indigenous territory. The railroad is part of a grain transportation system made up of the ports in the cities of Itaituba and Santarém and the BR 163 highway, where there is a heavy flow of trucks between the states of Mato Grosso and Pará.
At the demonstration, which highlighted the socio-environmental risks of these projects, Alessandra Korap, an Indigenous leader of the Munduruku people, was the main voice at the event, reading a letter from the Tapajós River to the world. The document marked the end of the 7th Ancestral Cry of the Tupinambá People, in Pará, last weekend. In the letter, the river gains a voice to denounce the impacts of soy plantations in the Amazon.
“In Praia do Mangue, one of the many Munduruku villages on my bank, soy dust infests the air and pollutes my waters. I’m also being threatened by the construction of dozens of dams and hydroelectric dams, and the fact that they ignore the impacts of this predatory action on me,” warns an excerpt from the document.
In her demonstration, Alessandra criticized the contradiction between the Brazilian government's climate speech at COP29 and the actions the same government promotes, such as projects like Ferrogrão. “These logistics projects don't work for the Amazon and harm the lives of native peoples,” she warned.
The protest is taking place amid actions by sectors of the Brazilian government to speed up railroad projects, such as Ferrogrão. This week, the Ministry of Transport issued a directive transferring environmental licensing for these projects to the Federal Government, seeking legal certainty to attract private investment. Environmental organizations see the measure as a step backwards that ignores social and environmental consequences.
Bruna Balbi, legal advisor to the NGO Terra de Direitos, highlighted the exclusionary nature of these projects. “The problem with major infrastructure projects in the Amazon is that they are not designed for the people or with the participation of the communities that live there. We demand that the Brazilian government respect and value the traditions and knowledge of the peoples who inhabit these territories,” she said.
In addition to criticizing Ferrogrão, Balbi questioned the lack of inclusion of Amazonian populations in climate decisions. “That’s the big question today: is it possible to have people’s participation in major decision-making on infrastructure and climate goals? Climate justice will only be possible with the voice of native peoples.”
The Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB, in Portuguese), Pariri Association (represented by Alessandra Korap) and the NGOs Engajmundo and Terra de Direitos.
