A TRIBE of Amazonian Indians has been banned from selling mahogany from its reserve in northern Brazil. The ban was imposed by a court in Brasilia, which has confiscated the wood and plans to auction it. The proceeds, estimated at more than 拢900 000, will go to the government鈥檚 environment agency, Ibama.
The 8000 Kayapo Indians, who live on a 3-million hectare reserve in the south of Par谩 state, have been trading in mahogany for more than a decade. The money it brings in has allowed them to join the consumer society, and at one point they owned two small planes and a fleet of four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Experts in Indian affairs praised the decision because it prevents the Indians from 鈥渕ining鈥� timber from the rainforest. 鈥淭he problem is not that they are cutting down trees 鈥� but that they are doing it in a predatory way,鈥� says Marcio Santilli, director of the Socio-Economic Institute in Brasilia, which helped the Xicrim Indians to harvest forest products in a sustainable way.
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But Santilli says it is unfair to suddenly cut off a source of income that the Indians have come to depend upon. He points out that when the military government tried to open up the south of Par谩 state in the early 1980s it met strong resistance from the Kayapo. The government offered the Indians a reserve, provided that they sold timber to local sawmills. 鈥淣ow the government has stopped them selling it. It just takes decisions according to which way the wind is blowing,鈥� says Santilli. 鈥淚t鈥檚 wrong to cast the Indians as the villains of the story.鈥�
It is impossible for the Indians to return to their old way of life, says Santilli. 鈥淏ecause of their contact with white society, they have consumer needs.鈥� The Indians would like to switch to a sustainable economy based on forest products but need government backing.
In the meantime, the Indians risk falling into debt. Residents in the local town of Reden莽ao say the Indians now buy cachaca, the local firewater, instead of whisky and have sold one of their planes.