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Chauhan writes: "After two decades of federal court dispute against illegal logging interests, the Ashaninka indigenous community in Brazil has won."

Amazon rainforest. (photo: Filipe Frazao/Shutterstock)
Amazon rainforest. (photo: Filipe Frazao/Shutterstock)


Earth's Lungs Amazon Forests Saved: Indigenous Group Wins Case Over Illegal Tree Logging

By Shreya Chauhan, India Times

14 May 20

 

fter two decades of federal court dispute against illegal logging interests, the Ashaninka indigenous community in Brazil has won. They will be receiving $3 million (Rs 23 crore) in compensation and an official apology from companies for cutting down thousands of mahogany, cedar, and other tree species in the Kampa do Rio Amônia Indigenous Reserve, Yale Environment reports.

This settlement was reportedly finalized April 1.

‘From the early 1980s, timber companies owned by the Cameli family illegally harvested mature trees from the Ashaninka’s ancestral land to supply the European furniture industry’.

In the settlement, the companies have apologized ‘for all the ills caused’ and acknowledged ‘the enormous importance of the Ashaninka people as guardians of the forest, zealous in the preservation of the environment’.

The $3 million settlement amount is supposed to go directly toward projects protecting the Ashaninka community and Amazon forest.

Experts believe that the case judgement could serve as a legal precedent in other indigenous and environmental lawsuits in Brazil. “What we did here was to comply with the Constitution, understanding that the indigenous people have sacred rights guaranteed by the Magna Carta. You have the right to have a decent life, materially speaking, to choose your own destiny, to take part in political decisions, with respect to isolated communities,” Augusto Aras, Brazil’s Attorney General, reportedly said in a statement.

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