Forum of Traditional Indigenous Communities, Maroon Peoples and Caiçaras of Angra / Paraty / Ubatuba- SP

Work to defend the Indigenous, Caiçaras (traditional peoples from the shore region) and Maroon communities of the region of Bocaina, which are in conflict with Nature Conservation Units in at least two emblematic cases. The target audience is traditional peoples and communities.

• Interposition of collective Amicus Curiae based on the dialogue with the Maroon and Caiçara communities bringing together the representative social movements of these communities and specialized institutions to support this judicial action.
• Resumption of the Bocaina Social and Environmental Justice Dialogue, which will be coordinated by the Forum of Traditional Communities and the Federal Public Ministry.

Socio-environmental territorial conflicts resulting from the occupation and use of traditional territories that overlap Nature Conservation Units are caused by both the state and private agents. These human rights violations include environmental criminalization, forced evictions and restriction of the right to come and go as they wish, and to the access to the natural resources that are essential to their survival and to the maintenance of the traditional Indigenous, Maroon and Caiçaras’ way of life in communities of the Bocaina region. Administrative procedures such as fines, embargoes and demolition are carried out by the state and federal environmental agencies that manage the Nature Conservation Units and criminal lawsuits are filed by the Public Ministry, which is performing its role as defender of the environment against traditional community members and their families. This context is made even more serious by the conflicts generated by high-quality real estate developments and tourism-related interests that file lawsuits claiming squalor, trespassing and asking for the reintegration of possession against the community.

The Angra-Paraty-UbatubaTraditional Communities Forum was formed in 2007 and gathered Indigenous leaders, Maroon and Caiçaras from different communities in the region. The Forum acts as a network connecting grassroots institutions, and its mission is the articulation of traditional peoples and communities to promote their sustainable development and to defend and guarantee their rights, especially the ones regarding their territories. They work on the collective cases of territorial socio-environmental conflicts and provide capacity training to empower the members of these communities, helping them to understand their rights and become able to take independent action and remain in their traditional territories. In 2014, the Forum launched the campaign “To Preserve is to Resist – in defense of traditional territories” to increase the visibility of their way of life and traditional practices, and the conflicts that threaten the cultural, social and economic reproduction of these communities.

– National Commission for the Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities (CNPCT).
– National Coordination of the Maroon Rural Black Communities (CONAQ).
– Articulation of the Remnant Communities of Maroon communities of the State of Rio de Janeiro (ACQUILERJ).
– National Coordination of the Traditional Caiçaras Communities (CNCTC).
– General Coordination of the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission (CGY), which brings together Guarani political and spiritual leaders from the South and Southeast regions of the country.
– Brazilian Network for Environmental Justice
– Advisory Council of the Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu.
– Coordination of the Advisory Board of the Bocaina Mosaic.
– Coordination of the Thematic Board of Traditional Populations and Conservation Units, and Thematic Board of Sustainable Business of the Bocaina Mosaic.
– Group of Ubatuba Shore Economic Ecological Zone.
– Agroecology Articulation of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
– Fluminense Rural Education Forum.
– Juçara Network.
– Environment Municipal Council of Paraty.