Tainá Andrade*
Roiti Metuktire, 35, carries in his blood the collective struggle for the protection of his territory, the Kayapó Indigenous Land, located in the north of Mato Grosso. Of the dozens of grandchildren of Raoni Metuktire, the greatest indigenous leader on the planet, he is among the three who have directly taken on his great-uncle’s legacy in taking the struggle for land forward.
For some years now, Roiti has been working to ensure that his region is preserved and that the traditions of his ancestors are maintained. To this end, he coordinates the Raoni Institute’s Territorial Management and Protection Center, which, since it was founded in 2001, has raised funds and structured actions to protect the forest and the life that lives in it.
Roiti has embarked on a journey of knowledge that is shared daily with the five communities that make up the territory and has had good results.
Today, the Capoto-Jarina indigenous land, in the north of Mato Grosso, in the Xingu region, has become a benchmark in territorial management and protection. According to Roiti, it is recognized among indigenous populations as the most protected of the five communities that make up the Kayapó indigenous land.
This is due to the absence of environmental offenses and active deforestation, with robust monitoring and surveillance systems, strong community articulation and consolidated international dialogue.
How it all began
In Kayapó culture, the forest, water, animals and all living beings are not resources, but essential conditions of existence. “In the indigenous world, everything comes from the forest. We hunt, we plant, we look for food. If this is taken away, the indigenous person practically dies, because our culture is not based on buying, but on the relationship with the territory,” explains Roiti.
The changes in the surroundings of the Kayapó indigenous land began to directly affect the daily lives of the indigenous people inside the territory, something that the elders had been noticing. It was in 2009, during a large fire, that the alarm was sounded: the fires were more intense and more frequent than at other times.
Without access to technology or climate data at the time, the leaders spent years trying to understand what was happening. The search for partnerships, starting in 2014, led to the structuring of a specific area of territorial monitoring, incorporating technological tools and bringing traditional knowledge closer to modern environmental analysis systems.
Turning point with technology
The training of young people became central to this strategy. Roiti left the territory in 2019 to study and in this movement began to see more clearly the impacts of the advance of agribusiness and predatory logic around the Kayapó indigenous land. Where there used to be forest, today large areas of soy predominate.
On his return, his struggle became personal. The father of three children, he sees the protection of the territory as a responsibility for the future. “I want my children to be able to say: this is my home, this is where my family exists, this is where our food comes from. I want them to experience what we did with hunting and fishing, but also to have access to both worlds,” he says.
His work at the Raoni Institute has brought him closer to this goal. In 2017, with the support of IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), the organization implemented SOMAI (Indigenous Amazon Observation and Monitoring System) on the Kayapó indigenous land.
The system monitors deforestation and threats to indigenous lands, such as increased drought and unpredictable rainfall. It integrates scientific and traditional knowledge for environmental conservation.
Communication in the territory has also undergone a profound transformation. While until 2019, the majority of dialogue between the villages was by radio, today, according to Roiti, around 90% of the Kayapó indigenous land communicates via the internet. This has facilitated access to information on climate change, deforestation and environmental legislation, as well as bringing young people closer to collective decisions.
Today, the implementation of fire brigades is considered essential to face the effects of climate change. In 2024, despite all efforts, the territory lost around 17% of its area to fire, according to a survey by Greenpeace Brazil.
In response, the communities began to invest in SAFs (Agroforestry Systems). They reuse already degraded areas, avoid new deforestation and reduce the use of fire in the fields. The results have been positive, including the recovery of impoverished soils after years of burning.
“Our aim is to protect what’s left of the forest so that not only the indigenous peoples can live in it, but to maintain a balance on which all peoples depend,” says Roiti.
Even so, there are challenges and obstacles to implementation. According to Metuktire, dialog with elders and elderly women requires sensitivity and persistence. Many traditional Kayapo practices require the use of fire, such as collecting honey, obtaining feathers for handicrafts or preparing the land for crops.
The solution found, according to the coordinator, has been integrated management, with prescribed burning and monitoring by firefighters. In addition to active dialog with the elders to avoid noise and explain the importance of not using fire indiscriminately, but waiting for monitoring data before taking action.
In this way, respect for the culture is maintained and, at the same time, major fires are avoided. The coordinator reports that he has managed to make around 60% of the community aware.
“The Capoto-Jarina community has become a model for land protection management. Our experience has been sought out by other territories wishing to adapt methodologies and achieve similar feats,” explains Rioti.
The work stands out for the active participation of women, young people and leaders, respect for the elderly and the unity of an ancestral family that continues to guide collective decisions.
This could be the key to ensuring a living forest, proof that tradition and innovation can go hand in hand. “I believe that as a representation of young leadership, in the past, for the elders, the struggle was done with tales, paintings, hunting. Today, for us, it’s technology, paper, good communication,” concludes Roiti.
*IPAM communications analyst.