The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Brazil identifies uncontacted tribe

By 민동현

Published : June 22, 2011 - 19:27

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ― The Brazilian government confirmed this week the existence of an uncontacted tribe in a southwestern area of the Amazon rain forest.

Three large clearings in the area had been identified by satellite, but the population’s existence was only verified after airplane expeditions in April gathered more data, the National Indian Foundation said in a news release Monday.

The government agency, known by its Portuguese acronym Funai, uses airplanes to avoid disrupting isolated groups. Brazil has a policy of not contacting such tribes but working to prevent the invasion of their land to preserve their autonomy. Funai estimates 68 isolated populations live in the Amazon.

The most recently identified tribe, estimated at around 200 individuals, live in four large, straw-roofed buildings and grow corn, bananas, peanuts and other crops. According to Funai, preliminary observation indicates the population likely belongs to the pano language group, which extends from the Brazilian Amazon into the Peruvian and Bolivian jungle.

The community is near the border with Peru in the massive Vale do Javari reservation, which is nearly the size of Portugal and is home to at least 14 uncontacted tribes.

“The work of identifying and protecting isolated groups is part of Brazilian public policy,” said the Funai coordinator for Vale do Javari, Fabricio Amorim, in a statement. “To confirm something like this takes years of methodical work.”
“Uncontacted Indians” of the Envira, who have never before had any contact with the outside world, photographed in May 2008, as they react to the overflight at their camp in the Terra Indigena Kampa e Isolados do Envira, Acre state, Brazil. (AP) “Uncontacted Indians” of the Envira, who have never before had any contact with the outside world, photographed in May 2008, as they react to the overflight at their camp in the Terra Indigena Kampa e Isolados do Envira, Acre state, Brazil. (AP)

The region has a constellation of uncontacted peoples considered the largest in the world, said Amorim. In addition to the 14 known groups, Funai has identified through satellite images or land excursions up to eight more tribes.

That adds up to a population of about 2,000 individuals in the reservation, Amorim said.

Their culture, and even their survival, is threatened by illegal fishing, hunting, logging and mining in the area, along with deforestation by farmers, missionary activity and drug trafficking along Brazil’s borders, Amorim said.

Oil exploration in the Peruvian Amazon could also destabilize the region, he said.

In spite of the threats, most of Brazil’s indigenous groups maintain their languages and traditions.

Many have long fought for control of land in which they’ve traditionally lived on. They won legal rights to reclaim that territory in Brazil’s 1988 constitution, which declared that all indigenous ancestral lands be demarcated and turned over to tribes within five years.

So far, 11 percent of Brazilian territory and nearly 22 percent of the Amazon has been turned over to such groups.

<한글 기사> 

아마존 삼림서 고립된 원주민 부족 발견

"'원주민의 땅'에 2천여명 거주 가능성"

아마존 삼림 브라질-페루 접경지역에서 외부세계와 단절된 채 살아가는 소수 원주민 부족이 발견됐다.

21일 브라질 국립원주민재단(Funai)에 따르면 브라질 북서부 아마조나스 주 발레도 자바리 지역에서 200여 명으로 추정되는 원주민 마을이 존재하는 사실이 확인 됐다.

이 마을의 존재는 지난 4월 항공촬영을 통해 처음 알려졌으며, 원주민들은 외부 세계와 철저하게 격리된 채 고립생활을 해왔다고 Funai는 전했다.

Funai는 '원주민의 땅'으로 불리는 발레 도 자바리에서 고립생활을 하는 원주민 마을이 최소한 14개 존재한다고 밝혔다. 그러나 아마존 원주민을 연구하는 전문가들 은 Funai의 발표는 추정치일 뿐 실제로는 더 많은 원주민 부족이 있을 것으로 보고 있다.

Funai는 2006~2010년 사이 조사를 통해 발레 도 자바리 지역에서 원주민의 존재를 암시하는 90여 건의 증거가 발견됐으며, 이는 대략 2천명의 원주민이 거주할 것이라는 추측이 가능하다고 주장했다.

한편, 브라질 일간지 에스타도 데 상파울루는 지난 2월 아마존 벌목업자들에게 쫓긴 페루 원주민들이 브라질 쪽으로 이동하는 경우가 많아지면서 부족 간 충돌 가능성이 갈수록 커지고 있다고 보도했다.

Funai의 원주민 보호 프로그램에 참여해온 조제 카를로스 메이렐레스는 "페루 원주민들이 브라질로 옮겨가면서 토착 부족이나 적대적 관계에 있는 부족들과의 충돌이 우려된다"고 말했다.

이와 관련, 영국 런던에 본부를 둔 비정부기구(NGO) 서바이벌 인터내셔널은 아마존 지역에서 고립된 채 살아가는 원주민 부족을 보호하기 위한 캠페인의 하나로 브라질-페루 접경에서 촬영한 원주민 사진들을 공개하기도 했다.

(연합뉴스)