The Kayapo Indians of Brazil. Indigenous Knowledge, Culture and the Environment

Zusatztext

Forschungsarbeit aus dem Jahr 2018 im Fachbereich Politik - Klima- und Umweltpolitik, Note: 13, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Veranstaltung: Culture, Ecology and Development, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: This paper discusses the Kayapo Indians' management of the tropical rainforest ecosystem through their indigenous knowledge. They are described in this paper as effective managers of the tropical rain forest as they use their Indigenous Knowledge (IK) to ensure the continuation of the plant species through transplantation as a means of propagation. Moreover, because of their IK, they resist the construction of the dams and other developmental initiatives by the Brazilian government and other private companies. Their resistance to such projects as the dams is based on the possession of the knowledge regarding the negative impacts of the expected floods of the forest ecosystem. The Kayapo of Brazil are a Ge-speaking tribe of about 6000 individuals that lives along the Xingu River on both sides of the border of the Pará and Mato Grosso states. By 1970s, the Kayapo found themselves surrounded by the Brazilian government, the wildlife traders and the gold miners. Thus they felt that their environment was endangered, and as a result they started protesting using what we could call very recognizable cultural resources and IK to claim land rights and recognition.

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