The #NoFerrogrão Alliance includes participation from the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB), the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), the Munduruku Pariri Association, the Kayapo Kabu Institute, and other organizations representing communities that would be impacted by the Ferrogrão railroad, Cargill’s Abaetetuba port, and other planned infrastructure megaprojects in the Brazilian Amazon that also pose significant threats to biodiversity loss and could result in the emission of more than 75 million tons of carbon. CAG grant funds have supported #NoFerrogrão Alliance activities, including visits to impacted territories such as Sawré Muybu, the Munduruku Indigenous land, as well as a strategic planning assembly, workshops, and a People’s Tribunal.
The controversial EF-170 railway project, also known as the Ferrogrão, in the Brazilian Amazon has sparked demands for a proper consultation process from leaders of the Indigenous groups who would be directly impacted by the railway line’s construction. The railroad, which is projected to cut more than 600 miles through the Amazon, is expected to drive an estimated 1,200 square miles of deforestation and impact 16 Indigenous territories. The Ferrogrão is linked to a larger infrastructure project called the Tapajós-Xingu Logistics Corridor, which also includes the paving of the BR-163 highway, the dredging of waterways, and the construction of cargo terminals (including a major new port at Abaetetuba in the Amazon linked to Cargill).
One strategy for resisting these megaprojects is securing Indigenous land rights. CAG has supported efforts to secure land rights for Sawré Muybu, the Munduruku Indigenous territory that 2023 Goldman Prize Winner Alessandra Munduruku and her community have been working to have formally recognized for decades. This effort has advanced significantly, and the territory’s 178,000 hectares of primary forest could be a key to protecting the Tapajós River basin.As Brazil continues its attempt to position itself as a world climate leader, including hosting the historic COP30 summit in Pará – the very state that Ferrogrão would cut through – strategies developed by #NoFerrogrão Alliance during the critical series of events and gatherings supported by Community Action Grants will play a significant role in determining if the reality on the ground lives up to those aspirations.