Brazil owns 65% of the Amazon rainforest and in the last 30 years it is estimated to have lost around 700,000 km to deforested (this is equivalent to the area of France and Belgium and represents 80% of all recent deforestation in the Amazon Basin). During 2019, the fires gained increased notoriety at the G7 Summit, but most fires observed in the region are caused by humans. Many are set in previously cleared lands in order to quickly remove any excess vegetation that has popped up. Others are set in land that is still in the process of being cleared, in order to make more open land for agricultural crops, for soybeans, cattle and more. Fire outbreaks are frequent from June to December, when the southern Amazon Basin dries out, but the impact has never been so significant.
There were 73,000 forest fires recorded in Brazil in the first eight months of 2019, the highest number for any year since 2013, mostly in the Amazon. The fires have not reached the main tourist attractions, but in the Pantanal, where the situation worsened, tourism was interrupted significantly. Now efforts are focused on assessing the losses in terms of fauna and flora. Even so, many tourists with scheduled travel to the Amazon asked for cancellation.
It is worth mentioning that Davi Kopenawa (indigenous leader and Brazilian shaman winner of the 2019 Alternative Nobel of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, for his work in recent decades in defense of the Yanomami ethnicity and the protection of the Amazon), who has personally witnessed the exploitation of indigenous lands and destruction of the Amazon through illegal gold mining and the other factors mentioned here, now promotes the creation of non-destructive alternatives capable of generating additional income for the communities. Also known as the “golden fruit”, cocoa is seen as a possible antidote to the invasion by illegal miners of the Indigenous Land in the extreme north of Brazil, producing chocolate for the international market as an income alternative, so that indigenous youths have no need to collaborate with illegal miners.
Yaripo, or Pico da Neblina as it is called by the Yanomami, arouses enormous interest in the world of mountaineering. Tourists are attracted to Yaripo as it is the highest point in Brazil and is located in one of the most preserved and beautiful regions of the Amazon. Surrounded by mountains, it has a cloak of dense forest at its feet and, near the summit, rare plants that are only found there, all in the midst of rivers of black water that contrast with beaches of white sand. Additionally, Yaripo is located within Yanomami Indigenous Land, with various communities around it, who consider the region sacred.
Today, the Yanomami are advocates of ecotourism to the Yaripo, as long as they are the main managers and beneficiaries of the venture. They know that there is a pent-up demand from tourists who wish to climb the peak and are prepared to receive them. They are making a point to design this tourism for the larger goal to minimize environmental impacts and fairly allocated the benefits among them. They want to be the guides, porters, boat pilots, workers, cooks, and manage the business through their leadership associations — AYRCA and Kumirayoma. Ecotourism in Yaripo is a promising initiative from a financial perspective, necessary in terms of territorial protection and desirable for cultural empowerment.
Travel has the power to protect nature, benefit communities and preserve cultural heritage. Today, more than ever, fair and well-managed tourism is the key to making fast, effective and sustainable change!
