This story was originally published by Canada’s National Observer and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Take a country where Indigenous leaders are killed for defending their lives and lands, where constitutionally protected rights are often violated for the sake of development and mining, and where people are left in precarious conditions due to unrecognized territories and a far-right president who publicly supports the expansion of mining and agribusiness at whatever cost.
Then add a global pandemic, and the results are damaging.
This is Brazil today.
The country ranks second in the world for COVID-19 cases and deaths, just behind the United States. But it’s Brazil’s Indigenous communities that have been hit especially hard, inviting reluctant attention to the grave risks a global virus can have on communities already fighting for their rights, lives, and lands.
It’s not just the number of people who have died from COVID-19 that has sparked concern across the country, it’s Brazil’s political landscape.
Brazil has a population of 209.5 million people, including 900,000 Indigenou... Read more
