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In the past year, specialists from the federal body for native communities trekked over a vast distance through dense rainforest on the southern border of the Amazon region. Their task was to observe and help protect an Indigenous group with little to no interaction with the contemporary society.

Their observations included a freshly woven container made from leaves, a child’s footprints by a stream, and logs freshly cut to extract honey. They also found abandoned shelters sinking into the forest and remnants of foraged food near extinct campfires. These were all undeniable evidence that the Kawahiva people remained in the area.

Government Inaction Block Mandated Defense

Despite a supreme court ruling calling for a set of protective measures for the vulnerable tribe, the federal administration has not followed through. The court-ordered plan included fast-tracking the boundary setting of their ancestral domain and detailing forest protection strategies.

Administrative holdups, budgetary constraints, and hostile clashes—including attacks by leaders linked to the deforestation business—have halted the demarcation effort.

Without physical boundaries, timber companies and cattle farmers persist in advancing, leaving the Kawahiva in imminent danger of genocide. Rights groups label the inaction a willful and dangerous breach of the national charter.

“This stalling in demarcation is not only illegal, it is also incredibly risky.”

Shrinking Wilderness

The planned one-million-acre protected territory has yet to receive complete legal status, as mandated by law. It is considered the largest unprotected forest in Brazil that is the domain of uncontacted Indigenous people.

On the edges of the territorial limits, the view changes dramatically. The vegetation is cleared for cattle grazing. Property markers are going up, and new roads are extending deeper into the natural habitat.

Following the expedition, a director for Indigenous affairs pledged to address the issue. “We are doing every available means to guarantee that the Kawahiva land gets official status,” the official stated.

Funding Hurdles and Growing Threats

The official mapping of the 320-kilometer border involves installing boundary posts. This is seen as a key measure to demonstrate to outside interests that the state will enforce about protection. However, the work is on hold.

Financial resources has been a key challenge. Initial plans to use compensation funds from a highway project fell through. The agency has since turned to new partners.

It has now turned to a technical academic body. “It’s a technical partnership that we’ve already had success with,” explained an official. “The fieldwork is planned to begin in the coming years.”

The institute acknowledged that talks were progressing but did not specify when work would begin.

Complicating everything is what officials term a “conflictual situation in the region,” which is expected to require an security detail during any field operations.

Hostile Actors

The risk of attack is real. In 2018, an armed group attacked a monitoring outpost in the territory, resulting in a gun battle where one attacker was killed. More recently, heavily armed police were present in the area.

Earlier this year, an recorded message surfaced in which a man, calling himself a local leader, verbally attacked the lead field agent. The individual, connected to local loggers, stated to have searched the land “looking for those isolated Indians.”

He is under indictment for several illegal activities, including charges related to the violent assault on the agent. “Activities are blocked because of this guy,” the man said in the recording.

A Race Against Time

Anthropologists and observers point out that it has been over a quarter-century since the location of the uncontacted people was documented. “Since then, encroachers have sought to overturn the protective measures in court,” noted one expert.

They raise a concerning idea: that the ongoing stalling is a deliberate political tactic rather than a technical or legal one. This leads to concern that protection may not happen even in the near future.

The political context adds urgency. Many believe that the next two years represents the last chance for this demarcation effort to be realized, before a potential administration change could halt all Indigenous land demarcation, as occurred in the past.

The supreme court directive was the result of a case filed by a national Indigenous organization. The court recognized the “risk of genocide, hunger, and acculturation” facing the community.

A lawyer involved described the process as “at a standstill,” with the court waiting for action. The risks of inaction are stark. “Moreover, it is incredibly perilous and puts the lives at risk of the isolated Kawahiva,” warned a representative from an campaigning body.