The impact of state and federal government development policy on the contribution of nature to the wellbeing of Indigenous people in the Brazilian Ama

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Whilst my interests span broadly across the political ecologyof Latin America, the political changes taking place in Brazilopen up many research opportunities. In short, this projectwill evaluate the impacts of state and federal government,economic and agricultural developments, and policy reformon ecosystem services in Indigenous territories. I propose aPhD project that will, (i) build on IPBES' conceptual frameworkto conduct a socially-orientated environmental valuation ofone or more of Brazil's Amazonian Indigenous territories; (ii)assess the impact or potential impact of state and federalgovernment, policy reform, and development projects onnature's contribution to Indigenous peoples.So, I pose the following research aims:8 / 111. To critically assess how the ways that Indigenous peoplesvalue nature is communicated to (and acted on by) decisionmakers.2. Using participatory methods, evaluate how ecosystemservices in Indigenous territories have been impacted byState and federal Government and private-led developmentsand policy reforms.3. Assess the effects ecosystem services impacts have hadon Indigenous livelihoods.Context and Justification:The Brazilian Amazon is one of the most biodiverse places inthe world, and it sustains the livelihoods of hundreds ofIndigenous tribes. Indigenous communities depend upon theforest for food, fuelwood, curating medicines, taking part ineconomic activities, and providing materials to make objectsfor use in everyday life (Posey 1985). With the promise fromthe new Brazilian Government that protected areas(including Indigenous territories) in the Amazon will beopened up to economic development and agriculturalexpansion (Escobar 2018), we can anticipate that manyrural, indigenous, and other smallholder communities will beseverely impacted. Whilst I am aware that, at present, theimpacts arising from the change of Brazilian Governmentremain for the most part unclear, huge social and ecologicalchanges are anticipated. For instance, the responsibility ofthe management of Indigenous territories has already beenremoved from FUNAI (Brazil's National Indian Foundation),and instead given to the Ministry of Agriculture; who havelong supported agricultural expansion and large-scaledevelopment projects (Fearnside 2015; Schmink et al. 2017).The new Brazilian Government has emphasised economicand large-scale developments in the Amazon by promotingagribusiness, large infrastructure, and mining, for example.This development agenda, however, does not account forIndigenous inhabitants and their environments in that theirviews are not accounted for and their legal rights arecontinually ignored. Government and privately-funded largescale development projects have long impacted Indigenousareas, particularly in forests, putting historic cultures andbiodiversity at risk (Ramirez-Gomez et al. 2016).This project will focus on ecosystem services in IndiIndigenousterritories. Ecosystem services in this study, however, will bereferred to as nature's contributions to people (NCP) tohighlight the shift away from the idea of services, tocontribution (Diaz et al 2015, 2018). NCP can contribute tohuman production and consumption, and also providecommunities with health, cultural, and spiritual benefits.Research in this area has often been conducted in protected,forested, and rural areas. Ramirez-Gomez et al. (2016), forinstance, argue for the integration of research on NCP intoconservation efforts and planning.