In the midst of debates on the real dimension of climate change and conferences like COP30 to discuss it, the traditional communities of Bico do Papagaio, in the north of Tocantins, are directly suffering the consequences.
At the tip of the triangle with Maranhão and Pará, residents and researchers report that the levels of the Tocantins and Araguaia rivers have fallen, that trees are increasingly rare, that forest fires are more frequent and faster, that rains are atypical and that the heat is more intense.
“Telling the story of the Tocantins River makes you want to cry,” says quilombola leader Antônio Pereira de Jesus, 64, known as Piolho.
In the backyard of his house in quilombo Carrapiché, in Esperantina (TO), he has been observing the river for 30 years. “At the beginning we took heavy boats and we went to Marabá (PA). Today there are places where we pass carrying the rabeta (small motorboat) in our arms,” he says.
Piolho associates the decrease in the volume of water with the fires which multiplied on the banks in 2023. Under a tree, the quilombola points to at least three islands which did not exist when it arrived in Carrapiché. From one of them, it is possible to cross the river from one bank to the other on foot.
Seven families live in the quilombo and share ten bushels of land – another 40, according to the community, have been invaded by land grabbers. Quilombolas feed on the beans, bananas and cassava they plant, as well as the fish they catch. To avoid further deforestation and increase the heat they face, Piolho explains, they stopped planting rice.
“Today, when the sun is very hot, the water is warm in the afternoon,” he says.
The day the journalist visited Carrapiche, it was 37°C. “In my opinion, the forest will disappear, the fish and the water will dry up. The impact is very significant. Our biggest concern is preservation.”
The situation is no different on the Araguaia River. Just before the two rivers meet, in the village of Pedra Grande, Rosimeire Rodrigues, 59, shows an old iron structure used to hold the ferry crossing to Pará. It’s been about 20 years since the water got there, she said.
The Araguaia River has always experienced periods of flooding and drought. But according to the retired fisherman, the floods lasted less long and the volume affected is increasingly reduced. On the other hand, he specifies, the off-peak periods are longer.
A report from Ambiental Media which analyzed 51 years of data from the ANA (National Agency for Water and Basic Sanitation), published in June, confirms that there has been a reduction in the volume of rivers.
The Araguaia basin saw a 10% drop in its minimum flow, with more severe droughts, according to the study. The Tocantins basin has lost 35% of its water availability, the equivalent of 12 Olympic swimming pools per minute.
UFNT, Russian University and ICMBio propose projects
To better measure these changes, researchers from UFNT (Federal University of Northern Tocantins) formed a partnership with Tyumen State University, Russia, to install a climate change research and monitoring station in Bico do Papagaio.
The initiative is part of a cooperation agreement between the Brazilian and Russian governments, inspired by an environmental studies structure that operates in Siberia.
The vice-rector of the UFNT, Nataniel Araújo, says that northern Tocantins lacks scientific data on the climate. The state is the youngest in Brazil, recognized in 1988, and UFNT is the country’s youngest federal university, founded six years ago.
The station should be about 20 minutes by boat from the town of Pedra Grande, exactly where the rivers meet, which locals call “bico do Bico”. The area is a transition between the Cerrado and Amazon biomes.
ICMBio also proposed an APA (Environmental Protection Zone) in Bico do Papagaio, alongside another in the Tocantins River Paleochannel. According to the organization, protecting territories would represent a gain in terms of carbon absorption and the fight against climate change.
Rural producers from Pará, Maranhão and Tocantins, however, reject the creation of the protection zone. Although they are classified as sustainable use, which guarantees the development of economic activities, rural people fear that this classification makes it difficult to practice agriculture.
Maria Senhora Carvalho, 74, coordinator of the Regional Union of Rural Workers and Family Farmers of Esperantina, São Sebastião do Tocantins and Buriti do Tocantins, believes that APA could be a good idea.
The union identified 11 large lakes in Esperantina that, once perennial, began to dry up during periods of less rain. The research was carried out in partnership with the NGO APA-TO (Alternatives for small farmers in Tocantins) five years ago.
Maria Senhora attributes reduced water supplies and increased heat to deforestation. According to her, this practice is common among large and small producers, including settlers.
The union therefore encourages agroecological practices among its members. “What we do is plant to see if it brings balance, and it does. Here we plant oranges, lemons, acerola, everything that is in the forest. Then we reforest and earn an income. Açaí, for example, is rich and brings money,” explains Maria Senhora.
Coconut crackers try to preserve the forest
In São Miguel do Tocantins, coconut crackers are also trying to preserve the forest. In their case, it is necessary for the babassu palms to be standing to perpetuate the tradition from which they derive their income.
“Our greatest wealth is babassu, because nothing goes to waste,” says Maria Silvania Nunes, 49, representative of the Interstate Movement of Babassu Coconut Crackers (MIQCB).
The supply of coconuts used to make oils, olive oil, biscuits, bread and charcoal is, however, dwindling, says the breaker. Additionally, he says, going into open forests, with the increasingly warm climate, has hampered collection.
In Tocantins, since 2008, there has been the Free Babaçu law, which prohibits the felling, burning and predatory use of pesticides in babassu areas of the state. Coconut crackers, however, say there is not enough monitoring and as a result the law is not being followed.
UNDERSTAND THE SERIES
This is the final chapter in the Guardians of the Cerrado report series, which shows how the advance of agribusiness is putting pressure on traditional ways of life and how communities are seeking to ensure their permanence on the territory in the face of the climate crisis. The work is part of the Climate Exclud project, a partnership with the Ford Foundation.
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