and the environmental. They said that is the balance of development.

At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development [Rio+20], which I also participated in, they said: “Brazil needs more and more development.” But development of what? Based on what? What type of development is that? Usually when development is spoken of as sustainable development, it is not in a way that balances the environment and society. In my opinion, it is just looking from an economic point of view. Because of this there are many consequences for Indigenous people as well as riverside communities. For example, “We need more development, so let’s build a hydroelectric dam.” Will the people living there be consulted? Will Indigenous people be considered? This mindset is taking into account only the economic aspect and not the social and cultural parts of Indigenous people and the environment.

So, what is this development in the eyes of Indigenous people?

I conducted some research at the Rio conference. I asked Indigenous people – men, women, young people and older people – what they thought of this idea of sustainable development. Despite the huge diversity among all the Indigenous peoples, no one linked sustainable development with the economy. Their perception was always cultural, social, spiritual, food-related and environmental. None of them focused on the economy.

For me, development means ensuring a protected territory, a territory that can bear our livelihood. A territory that has clean waters. A territory that has game and fish. A territory with standing forests. We sustain and try to protect our territories, but not only for ourselves. For every human being, every living creature, animal or not, needs water and clean air to live and survive.

Tsitsina Xavante is from the Xavante people in the state of Mato Grosso, Cerrado biome, Brazil. Felipe Viveros translated her words from Portuguese.

Issue 326

Photographs © UNFPA Brasil / Giovanni Bello

Resurgence & Ecologist

15