Dear Jack,

In the Brazilian Amazon, the uncontacted people of the Kawahiva Territory live on the run in their own forest. Survivors of countless massacres, they are the last of their people. Forced to give up on cultivating vegetable gardens so they can move easily about, they rely on the bounty of their forest.

Their presence was confirmed as far back as 1999, but the Brazilian government has still not completed the process of legally protecting their territory, as it’s required to do by its own constitution.

In 2016, the Ministry of Justice set out the limits of the territory, just one of the steps necessary for full legal protection. But slow-moving bureaucracy, interference by anti-Indigenous politicians and lengthy legal challenges from agribusinesses, loggers and other land grabbers are dragging out the process.

Following pressure from Survival and other organizations — and with your help — FUNAI (the government’s Indigenous Affairs Department) said in March that the physical marking out of the territory on the ground will be completed before the end of this year. This is the key step before legal recognition. But we must keep up the pressure if it’s to finally happen.

There’s no time to lose, Jack. A road which passes less than two miles south of Kawahiva territory is soon to be paved – allowing easier access for colonists and their destructive machines. Paved roads are catalysts for deforestation and land theft in the Amazon – opening the way to those who steal Indigenous peoples’ forest for beef production, logging and other industries.

Further delay in protecting their land could destroy the Kawahiva. Their territory is not far from Colniza, one of the most violent places in the Amazon, where most of the income is from illegal logging. And it’s just down the road that’s soon to be paved.

Please tell the authorities in Brazil that the Kawahiva’s territory must, finally, be properly protected.