Yanomami Tribe: Brazilian government has initiated crucial measures to expel illegal miners from the largest Indigenous reserve in the Amazon, home to the Yanomami people. This proactive step aims to protect the invaluable ecological and cultural heritage of the region, demonstrating a commitment to safeguarding the rights and well-being of indigenous communities.
About Yanomami Tribe
- The Yanomami tribe is a group of indigenous people who live in an area spanning the border region between Venezuela (Orinoco River basin) and Brazil.
- They are also called South American Indians.
- They speak the Xirianá language.
- Economy and Occupation: They are foraging horticulturists who depend on shifting cultivation, the gathering of fruits, banana cultivation, hunting, etc., for their livelihood.
Who is Davi Kopenawa Yanomami?
- He is known as the ‘Dalai Lama of the Rainforest’.
- He was the recipient of the Right to Livelihood Award in Stockholm in Sweden (also called the Alternative Nobel Prize).
- He is well known for leading the 20-year campaign of the Yanomami people to protect their traditional lands which is the largest rainforest area under indigenous control in the world.
Read Also: Indus Water Treaty, 1960
