By Rodrigo Leitão and João Pedro Galvão Ramalho

The Amazon River Mouth, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, is under threat. The threat of oil exploration in the region has raised alarms among environmentalists and, especially, among the Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities of Oiapoque, in the far north of the state of Amapá, Brazil. What is at risk goes far beyond the possibility of an environmental disaster: it is the violation of the right to a dignified life, to food sovereignty, to cultural integrity, and to the freedom of peoples who have lived in harmony with this territory and Mother Nature for centuries.

Three Indigenous Lands are located in the municipality of Oiapoque: Galibi Kali’na, Galibi Marworno, and Uaçá, home to the Palikur, Galibi, and Karipuna peoples. These peoples live in deep connection with the region’s rivers, mangroves, and forests, protecting and being protected by nature. Their ways of life are deeply tied to fishing, gathering, and the sustainable use of local biodiversity — a vital bond with the biome.

Credit: João Paulo Guimarães

The threat of oil exploration endangers not only environmental rights but also the very way of life and subsistence of these communities. An oil spill, even a small one, would have devastating and irreversible consequences for the rivers and mangroves, which are the foundation of life in the region.

The Amazon River Mouth is home to several Conservation Units, such as Cabo Orange National Park and the Piratuba Lake Biological Reserve. These areas were established specifically to protect the rich coastal biodiversity, including mangrove ecosystems that are natural nurseries for fish, crustaceans, and birds. Mangroves play a crucial role in food security for local communities and are among the most efficient ecosystems in carbon capture — natural allies in the fight against climate change.

Opening the region to oil exploration completely disregards the precautionary principle and the strategic role of these protected areas.

Food sovereignty — the right to decide what, how, and when to eat from one's own territory — is a collective human right that is being threatened by the predatory logic of oil. The loss of access to traditional food will enslave these populations, forcing them to rely on money to buy industrialized products.

The promise of job and income generation with the arrival of oil companies crumbles when faced with the lifestyle of these communities, which are capable of generating and distributing wealth through their territories. The oil industry is a cycle of wealth extraction without income distribution — profits go to large corporations while the risks and damage remain with the local people.

Additionally, social impacts — increased conflicts, prostitution, labor exploitation, and the breakdown of traditional ways of life — are commonly recorded in regions where oil advances without consent and dialogue with local populations.

In Ecuador, in March of this year, a leak from the Transequatorian Pipeline System spread over 500 km, contaminated more than five rivers, and deprived half a million people — mostly Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities — of access to clean drinking water. Fishing and agriculture — and therefore food security and livelihoods — were rendered impossible.

And we must not deceive ourselves into thinking this is an isolated case. In Brazil alone, in 2024, according to the National Petroleum Agency, 731 accidents related to oil exploration were recorded. No wonder the Brazilian Institute for the Environment (IBAMA) has already denied the drilling license for Block 59 in the Amazon River Mouth three times.

It is contradictory for a government that presents itself as progressive and seeks to lead the world in climate crisis efforts to reproduce the same failed development model chosen for the Amazon over past centuries — one based on intensive exploitation of natural resources and empty promises of progress and national integration, with no respect for Indigenous peoples, ecosystems, or cultural diversity.

In the 1970s, under the slogan “integrate to avoid surrender,” the military regime built roads, promoted deforestation, and imposed large projects in the Amazon with no consultation of local populations. The result was a trail of violence, community expulsions, environmental degradation, and land concentration.

Today, the Brazilian government violates the fundamental rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Oiapoque if it continues to ignore its duty to comply with ILO Convention 169 and the need to carry out Free, Prior, and Informed Consultation, in Good Faith, with these original peoples.

It is urgent to listen to the peoples of Oiapoque — they are the answer. Indigenous Peoples are not obstacles to “progress,” but guardians of a fairer and more balanced future for all of us. As the world discusses a fair and sustainable energy transition, Brazil cannot repeat the mistakes of the past by insisting on a fossil fuel–based economy.

Life at the Amazon River Mouth is not for sale. Preserving this territory is ensuring the dignity of its peoples, the health of ecosystems, and the real possibility of a future where development does not mean destruction, enslavement, suffering, and death.

Credit: João Paulo Guimarães

Cover image: João Paulo Guimarães