New report from the Xingu+ Network recorded more than 620 km of roads opened in Protected Areas in 2024 alone
Illegal logging has become one of the main threats to the socio-environmental integrity of the Xingu Basin, especially in the Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units that make up the Protected Areas Corridor, a report reveals. Protection Challenges in the Xingu Basin – Outlook 2025, from the Xingu+ Network. Prepared by the De Olho no Xingu Observatory, the study analyzes the first two years of the current federal government.
In 2024 alone, more than 620 km of clandestine roads were opened to transport high-value logs such as ipê, jatobá, and cedar, also facilitating the entry of other environmental crimes such as mining and land grabbing. The impact is devastating: impoverished forests, dammed streams, dead fish, and threatened communities.
The data collected is based on the Remote Deforestation Alert System (Sirad X), from the Xingu+ Network, the Timber Exploitation Monitoring System (Simex), from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and the MapBiomas project.
The document details the effects of timber theft in the most affected territories — such as the Xingu Indigenous Territory (TIX), the Baú Indigenous Land and the Riozinho do Anfrísio Extractive Reserve — and evaluates the combat and monitoring actions in the first two years of the current federal government.
According to the report, criminal activities have impacted the provision of essential public health and education services, hindering firefighting efforts, and contributing to the entry of heavy weapons into Indigenous territories.
The Xingu River Basin covers approximately 51 million hectares, located between the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, in an area comprised of dense forests, Amazonian floodplains, and Cerrado. It is home to the Xingu Protected Areas Corridor, covering 26,7 million hectares, and is home to 26 indigenous peoples and hundreds of riverside communities that play a crucial role in Amazon conservation and global climate regulation.
According to the Xingu+ Network, a coalition of 53 organizations, 43 of which are indigenous, 5 riverside, and 5 civil society organizations, the territory has suffered in recent years from deforestation caused by timber theft, forest fires, land grabbing, and mining.
The document also highlights progress in combating these crimes over the past two years, thanks to the resumption of policies such as the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) and inspection operations, which resulted in a 30,6% drop in deforestation in the Legal Amazon and, especially, in the Xingu Basin, with a 46% reduction compared to the previous period — the lowest rate recorded in the last decade.
There was also progress in reducing deforestation caused by land grabbing, between 2022 and 2024, due to the process of disintrusion from the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous Lands, in 2023. Another positive fact was the 40% drop in deforestation caused by mining in Protected Areas.
Where does timber theft happen?
The TIX, comprised of four Indigenous Territories and home to 16 indigenous peoples, is the epicenter of the timber theft problem in the Xingu Basin. Complaints filed since 2019 by Indigenous associations and socio-environmental organizations highlight the severity of the situation. Between 2023 and 2024, 404 km of illegal branch lines were opened—68% of the total over the last five years.
The Riozinho do Anfrísio Extractive Reserve, created in 2004, faces severe pressure from timber theft, particularly from groups from the Areia Settlement in Trairão, Pará. Since 2017, more than 1.500 km of illegal logging routes have been opened in the area, affecting communities such as Boi Morreu and Paulo Afonso. This activity causes social conflict, with intimidation and coercion by criminals.
The Baú Indigenous Territory of the Kayapó people, located in the southwest of the municipality of Altamira, is another priority target for criminals seeking timber, who invade the territory, open roads, cut down trees, and promote a scenario of destruction and conflict.
The loggers' strategy is repeated with the opening of illegal roads for timber theft and transportation. According to monitoring by the Xingu+ Network, 544 km of illegal roads were built in seven years to facilitate timber exploitation in the Baú Indigenous Territory. This transportation usually occurs through the Castelo dos Sonhos district, via an illegally constructed bridge over the Curuá River.
What can be done?
According to the document, coordinated actions between government agencies, civil society, and local communities can dismantle the networks that legalize illegally harvested timber. Inspections need to be more frequent and urgent, as even after IBAMA operations, logging persists. Furthermore, establishing inspection bases in the territory and continuing police investigations are crucial to identifying and holding accountable criminal groups operating in the region.
At the same time, promoting extractive activities such as the collection of Brazil nuts, rubber, and copaiba oil is an important measure to combat the enticement of local populations and guarantee the subsistence of traditional communities.
illegal mining
Illegal mining has also intensified in recent years in the Brazilian Amazon. According to data from MapBiomas, by 2023, the area of illegal mining reached 283,8 hectares, with approximately 90% of this activity occurring in the Amazon biome. Last year, 1.643 hectares of forest were cleared to make way for mining activities.
According to the Sirad X monitoring system, between 2018 and 2023, more than 9,9 hectares of forest were lost within the Xingu Basin Protected Areas due to illegal mining. Of this amount, 85% occurred in the Kayapó Indigenous Territory alone, equivalent to 8,4 hectares, which has been the leading area in the region for illegal mining.
Forest fires
In times of climate change, fire is another major challenge in the Xingu Corridor, causing forest destruction, biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and deterioration in air quality, according to monitoring conducted between 2010 and 2024.
Last year alone, 2.8 million hectares were burned, representing a monthly average of 215.302 hectares, according to the Mapbiomas Fire Monitor. This area corresponds to almost the same area burned in 14 years of monitoring, from 2010 to 2023, which was 2,7 million hectares.
This new scenario poses a challenge to the ancestral practices of many indigenous communities in the Xingu region, as fire has always been considered a cultural element and used for clearing land, hunting, and rituals. With the drier climate, previously controlled fires can easily escape and invade large areas of forest. One of the solutions proposed, which seeks to reconcile traditional knowledge with ancestral practices, is the development of fire management strategies, for example.
Loading