- The promise of an Indigenous university persuaded leaders from the Upper Solimões Indigenous lands, in the Brazilian Amazonas state, to sign carbon contracts with Colombian companies.
- FUNAI, the Indigenous affairs agency, denied authorization for projects in Indigenous lands and advised against signing contracts; the process did not include prior consultation as provided for in ILO Convention 169, of which Brazil is a signatory.
- Indigenous people have not been aware of FUNAI’s guidelines and say they believe there will be classes at the university next year.
- FUNAI and Brazil’s Ministry of Education are not aware of a university project funded with money from carbon credits and say that contracts could be considered null and void.
The promise of an exclusive university for the Indigenous peoples of the Upper Solimões region, in Brazil’s Amazonas state, persuaded leaders from at least six territories to sign pre-contracts with Colombian companies to generate carbon credits. However, the company has not complied with guidelines of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) and recommendations of the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF).
The project presented by José Antonio Pérez Manrique from Colombia, who crossed the border into Brazilian Indigenous lands, involves funding a higher education unit with money from sales of carbon credits. The university’s project led the communities to sign a pre-contract with Colombian company Concepto Carbono to develop the initiative, which three other allied Colombian companies — Carbo Sostenible, Terra Commodities and Yauto — later started planning. However, the creation of the university and the development of carbon credit projects in the area have not been authorized by Brazilian authorities so far. This process, in which the four companies and Pérez Manrique himself were involved, led Indigenous leaders to sign documents with potentially abusive clauses and to move forward with projects that do not comply with the duty of prior consultation provided for in international conventions on Indigenous rights.
In August 2022, FUNAI denied authorization for representatives of Colombian companies Carbo Sostenible, Terra Commodities and Yauto to enter the Upper Solimões territories. The agency also advised Indigenous communities against signing agreements since the carbon market was not regulated in Brazil. Three months later, on Nov. 6, 2022, at least six “exclusivity letters” were signed with Concepto Carbono, authorizing the company to implement a carbon sequestration project in the forest areas of the Riozinho, Biá River, Estrela da Paz, Macarrão, Espírito Santo and Acapuri de Cima Indigenous lands. The agreement — some sort of pre-contract where the parties already have their duties — included areas that had not even been officially approved as Indigenous lands by the federal government.
FUNAI said it was not aware of such “exclusivity letters” signed by Indigenous leaders but states that “all contracts risk being annulled, given technical and legal questions regarding feasibility, required procedures and compliance with socio-environmental safeguards, including the right to free, prior and informed consultation [FPIC].”
