BOA VISTA, Brazil (AP) — Severe malnutrition and disease, particularly malaria, are decimating the Yanomami population in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and on Jan. 20 the federal government declared a public health emergency. While many in Brazil were left wondering how the calamity could materialize seemingly overnight, it didn’t come as a surprise to those familiar with the Yanomami’s circumstances, who have issued warnings for several years.
The AP explains how the Yanomami reached this tragic point.
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WHO ARE THE YANOMAMI?
An estimated 30,000 Yanomami people live in Brazil’s largest indigenous territory, which covers an area roughly the size of Portugal and stretches across Roraima and Amazonas states in the northwest corner of Brazil’s Amazon. Some also live in southern Venezuela. They provide food for themselves by hunting, gathering, fishing, and growing crops in large gardens cleared from the forest. Every few years, the Yanomami move from one area to another, allowing the soil to regenerate.