Endangered conifer being replanted by native people in Brazil

The Xokleng do not exist without the araucaria. (…) Our people and our culture are threatenedexplains to AFP this 32-year-old young man who lives on the indigenous land Ibirama-Laklano, in the state of Santa Catarina.

Araucaria, also present in other countries of the southern hemisphere, such as Chile, Argentina and Australia, is essential for the Xokleng in several ways.

Its very nutritious pine nuts are the basis of the diet of some 2,200 members of this indigenous community.

But this tree, which lives on average 400 years and has medicinal properties, is also a central element of their spirituality and a resistance symbol.

And for good reason. Highly coveted for the quality of its wood, the araucaria is on the list of Brazilian flora threatened with extinction.

Only 3% of native forests in the southern region of the country that is home to this conifer have remained intact, according to the Brazilian agricultural research agency Embrapa.

Much of our forest has been destroyed due to the high commercial value of timberlaments Carl Gakran.

With his wife, Gape, he created the Zag Institute (the term for araucaria in the Xoleng language), an association for the preservation of the environment which has enabled him to plant more than 50,000 specimens.

We are the guardians of this sacred tree (…) We have managed to plant thousands of them, but millions are neededsays Gape Gakran, 36, who proudly wears a large feathered headdress while nursing her daughter.

– Ritual of protection –

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The whole community is mobilized for reforestation.

Each pine nut is a seed, which takes about a year to germinate.

But before being planted, in compost wrapped in a biodegradable bag, these seeds are the subject of a ritual of protection, with songs and dances around a campfire.

The araucarias, which also provide the natives with the means to concoct traditional remedies, begin to give pine nuts only after 12 to 15 years.

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Like many other indigenous peoples in Brazil, the Xokleng have suffered decades of persecution and their territory has been repeatedly invaded by loggers and or farmers.

The Ibirama-Laklano lands, which they share with the Guarani and Kaigang peoples, are at the heart of a legal imbroglio that the Supreme Court has still not settled.

This is the concept of time frameaccording to which the natives would have rights only on the lands which they occupied the year of the promulgation of the Constitution, in 1988.

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It was by validating this thesis that a court decided to withdraw the status of indigenous reserve from part of this territory.

But the latter affirm that it is indeed their ancestral lands, from which they were forcibly dislodged during the military dictatorship (1964-1985).

The crucial judgment on the validity or otherwise of the time framewhich could have consequences for the approval of reservations throughout the country, has been postponed several times by the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, the Xokleng continue to plant araucarias, tirelessly.

I learned with my grandparents that we indigenous people were born to protect the forests. But we need everyone’s helpsummarizes Carl Gakran.