Official marking of land for Brazil’s uncontacted Kawahiva people begins after 27-year wait

Demarcation of 410,000 hectares of territory is intended to protect the Amazonian community from farming, illegal mining and logging

More than 25 years after the existence of one of the Amazon’s most vulnerable nomadic hunter-gatherer communities was confirmed, the Brazilian government has begun demarcating the Pardo River Kawahiva Indigenous territory, giving greater protection to the uncontacted people.

The demarcation of the 410,000-hectare (1m-acre) territorylocated between the states of Mato Grosso and Amazonas in north-west Brazil, was confirmed by the National Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation (Funai) last week. But the process remains fraught, with legal challenges from groups linked to the country’s agribusiness sector, and the forthcoming presidential election in October.