Tucked into Brazil’s Amazon forest, along the Maici River where recently contacted Pirahã people live, journalists observed a dramatic uptick in forest loss. According to data from Global Forest Watch, the Pirahã Indigenous Territory lost 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) of tree cover in 2024, roughly the size of more than 6,000 soccer fields, representing the largest spike of deforestation between 2001 and 2024.

But the cause was beyond the usual culprits of deforestation in the Amazon. In fact, national authorities say, it was part of an effort to address issues vulnerable Indigenous communities face following land invasions: food insecurity and the spread of diseases.

The recent spike is mostly due to land clearings to improve food security and a health crisis in the affected population, said Daniel Cangussu, coordinator of the Madeira Ethno-Environmental Protection Front (FPE Madeira-Purus), a branch of Funai, Brazil’s Indigenous agency, which specializes in monitoring and protecting isolated and recently contacted people in the southern Amazonas region. Cangussu said via WhatsApp that Funai and the Pirahã people cleared land to plant crops such as cassava for the roughly 800 people who live there.

For several decades, the Pirahã Indigenous people have faced a multitude of issues, from illegal loggers and hunters to invasions by outsiders seeking to extract natural resources from their territory in Brazil’s Amazonas state. Wildlife that people would hunt have been scared away, and fish stocks also declined due to the destruction. In recent years, government officials discovered the population was suffering from a malaria outbreak — a common side effect of deforestation and the encroachment of outsiders who can spread the disease.

Officials began to monitor the humanitarian crisis and implemented measures to address the issue in 2023 and 2024 and are no longer clearing land near the river. The situation is complex, they say, and the Pirahã need food to improve their ability to fight the disease.

Read the full article about malaria and deforestation in the Pirahã Indigenous Territory by Aimee Gabay at Mongabay.