The campos of Marajó Island offers a peaceful and picturesque landscape, demonstrating a mostly harmonious relationship between the wildlife and the island's natural surroundings.
Belem stands at the headwaters of the Amazon that connects the system of rivers to the Atlantic Ocean. Nearby Belem is the Xingu River Basin of Amazonia, where 25 indigenous peoples and about 215 riverine (Ribeirinho) families live. It is a protective corridor larger than the UK, at 280,000 km^2. The protective corridor resulted from the 1988 Brazilian Constitution that recognized the rights of indigenous people to maintain traditional culture, land use and the demarcation of their land rights.
The indigenous Xingu people have a symbiotic relationship with the Amazon River, recognizing its importance to their way of life. They maintain sustainable living practices that are in harmony with the rainforest's natural and untainted climate. Traditionally, they set fire to the savannahs to fertilize the land, a practice that did not harm the surrounding forest. They relied on the forest's environment to sustain their crops without additional resources, using natural indicators like the flowering of the Murici (Byrsonima Crassifolia) and the appearance of the star Pleiades to guide their agricultural activities. The Xingu people's deep understanding of the forest's cycles allowed them to thrive in Amazonia (Schwartzman 2013).
However, damage and destruction of the rainforest inhibit them from following these ancient practices. The Amazon rainforest faces significant threats, particularly from deforestation.
