What threats face the Yanomami tribe in the world today and what steps can be taken to protect them?

The Yanomami people are under threat due to economic factors including mining, cattle ranching, lodging, natural resource exploitation.

The Yanomami tribe lives in the world’s 3rd most biodiverse area on Earth, which puts the Yanomami people under threat due to economic factors. Which over the years has been the cause of the Yanomami people’s deaths. The laws in Brazil are changing due to Brazil harsh economic conditions with more than 2/3 of Brazil’s population relying on government financial aids. Due to budget cuts in the Brazilian Government the Yanomami territory in the Amazon is now unprotected. This has caused many mining companies to invade their territory. The Brazilian government does not have the money to protect the Amazon forest and those who inhabit it. With the government desperate for money and the Amazon forest is slowly becoming their ATM machine. Growing the economy by the production and sales of lumber, gold, pharmaceuticals, cattle and poultry would help boost their economy. The Yanomami people are under threat due to economic factors including mining, cattle ranching, lodging, natural resource exploitation.

There are economic threats affecting the Yanomami tribe. For example Cattle ranchers want the land to raise cattle and also any wildlife on the Yanomami grounds that they can find. All of this is so the can raise and then sell the cattle for money. To do this cattle ranchers have contaminated the water with mercury, poisoning anyone who drinks from it, affecting not only the Yanomami tribe but any others that use the river as there water source. Also many of the fish and frogs from their diet come from the same waters. They have also along with mining companies spread diseases like malaria. Because of Yanomami’s weak immune system (since they’ve never been exposed to viruses and diseases) they have no way of fighting diseases like malaria or ways of knowing whether the water is safe to drink or not.

Medical companies have started to tear down and strip the amazon forest of it’s wonders and the Yanomami people of their home along with several other tribes and animals that habitat the incredible forest. The major problem with the extraction of resources such as plants for medical uses is that illegal workers that come to extract many times have left behind rouble and taking resources key to the Yanomami’s survival, polluting the Yanomami territory. Left by the workers, trash and any unused resources. Another contributor to the pollution of the Amazon was the construction of a new road leading into Venezuela. The construction came without warning or permission by the people who have inhabited the grounds for decades.

The construction didn’t only bring leftover rouble but also many villages surrounding the Yanomami were brutally killed when the construction of the road through the amazon began. Violence against these tribes isn't at all new. Alterations due to land disputes with these industrial workers led to a killing epidemic in the 1970’s, killing 20% of the Yanomami population. Again in the 1990’s several members of the tribe were attacked or killed by lumberjacks and miners due to land disputes.

The best way to insure the safety of the Yanomami tribe is for Brazil to properly enforce the law they agreed to ilo

Based on the information gathered we can tell that the Yanomami people are under threat due to economic factors including mining, cattle ranching, lodging, natural resource exploitation. By intentionally making them sick, violently attacking them over land disputes and extracting resources from their territory without permission. The safety of the Yanomami tribe is important because without out their fight against all the people that would like to use and sell the resources of the Amazon (their home). The world’s 3rd most biodiverse area on Earth and 20% of the world’s (annual) oxygen production is under threat. The Yanomami people are protecting a forest that the modern world isn’t willing to protect but is benefiting from anyway.

Works Cited

Bier, S. (2005, August). Conflict and Human Rights in the Amazon: The Yanomami. Retrieved December 07, 2016, from http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/yanomami.htm

International, S. (n.d.). The Yanomami. Retrieved December 07, 2016, from http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami

International, S. (n.d.). The International Law for Tribal People. Retrieved December 07, 2016, from http://www.survivalinternational.org/law

Johnson, J. (2016, November 21). New Photos Show Endangered Amazon Tribe. Retrieved December 07, 2016, from http://www.newser.com/story/234336/new-photos-show-endangered-amazon-tribe.html

Kizirian, S. (n.d.). Anthropologists Behaving Badly: Jose Padilha's 'Secrets of the Tribe' Does Some Digging of Its Own. Retrieved December 07, 2016, from http://www.documentary.org/feature/anthropologists-behaving-badly-jose-padilhas-secrets-tribe-does-some-digging-its-own

P. (2015, March 09). The Most Isolated Amazon Tribe. Yanomami. Retrieved December 07, 2016, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Hfr3c_nSE

M. (2015, February 24). Threats facing the Yanomami Tribe. Retrieved December 07, 2016, from http://yanomamitribe-info-threats-solutions.blogspot.ch/2015/01/the-yanomamitribe-is-in-great-danger-of.html