Society

Brazil’s biggest quilombo is using georeferencing to protect its land

kalunga quilombo

For centuries, the Kalunga people managed to keep their land a secret from most people. That success is partially thanks to the land’s characteristics, being located at the heart of the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, a place known for its dramatic canyons and quartz crystal rock formations. But sophisticated stealth techniques also helped the Kalunga endure as Brazil’s biggest remaining quilombo, which are communities originally founded by runaway slaves.

Today, more than a century after slavery was abolished in Brazil, the risk for quilombolas (as the communities’ descendants are called) has only changed its form. Agricultural producers and real estate speculators are preying on their land—a right to which the quilombolas are granted by the Constitution.

In his efforts to protect his community, Adriano Paulino da Silva, a 21-year-old information systems student, believes technology could help preserve his people’s natural resources and ancestral knowledge.

Born and raised in the Engenho II community, close to some of the quilombo’s most important touristic spots—the Candaru and Santa Bárbara waterfalls—he is one of the quilombolas leading a georeferencing project in the Historical and Cultural Heritage Site of Kalunga (HSCHK).

The quilombolas’ progressive reconnection with modern society has sped up in recent years, mainly because of recent policies to recognize the rights of traditional peoples in the country. Many young Kalungas, such as Adriano, have started college classes, opening the community up to a new time, synthesized in this ongoing georeferencing project.

“For months I have studied new georeferencing software devices, such as ArqGIS, as well as dataset control programs, in order to create a broad questionnaire to understand our land use, traditional farming techniques, and basic sanitation issues, among other crucial information,” he says.