Survival International - Tribes

Today there are more than 150 million tribal people worldwide, including at least 70 uncontacted tribes, living in 60 countries. Survival International supports these endangered tribes on a global level, with campaigns established in America, Africa and Asia. Most of them have been persecuted, facing genocide by diseases, relocation from their homes by logging and mining, and eviction by settlers.

"The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode and the Bushmen and the Jarawa live in totally contrasting environments across three continents, yet the racism and threats they face are startlingly similar ... Unless these tribes are allowed to live on their own land in peace, they will not survive."

Survival International considers that their rights to land ownership, even though recognised in international law, are not effectively respected, with tribes being subject to being invaded by activities such as oil, mining or logging companies, cattle ranchers, private or government 'development' schemes such as road-building and dams, or for nature reserves and game parks. Survival International also highlights in their education mission that beyond economic interests that have led to exploitive invasions of their lands, lies a problem of ignorance and racism that sees tribal peoples as "backward" and "primitive". Survival believes that in the long-term, public opinion is the most effective force for change.

The impact of the outside world on the existence of these people and the survival of their culture is described as being very dramatic. In Siberia, only 10% of the tribal peoples live a nomadic or semi-nomadic life, compared to 70% just 30 years ago. In Brazil – where Survival International believes the majority of the world’s uncontacted tribes, probably more than 50, live – there are about 400 speakers for 110 languages. For authors such as Daniel Everett, this phenomenon represents a fundamental assault on the existence of people, as language expresses the way a group of people experience reality in a unique way, and it's a part of our common heritage. Ranka Bjeljac-Babic, lecturer and specialist in the psychology of language, describes an intrinsic and causal link between the threat of biological diversity and cultural diversity. This assault on indigenous peoples' customs and traditions is described as part of a larger assault on life, with its historical roots in colonization. Survival International highlights in their report, Progress can Kill, that the invasion of the Americas and Australia by Europeans eliminated 90% of the entire indigenous population on these continents. The threat of genocide continues to this day.

Most fundamentally, Survival believes that it is the respect for the right to keep their land that may allow them to survive. The issues of human rights and freedom depend on the land from which they can get their subsistence and develop according to their own culture. The interference with this basic need endangers their capacity to live sustainably.