Brazilian judicial authorities in two important recent rulings, affirmed the rights of small landholders and Indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon and called on federal authorities to remove illegal occupants, a major driver of illegal deforestation in the region, Human Rights Watch said today.
The decisions condemn federal authorities for their delays in taking steps to remove 'land grabbers' from the Cachoeira Seca Indigenous territory and the Terra Nossa Sustainable Development settlement, both in the state of Pará, and affirm the land rights of the lawful residents: Indigenous peoples in Cachoeira Seca, and smallholders in Terra Nossa. The rulings also require the authorities to promptly demonstrate tangible progress toward removing illegal occupants.
"For years, residents of Cachoeira Seca and Terra Nossa have organized to stop these land grabs, despite fearing attacks by ranchers," said Luciana Téllez Chávez, senior environment researcher at Human Rights Watch. "These rulings vindicate their struggle and require federal authorities to act promptly to protect their rights, their territories, and their forests."
On June 3, 2026, a federal judge ordered Brazil's federal land reform agency INCRA (Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária), to promptly take action to remove illegal occupants from Terra Nossa. This followed a May 31 order by Justice Edson Fachin, President of the Supreme Federal Court, ordering urgent action by the federal government to remove invaders from Cachoeira Seca. Justice Fachin's decision responded to a request from the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), a nationwide coalition of Indigenous peoples.
In both cases, the judicial decisions require the federal government to develop a timeline for removal actions and to regularly report on how they are being carried out, maintaining pressure and oversight.
Cattle ranchers have illegally seized land and devastated the livelihoods of lawful residents in the Terra Nossa smallholder settlement and the Cachoeira Seca Indigenous territory, affecting their rights to housing, land, and culture, Human Rights Watch found in an October 2025 report.
Brazil's federal land reform agency created the rural settlement Terra Nossa for small farmers in 2006. Families were to farm the land, harvest fruits and nuts from the rainforest - which initially constituted 80 percent of the 150,000-hectare settlement - and sell their produce in local markets. Ranchers have, however, illegally encroached on Terra Nossa. They have violently retaliated against people who opposed them. By 2023, 45.3 percent of the total land area of the settlement had been converted into pasture.
Beginning in 2016, the land reform agency surveyed Terra Nossa, ultimately finding 78.5 percent illegally occupied. Yet for years the land reform agency failed to take action to remove illegal ranches and even suggested a plan that would regularize their occupation.
In Cachoeira Seca, the Arara Indigenous people depend on the rainforest in their 733,000-hectare territory. The federal government is legally required to remove non-Indigenous occupants. Instead, ranchers have established more illegal cattle ranches since the formal government recognition of the Indigenous territory in 2016.
The devastation has reduced the availability of game and forest products, restricting Indigenous peoples' movement in their own territory, and undermining their cultural rights. Cachoeira Seca registered the largest deforested area in an Indigenous territory in the Brazilian Amazon in 2024.
Human Rights Watch analysis of official sources shows that illegal farms in Cachoeira Seca and Terra Nossa sold cattle to several direct suppliers of JBS, the world's largest meat company. JBS maintained that they monitor the farms of its direct suppliers for compliance with their procurement policy and that, as of January 1, 2026, it would be mandatory for direct suppliers to provide information on their suppliers. However, it has not yet replied to further queries from Human Rights Watch about how this pledge has been carried out.
"These rulings tell perpetrators that justice is catching up with them despite their efforts to obstruct accountability," Téllez Chávez said. "It is now crucial for federal environmental authorities and law enforcement to execute these judgments and to ensure the safety of community members in Cachoeira Seca and Terra Nossa before, during and after removal operations."
