Mangrove Enclosure in Brazil: Quilombola Women's Struggle Exposes Colonial Land Grabs Disguised as Conservation
Original framing: “Enclosed river: Women shellfish gatherers fight for access to mangroves in Brazil” — bing news
Adriana Hora dos Santos' testimony — 'O mangue é nossa casa, nossa geladeira, nossa farmácia' — is reduced to color in the article. The Associação das Marisqueiras de Saubara (AMS) has filed 17 lawsuits since 2018 against illegal enclosures; only 3 reached judgment. Their 2021 'Carta das Marisqueiras' demands: (1) collective title under Decree 4.887; (2) veto power over licensing in their territory; (3) state-funded 'defeso' salary during closed seasons. The article quotes ICMBio's director but not AMS's elected president, Maria de Fátima — a silencing that reproduces the epistemic violence of 'consultation' without consent.
The marisqueiras' struggle is not for 'access' but for the constitutional right to govern their territory — a right that Brazilian law promises (Article 68, Decree 4.
887) but the ruralist-state-conservation complex systematically denies through the trickster device of 'protected areas' that protect capital, not communities. The scientific evidence is unequivocal: quilombola governance outperforms state management on every ecological metric because it embeds enforcement in daily life and cosmological law. Ecuador's custodias, Colombia's Consejos Comunitarios, and Mexico's ejidos costeros prove that territorial title — not use permits — enables the long-term stewardship that climate adaptation requires. The solution pathway is clear: title the land, fund the guardians, stop the shrimp farms, and let the women who read the mud by moonlight write the management plan. Anything less is greenwashing enclosure.