FORMOSO DO ARAGUAIA, Brazil — On a vast island in northern Brazil, an unusual debate about cattle and conservation is taking place.
Federal authorities last year ordered the removal of herds from protected Indigenous territory on the world’s largest river island, Bananal Island. They argued the land was reserved for Indigenous peoples and conservation, and that the herds kept there by outside ranchers were illegal and contributed to habitat degradation.
To comply with the order, wranglers drove more than 100,000 cattle from the island when the rivers were low enough. But the removal has created new problems for Indigenous residents who had come to rely on money they earned leasing the land to ranchers.
The events underscore the challenge of balancing conservation, Indigenous interests and pressure from agribusiness, one of Brazil’s most powerful sectors. Brazil is the world’s largest beef producer, accounting for about 20 percent of global output and 6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Protecting Indigenous territories is widely seen as one of the most effective ways to curb deforestation in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest and a key regulator of the global climate.
Brazil has made progress in reducing deforestation, but cattle ranching remains the main driver of it. Ranchers clear large swaths of forest so cattle can graze.
Tocantins state, home to Bananal Island, was among the states with Brazil’s highest deforestation levels in 2025, according to MapBiomas, a nonprofit group tracking land use. Biodiversity is threatened as trees that absorb pollution are replaced by cattle that emit methane, a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.
Brazilian law prohibits commercial activity on Indigenous lands. Cattle raising is allowed only for subsistence.
In practice, however, parts of Bananal Island were leased for decades. Under the informal system, ranchers paid village leaders a monthly fee of about 15 reais ($3) per head — far below the roughly 60 reais ($12) charged outside the island.
When the over 100,000 head of cattle were on the island, monthly revenue from leasing could reach 1.5 million reais ($290,000). Payments went to Indigenous chiefs, who passed part of the money to local associations.
“Cattle, over the years, have covered many of our community’s expenses,” said Cleiton Javae, chief of Txuiri village, citing schools, medicine, transport and traditional festivities.
But some residents say the money was concentrated among leaders and did not benefit the roughly 5,000 people in more than 40 villages.
“The law requires consultation and shared benefits,” said Leandro Milhomem, the chief of IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental agency, in Tocantins. “Instead, some chiefs had significant resources while, in the same community, children died of malnutrition.”
Indigenous residents told the AP that wranglers also fenced off parts of the island and restricted access to farming areas that were meant for communal use.
Leaders who supported agreements with ranchers say such incidents were isolated and argue that raising cattle has been blamed for broader policy failures. Still, they acknowledge the system spiraled out of control, with ranchers bringing far more cattle than declared.
“The situation became unsustainable, and removing the cattle was the only alternative,” Javae said.
Indigenous residents say they own the remaining cattle on the island. But in March, environmental authorities seized 550 head of cattle and issued 21 citations, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press. One cited a wrangler who said an Indigenous chief told him to falsely claim the herd was Indigenous‑owned to avoid sanctions.
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Bananal Island lies between the Javae and Araguaia rivers at the junction of Brazil’s top soy and cattle-producing states of Tocantins, Mato Grosso and Para.
When European colonizers reached the area in the late 18th century, they found the island inhabited by Indigenous peoples and covered with wild banana groves that inspired its name: Ilha do Bananal in Portuguese.
