Solar panels and pristine forest: how one Amazon village is adapting to protect itself – in pictures

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Metuktire, in the Indigenous Capoto-Jarina territory in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, is a pocket of resistance against mining, which has devastated the landscape in nearby areas. The AFP photographer Pablo Porciúncula travelled deep into Mato Grosso state to see how it has staved off deforestation and continued to honour its traditional ways of life – while also facing the threats of miners and the climate crisis

Photographs by Pablo Porciúncula/Agence France-Presse

Main image: The Capoto-Jarina territory has been recognised and protected by the Brazilian government since 1984. Metuktire is a symbol not only of resilience but also adaptation, with the community’s solar panels reflecting their commitment to sustainable energy

  • By the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon, Metuktire stands as a beacon of resistance against deforestation. Only 0.15% of the Capoto-Jarina territory was deforested between 2008 and 2024
    Aerial view of rainforest by a wide river with a clearing on the far bank

  • Metuktire is a village of 400 people in the Capoto-Jarina’s near-pristine forest. The village has been protected largely thanks to its chief, Raoni Metutkire, an environmentalist who has gained international recognition. Thought to be in his 90s, Raoni lived here for a long time but now, for health reasons, lives in Peixoto de Azevedo, where he continues to advocate for his people with politicians
    Aerial view of rainforest with a large clearing encircled by huts

  • A villager and her children at their home in Metuktire. Resistance against intruders requires everyone in the local community to monitor and report illegal activities
    An Indigenous woman and her two small children by a wooden thatched hut. The children are daubed with big spots of paint

  • The village enjoys a traditional way of life. One of the key food staples is cassava, also known as yuca or manioc, which is harvested by the women
    An Indigenous woman with red face paint and a polka-dot red dress kneels to dig up tubers, which she puts in a basket

  • The women return from the cassava fields near the village
    Four Indigenous women with red face paint and dresses walking in single file carrying baskets on their backs

  • While cassava is prepared in the tradiional way to make an unleavened bread or porridge, some aspects of modern life have been embraces by the villa as can be seen from the solar energy panel propped against the wall
    A heavily tattooed Indigenous woman in floral frock presses starchy food through a woven sieve

  • Indigenous men prepare to perform a traditional dance in Metuktire. Their strategy to protect the territory involves regular patrols and educating the younger members of the community in how to resist environmental crimes
    A group of older Indigenous men with body paint, necklaces feather headdresses and sticks

  • Kubenpari, one of the community chiefs, prepares himself at the warriors’ house before participating in a traditional dance
    An older Indigenous man with blue striped body paint

  • Beptok Metuktire, with other caciques or chiefs, speaks after performing the dance. ‘We have had goldminers and outsiders who wanted to occupy our lands,’ he says. ‘We show them that this is our territory’
    A group of Indigenous men with an older one at the front gesturing as he speaks. They all wear body paint, necklaces, feather headdresses and carry large sticks

  • Pekan Metuktire is a 69-year-old cacique, or chief. The Kayapó use body paint to commemorate their ancestors and as part of their spiritual belief in animism, which honours insects among other animals
    An older Indigenous man poses in body paint, a necklace, armbands, a digital watch and glasses

  • A kaleidoscope of sulphur butterflies flutter along the banks of the Xingu River near the village. The insects are drawn to the minerals in the riverside mud
    A cloud of dozens of yellow-green butterflies by the water’s edge

  • The villagers have growing concerns about the impact of the climate crisis on their future. Cacique Pekan Metuktire, right, speaks to Kubenpari at his home. ‘Last year, there was a massive fire that we could not control,’ he says. ‘When I was young, the climate was normal in this village. Now, the sun scorches, the earth dries up and the rivers overflow. If this continues, it will be the end of our world’
    Two older Indigenous men in football shorts and body paint talking in a hut with a skinny dog lurking

  • Beptuket, another cacique, prepares for the dance at Metuktire
    An older Indigenous man in body paint attaches his bead necklace

  • Like many of the villagers, Beptuket has also embraced modern ways – he is pictured checking his mobile phone while resting with one of his children at home
    An older Indigenous man in body paint lies in a hammock with a small child in his arms looking at a mobile phone

  • Blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) flying over Metuktire. The birds, which mate for life, are threatened by deforestation, poaching for food and feathers, as well as for the pet trade
    Two large macaws with blue wings and golden breasts in flight
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