Using Heat-Seeking Sensors To Locate Brazil’s Threatened Indians

The Brazilian government will employ heat-seeking technology on airplanes to locate several dozen isolated Amazon tribes whose primitive way of life is threatened by rapidly spreading logging, farming, ranching, and mining. The goal, Brazilian officials said, is to try to prevent development from encroaching on the territories of an estimated 40 forest groups who still live a subsistence life of hunting and gathering. Last May, officials in a low-flying plane came upon one indigenous group whose members were so alarmed they fired arrows at the aircraft. That incident persuaded officials to employ the heat-seeking sensors on high-flying jets in an effort to unobtrusively pinpoint the location of these isolated groups.