Indigenous peoples in isolation inside protected areas: Mandate mismatch and inter-institutional coordination gaps in the Brazilian Amazon

Protected areas are increasingly expected to secure both biodiversity and Indigenous territorial rights, but that dual mandate breaks down where the rights-holders are peoples living in isolation, who cannot be consulted, cannot sit on a management council and cannot consent to any use of their territory. In Brazil, many live in Conservation Units (CUs) rather than in regularized Indigenous Lands (ILs). While both are recognized as protected areas (PAs), only ILs are expressly designated to secure Indigenous territorial rights. Through spatial analysis of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation (IPI) records, CUs, and ILs, combined with a systematic review of CU management plans, this article demonstrates that current PA management policy is structurally unprepared to address the territorial protection demands of isolated Indigenous groups. Of the 124 IPI records analyzed, 22 (17.7%) are located exclusively within CUs, 29 (23.3%) are in areas where CUs and ILs overlap, 65 are exclusively in ILs, and eight are outside any protected area. Fifty CUs of different categories and levels of institutional governance are associated with at least one IPI record. Of these, 23 are fully protected (IUCN Categories Ia and II), and 27 are for sustainable use (IUCN Categories IV, V, and VI). Only five of the 50 CUs have specific territorial policies for IPI. These figures reveal a governance gap that existing PA management policy has systematically failed to address: the majority of CUs with IPI presence operate without any formal zoning or protocol for these populations. Addressing this gap requires stronger inter-institutional coordination between FUNAI and ICMBio, IPI-specific governance measures in CU management plans, and formal protocols to ensure territorial protection while respecting Indigenous peoples' decision to remain in isolation. Equivalent overlaps between conservation-designated areas and peoples in isolation occur in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, so the mismatch identified here is structural to any country operating two territorial protection systems under two different mandates.