Issuance of the document that delimits the territory was delayed until April 2016 because of the problems recognition would create with the proposed São Luiz do Tapajós Dam, which would flood part of the area.

The Sawré Muybu Indigenous Territory is in the municipalities of Itaituba and Trairão, in the Middle Tapajós, in the southwest of Pará state.

[1] The Sawré Muybu is located on the right (east) bank of the Tapajós river to the south of the town of Itaituba, Pará.

It contains the "Fecho" and "Ilha da Montanha" sacred sites, where Karosakaybu created mankind and the Tapajós River from the tucumã seed.

[5] Based on archeological studies by Bruna Cigaran Rocha and Vinicius Honorato de Oliveira the middle Tapajós would have been occupied by the Munduruku long before the 20th century.

[7] Early in April 2016 the Munduruku composed a letter to the government at their 26th Assembly in which they expressed concern over the energy policies of presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff and said they would not accept construction of five hydroelectric plants of the Tapajós and Jamanxin Rivers.

FUNAI President João Pedro said that his agency recognized the traditional nature of the occupation of their lands by the indigenous peoples and was advancing with respect to guaranteeing the territory for them.

Also on 19 April 2016 the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) suspended environmental licensing for the São Luiz do Tapajós Dam.

[1] The move towards recognition of Sawre Muybu and other territories by the new administration was hailed as a great achievement by supporters of the rights of indigenous peoples.

[1] On 30 May 2016 Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) recommended that IBAMA cancel the licensing of the São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric plant.

IBAMA asked for more time so it could study a presentation from Eletrobras that challenged FUNAI's understanding, claiming that the 1988 constitution only protected territories in existence when it was instituted.

[3] There were indications that the Federal Supreme Court would reject this argument on the basis that the constitutional rights of the indigenous people to the land they traditionally occupied was not dependent on the formal recognition status at any given time.

The April publication of the Circumstantial Identification and Delimitation Report (RCID) had made the plant unconstitutional, since the 1988 Constitution expressly prohibits removal of indigenous peoples from their lands.

They placed 180 arrows in the lawn of the ministry to represent the number of days that had been allowed for publishing the ordinance declaring the territory.