the quilombo where she's always lived is called danda. her grandfather created it. but today, sandra is involved in a bitter fight to preserve her family's way of life. narrator: the woman told sandra that she was the granddaughter of the landowner. this kind of dispute has become more common in recent years as farmers have come forward to claim legal ownership of potentially profitable land. over the past century, farming families occupied lands in rural areas but often neglected them until real estate values started to surge. in some cases it's emerged that ownership documents have been forged. narrator: sandra feared that tractors would come and destroy their crops, so she brought together members of her community, and they appointed her to settle the dispute. narrator: sandra turned to richard torciano at incra to find out more about a new clause that she stumbled upon while researching land laws--something that could save the quilombo. narrator: but the new law passed under brazil's 1988 constitution was not acted on for years. then, in 2009, former president l