(…)the village’s self-sufficiency, which comes from growing crops and protecting its forest, is now a model for an ambitious project to help 12 Indigenous territories in western Amazon, amounting to 640,000 hectares (1.6 million acres), about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware.
In November, the Organization of Indigenous People of the Jurua River, known by the Portuguese acronym OPIRJ, secured $6.8 million in support from the Amazon Fund, the world’s largest initiative to combat rainforest deforestation. With Apiwtxa as the model, the grant is geared toward improving Indigenous land management with an emphasis on food production, cultural strengthening and forest surveillance.
“We are expanding everything that we did at Apiwxta to an entire region,” said Ashaninka and OPIRJ leader Francisco Piyãko, speaking in front of his home in Apiwtxa. “This is not only about implementing a project. What is at stake is cultural change. This is essential to protect life, the territory and its peoples.”
Indigenous groups have long argued that they are in the best position to conserve and protect forests, having been successful stewards of lands for thousands of years. Indigenous land management is increasingly a central policy discussion at climate talks as global warming worsens and other methods to protect forests, such as carbon credit schemes, have largely not been successful.
The area where the Apiwtxa village sits in the Brazilian Amazon was once a sprawling cattle farm run by non-Indigenous settlers who deforested the land. Establishing land boundaries opened the door to reforestation and cultural rebirth. (AP Video/Jorge Saenz)
In Brazil, Indigenous territories comprise 23% of the Amazon region, which is roughly the size of South Africa and largely covered with old-growth rainforests that store large quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that drives climate change when released into the atmosphere. In 2022, only 2% of all deforestation in the Amazon happened inside Indigenous territories, most by non-Indigenous land-grabbers. In Ashaninka’s Amonia territory, the deforested area today is 0.03%, underscoring the tribe’s successful forest management.
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https://apnews.com/article/brazil-indigenous-amazon-reforestation-ashaninka-climate-8f1311d0f1febc1125511b3c1662aaea
(…)the village’s self-sufficiency, which comes from growing crops and protecting its forest, is now a model for an ambitious project to help 12 Indigenous territories in western Amazon, amounting to 640,000 hectares (1.6 million acres), about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware.
In November, the Organization of Indigenous People of the Jurua River, known by the Portuguese acronym OPIRJ, secured $6.8 million in support from the Amazon Fund, the world’s largest initiative to combat rainforest deforestation. With Apiwtxa as the model, the grant is geared toward improving Indigenous land management with an emphasis on food production, cultural strengthening and forest surveillance.
“We are expanding everything that we did at Apiwxta to an entire region,” said Ashaninka and OPIRJ leader Francisco Piyãko, speaking in front of his home in Apiwtxa. “This is not only about implementing a project. What is at stake is cultural change. This is essential to protect life, the territory and its peoples.”
Indigenous groups have long argued that they are in the best position to conserve and protect forests, having been successful stewards of lands for thousands of years. Indigenous land management is increasingly a central policy discussion at climate talks as global warming worsens and other methods to protect forests, such as carbon credit schemes, have largely not been successful.
The area where the Apiwtxa village sits in the Brazilian Amazon was once a sprawling cattle farm run by non-Indigenous settlers who deforested the land. Establishing land boundaries opened the door to reforestation and cultural rebirth. (AP Video/Jorge Saenz)
In Brazil, Indigenous territories comprise 23% of the Amazon region, which is roughly the size of South Africa and largely covered with old-growth rainforests that store large quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that drives climate change when released into the atmosphere. In 2022, only 2% of all deforestation in the Amazon happened inside Indigenous territories, most by non-Indigenous land-grabbers. In Ashaninka’s Amonia territory, the deforested area today is 0.03%, underscoring the tribe’s successful forest management.
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