Archive

  1. Instituto Janeraka

    Comments Off on Instituto Janeraka

    The Janeraka Institute was born in the Amazon region, Altamira, from the Awaete ancestry in the resistance of a population with less than 50 years of contact with the global society.

    Since then, the Awaete population has faced numerous psychosocial and ecological challenges, such as the consequences of genocide and ethnocide since the first contact, which has been increasing with the construction of hydroelectric power-plants, mining activities, culminating in one of the worst deforestations in the world, threatening the existence of the water peoples, land and forest, in the region and around the planet.

    Janeraka is an Awaete word meaning “neither mine nor yours, our house, and the house belongs to the one who takes care of it”. All of the Janeraka Institute’s activities are centred on strengthening the traditional Awaete culture and exchanging knowledge and practices with other forest peoples.

    The Janeraka Institute has co-created several projects, including:

    • The Awaete Agenda is a knowledge exchange program that seeks to reflect on the relationship flows between indigenous, non-indigenous, and other forest peoples, focusing on indigenous rights and ethics in relationships.
    • The Janereka Podcast Channel, to strengthen the practice of orality, awarded by Art Artivism.
    • The Kujy Ete Women’s Collective participated in an international exhibition of indigenous art (staged by an indigenous curator) called Ka’a Body: Cosmovision of the Rainforest and created two award-winning documentaries.
    • The Janereka Ryru is an Awaete multimedia collection platform designed to decolonize the Awaete heritage for use by the Awaete people themselves.

  2. Jupago Kreká Collective

    Comments Off on Jupago Kreká Collective

    The Jupago Kreká Collective was born in 2005 after the indigenous Xukuru people reconquered their traditional territory. The colonisation process had destabilised the Xukuru way of life, jeopardising the viability of their agricultural systems, practices and knowledge. The collective took on the challenge of regenerating both the environment and the mind based on the principles of Lymolaygo Toype (Living Well) with the commitment to break away from the system of land exploitation left by the colonisation process.

    Jupago Kreká aim to coordinate processes that enable the identification of sustainable experiences among indigenous families, the systematisation of these practices and the socialisation of the results.

    Jupago’s main achievements to date are:

    • A community agreement to defend and regenerate 360 hectares from the Boa Vista Sacred Complex.
    • Planting over 5,000 trees every year, combined with environment regeneration actions using the principle of cosmo-nucleation founded on harmony among all beings visible or not. As a result, multiple springs returned to life, producing new creeks and even waterfalls never seen in the area by this generation.
    • Materialised the Jeti Radyah lab to prepare traditional medicines using local species, with free distribution to the community. It also opened a local solidarity store where the community can share with visitors the enchantment from medicines and local handicrafts.
    • Xukuru believe that humans are nature, therefore, the healing of nature is necessary for human healing. Jupago seeks the enchantment of life, which is achieved by actions which care for all the lives that surround them, taking care of nature for the Sacred Nature.

  3. Associação Rede de Sementes do Xingu

    Comments Off on Associação Rede de Sementes do Xingu

    Associação Rede de Sementes do Xingu (The Xingu Seeds Network Association) emerged in 2007 and became a non-profit association in 2014. It is based in the region of the Xingu River basin, in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

    The network is made up of:

    • More than 600 seed collectors.
    • Together, these collectors make up 26 groups of collectors. Of these 12 live in three different indigenous territories, seven are from family farming settlements, two are urban and five are mixed groups (with collectors from settlements and cities).

    The association was launched because the communities of the Xingu Indigenous Territory (TIX) had begun to experience the consequences of the fast and high rate of deforestation, especially in the rivers that supply the Territory. TIX chiefs began the Y Ikatu Xingu campaign to gain territorial planning, protect their water supplies and start reforestation through sowing native seeds and using agricultural machinery to increase scale.

    Its implementation generated a concrete demand for seeds for regional plantations, which led to the structuring of the Rede de Sementes do Xingu (Xingu Seeds Network), a network of community production of forest seeds that constituted a landmark for the union of different social actors in the region in favour of a common objective.

    It promotes actions that lead to solutions based on the precepts of Good Living.

    It has become increasingly autonomous and today:

    • Sells seeds
    • Records and updates data from collectors in official bodies
    • Actively participates in national and international projects to support its activities.

  4. The Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute

    Comments Off on The Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute

    The Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute was founded in 2018 and is led by Benki Piyãko, an indigenous and spiritual leader and environmental activist. The Institute works in the Upper Juruá Region and other parts of Brazil and Peru, as well as providing a model for the rest of the world.

    The Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute stands for the preservation and safeguarding of nature and traditional indigenous cultural heritage. Its mission is to transform degraded areas in the Amazon Forest into abundant, bio-diverse, self-sustaining ecosystems, safeguarding traditional ancient knowledge in all spheres of indigenous culture.

    The holistic view of the Institute includes five key elements:

    • Ecological – recovery and reforestation of degraded areas
    • Educational – training young leaders and empowering indigenous and non-indigenous communities to be future stewards of their territories
    • Social – creating new sustainable opportunities and ongoing income for local families
    • Cultural – safeguarding and giving visibility to traditional indigenous wisdom
    • Global – building a model for environmental regeneration of degraded areas that will be shared with community leaders around the world

    The Yorenka Tasorentsi team has:

    • Planted over two million trees over the past ten years, with the aim to plant two million more within the next four years.
    • Is currently protecting more than 1,000 ha of land in the municipality of Marechal Thaumaturgo, and recovering degraded areas, caused by cattle raising and illegal logging practices.

  5. Jupago Kreká Collective

    Comments Off on Jupago Kreká Collective

    The Jupago Kreká Collective was born in 2005 after the indigenous Xukuru people reconquered their traditional territory.

    The colonisation process had destabilised the Xukuru way of life, jeopardising the viability of their agricultural systems, practices and knowledge. The collective took on the challenge of regenerating both the environment and the mind based on the principles of Lymolaygo Toype (Living Well) with the commitment to break away from the system of land exploitation left by the colonisation process.

    Jupago Kreká aim to coordinate processes that enable the identification of sustainable experiences among indigenous families, the systematisation of these practices and the socialisation of the results.

    Jupago’s main achievements to date are:

    • A community agreement to defend and regenerate 360 hectares from the Boa Vista Sacred Complex.
    • Planting over 5,000 trees every year, combined with environment regeneration actions using the principle of cosmo-nucleation founded on harmony among all beings visible or not. As a result, multiple springs returned to life, producing new creeks and even waterfalls never seen in the area by this generation.
    • Materialised the Jeti Radyah lab to prepare traditional medicines using local species, with free distribution to the community. It also opened a local solidarity store where the community can share with visitors the enchantment from medicines and local handicrafts.

    Xukuru believe that humans are nature, therefore, the healing of nature is necessary for human healing. Jupago seeks the enchantment of life, which is achieved by actions which care for all the lives that surround them, taking care of nature for the Sacred Nature

  6. Meli Bees Network

    Comments Off on Meli Bees Network

    Meli Bees Network engages and strengthens communities developing regenerative practices in the Brazilian Amazon.

    Through what it calls “relationships of trust”, the network supports communities to maintain and/or further develop regenerative practices. The network aims to create positive impacts on local biodiversity, community resilience, education and cultural heritage protection, food sovereignty and economic security, community science and international visibility. Meli is inspired by the meliponini bees (stingless bee species native to tropical and subtropical regions around the globe) which through the production and gathering of their food provide vital ecosystem services that allow their habitat to thrive.

    Currently, Meli engages 30 communities (16 smallholder, 10 Indigenous and 4 Quilombola communities). With these communities, the network has:

    • Started regenerative agriculture in 35ha of previously degraded land
    • Started three native beekeeping areas with +100 beehives in total
    • Supported 10 indigenous villages (+500.000ha) to protect their primary forest
    • Developed multiple workshops on traditional storytelling, native beekeeping and regenerative agriculture.

    Meli Bees is a growing network and is open to welcome new communities which show an interest in developing regenerative activities. Meli Bees Network gUG is registered in Germany where it focuses on the development of a decolonial form of international cooperation, establishing international partnerships and fundraising. The organisation is also starting a global movement, as community leaders that met through Meli’s activities are now starting an independent Brazilian association that will strengthen their governance and autonomy.

  7. Instituto Janeraka

    Comments Off on Instituto Janeraka

    The Janeraka Institute was born in the Amazon region, Altamira, from the Awaete ancestry in the resistance of a population with less than 50 years of contact with the global society.

    Since then, the Awaete population has faced numerous psychosocial and ecological challenges, such as the consequences of genocide and ethnocide since the first contact, which has been increasing with the construction of hydroelectric power-plants, mining activities, culminating in one of the worst deforestations in the world, threatening the existence of the water peoples, land and forest, in the region and around the planet.

    Janeraka is an Awaete word meaning “neither mine nor yours, our house, and the house belongs to the one who takes care of it”. All of the Janeraka Institute’s activities are centred on strengthening the traditional Awaete culture and exchanging knowledge and practices with other forest peoples.

    The Janeraka Institute has co-created several projects, including:

    • The Awaete Agenda is a knowledge exchange program that seeks to reflect on the relationship flows between indigenous, non-indigenous, and other forest peoples, focusing on indigenous rights and ethics in relationships.
    • The Janereka Podcast Channel, to strengthen the practice of orality, awarded by Art Artivism.
    • The Kujy Ete Women’s Collective participated in an international exhibition of indigenous art (staged by an indigenous curator) called Ka’a Body: Cosmovision of the Rainforest and created two award-winning documentaries.
    • The Janereka Ryru is an Awaete multimedia collection platform designed to decolonize the Awaete heritage for use by the Awaete people themselves.

  8. Fundo Abraço

    Comments Off on Fundo Abraço

    Fundo Abraço is a project in São Paulo, Brazil. It works in three neighbourhoods: Vila Anglo, Jaraguá and Luz.

    The city of São Paulo is one of the largest and most unequal in the world. It suffers from a range of socio-environmental problems that especially affect low-income families. Vila Anglo is characterized as a “pocket of poverty” in the midst of more wealthy housing. Issues include unemployment, hunger, organised crime, and evictions because families are unable to pay bills and rent. The Jaraguá and Luz neighbourhoods similarly face problems, with significant unemployment and low incomes.

    Fundo Abraço’s solidarity fund and wider work seeks to reduce the cost of living, inequality and improve food security for low-income families. It distributes equipment such as ‘Fogão de Caixa’, a heat-retention cooker, and solar cookers. These can reduce the use of cooking gas by up to 75% – saving money and fossil fuels.

    Fundo Abraço’s work is solidarity-oriented, so it invites beneficiary families to contribute a fraction of the savings made with our equipment, so it can distribute more equipment free of charge and collectively share its benefits.

    In the future, it aims to work with a wider range of technologies that can:

    • Generate solar energy
    • Capture and treat greywater and rainwater for reuse
    • Heat water
    • Grow food.

  9. Meli Bees Network

    Comments Off on Meli Bees Network

    Meli Bees Network brings systemic regenerative support to the most endangered areas in the Amazon. They do so by working together with local traditional communities, engaging them in a Network of trust, where they can connect with other traditional communities to interact, share experiences and find support to develop regenerative practices.

    Meli already has members from more than 15 different groups of Amazonian traditional communities – Indigenous villages, quilombos and smallholder “assentamentos”. They aim to learn about their stories, local reality, wishes and skills – and from there find the best practices to work with. Meli also connects them with the needed technical and scientific support and provides the tools needed to develop the best practices to have a social and environmental positive impact, such as education, agroecology and native beekeeping.

    They hope to be able to reach hundreds of communities in the next five years, and at the same time develop a deep connection with each one of them.

  10. Associação Centro de Cultura Sabuká Kariri Xocó

    Comments Off on Associação Centro de Cultura Sabuká Kariri Xocó

    The Kariri-Xocó sleep and wake up fighting for their existence. Within their territory is a unique biome, the meeting of the Caatinga – the only exclusively Brazilian biome – with the Atlantic Forest. Their village is located on the banks of the Opará, the São Francisco River in Brazil. Yet, even so, their lands and plants are dry because the river suffers.

    The Centro de Cultura Sabuká Kariri-Xocó was born with the mission of fighting for the preservation of their life and that of all the beings that live there. It gathers children, young people and elders to be together, as their ancestors did. In addition to nurturing culture, they plant community gardens, harvest and feed themselves in groups of up to 100 people a day, and hold their Torés, dialogues, games, football and other activities.

    They dream of taking back ancestral memory and guaranteeing food, collective work, union and the strengthening of their culture. With this project they see a great possibility of survival for their ethnic group and village. It provides the hope of resistance for their people.

Sign up to the mailing list