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.