Brazil

Protecting rainforest by helping indigenous people
Last year Brazil lost 18,000 sq km of forest, equivalent to 50 sq km per day. Strengthening indigenous communities is one of the best hopes of preserving extensive tracts of forest for generations to come. At the Yawanawa’s request, Rainforest Concern have been working with the Commissao Pro-Indio (CPI) on a series of initiatives to preserve the Yawanawa language and culture, to improve their water supply and protect their land. With two major road developments taking place in the state of Acre, it is about to lose its physical isolation, which has until this time been the greatest force for conservation.

As external pressures mount, the renaissance of the Yawanawa culture and the increase in population arising from improved diet and better medical facilities make the expansion of their defined territory ever more important.

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