Ethno-Environment Protection of Isolated Peoples in the Brazilian Amazon

Partners

• Centro de Trabalho Indigenista (CTI)
• Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI)

Extensive areas of the Amazon region still remain that are occupied by indigenous groups that have little or no outside contact. These so-called "Isolated Indians" have remained geographically, socially and culturally isolated from Brazilian society. There are currently records of 68 isolated peoples in the Brazilian Amazon mostly concentrated in trans-frontier zones, thereby requiring international cooperation and complementary legal frameworks to guarantee their protection. The physical, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and cosmological particularities of isolated Indians are a precious human patrimony that is under a growing array of threats. Protecting this patrimony requires protecting the extensive areas that Isolated Indians occupy, opening up enormous opportunities for environmental protection.

The proposed project is focused in three so-called Ethno-ecological Protection Fronts located in the Javari river valley in western Amazonas near the border with Peru, in the mid-Purus river valley located in southern Amazonas and the Madeirinha river valley located in southern Amazonas and northern Mato Grosso.

The project's objective is to implement and consolidate a System of Protection of Lands inhabited by Isolated Indians in the Brazilian Amazon. In the geographic areas of focus, the project's three expected results are:

1. The protection of Isolated Indians is consolidated and enlarged.

2. The institutional capacity of the implementing institutions is strengthened, and the knowledge of local populations about Isolated Indians and natural resource management is improved;

3. Practices and policies aimed at guaranteeing the integrity of Isolated Indians is improved due to lessons generated by this project.

This project is based on nearly a 10-year public-private partnership. Each partner brings complementary strengths to the table. Building on Brazil's indigenous agency's long and solid tradition of working with Isolated Indians, the General Coordination of Isolated Indians (CGII/FUNAI) is widely recognized for its highly dedicated and competent field staff. Its NGO partner, the Center for Indigenous Work (CTI), also brings to the table in-depth experience of working with Isolated Indians.