Biodiversity
A Case Study with Amazon Yawanawas
Biodiversity
Continuing to raise funds for emergency support enables us to continue responding in moments of crisis.
Results.
Upon learning from our partners of the dire situation in the Amazon (Elders and children even putting out fires with their bare hands), this project received an emergency support grant, through which $36,000 was sent to the tribe to purchase several boats and other equipment needed to safeguard the community and the wildlife in the area and to eradicate fires.
Background.
In 2019, fires erupted in the Amazon destroying thousands of acres of habitat and threatening the Indigenous people of these lands as well as animals and all life. It is believed that—motivated by greed—these fires were deliberately set by the government to clear space for more industry to be able to enter the region. While fires in the Amazon are not new, the extent to which the fires moved throughout the region was alarming and devastating to the local communities and to life in the region.
Methods.
Indigenous Cultural Practitioners and Elders are at grave risk at the moment—not only their lands but their very lives and their traditional ways of living are at stake due to corporate expansion and the taking of their lands, to religious extremism and more. The threat is imminent and real. Several Elders in the network were murdered in recent years. Through networking and relationship building over many years, a true level of trust has developed through the partnership.
