Why The Amazon?

Apetina Schoolchildren Take Part in Primary Exams: Building the Future of Indigenous Children

2011-07-19T12:37:00.001-04:00

Editor’s Note: In her role as communications and information coordinator for the Amazon Conservation Team Suriname, Karin Lachmising works with ACT’s indigenous colleagues to capture their stories and share the great work being done in Suriname’s remote indigenous villages.

This month, for the first time, seventeen children from the indigenous village of Apetina in southwest Suriname will participate in the primary school exams. I sat down with the man who made this all possible, headmaster Arnold Arupa, who came to Apetina six years ago to act as headmaster of the first primary school in the village.

In early days, the missionaries held classes in reading and calculating, lessons that were given in the Wayana language. When Arnold started with a group of the best children in the first grade, his mission was to prepare them to finish the primary school curriculum. It was his goal to prepare them for the exams and he guided them for five years thoroughly.

Although Dutch is the official language, the children found it easier to learn when the official school started as they already had done some basics in their own indigenous Wayana language. This made it easier for them to understand the different subjects such as calculating, spelling and grammar. The hardest subjects for the children were geography and history. Headmaster Arupa had to use all his creativity to bring the information closer to the children and to make them like it.

“It is not easy, when you’ve never been out of the village, to learn about things like the Caribbean, the islands, trucks, ships and roads,” shares headmaster Arupa. “But I am confident that this group is ready for their exams.”

When they finished the first grade, Arnold asked the Ministry of Education for permission to allow the best 20 children to skip a class, because they had done very well, and he guided them as the “exam team.” The children on the team range in age from 12 to 19 years old.

“Now they are ready for it,” he says. “And I am very proud. Almost the whole group is still together; only three children left the group of 20.”

We have a beautiful building now with four teachers from town and one local teacher. I think these children can set an example that it is really possible to succeed at school. I asked Arnold: What they will do after they have succeeded?

“This is a difficult step for all of the children in the interior of Suriname,” Arnold responds. “For further education they have to go to town, there is no other possibility. Sometimes family takes them in, but most of them have to stay in boarding school, which is for most families not financially or socially manageable.”

For now, Arnold concentrates on the exams, the first step to the children’s futures. When the children were asked what they want to become in the future, they answered with a wide range of jobs, but all have a link with their own environment: a pilot, a nurse and most of them, a teacher. One of the children, when asked a few times, said with some hesitation but with an inner confident spirit that he wanted to be a doctor.

“The grades so far have been the best of the interior,” says Arnold proudly. “So I am quite confident they have a good chance.”

It seems headmaster Arnold is even more nervous than the children.

“I know,” he says, with a big smile. “But I really want them all to succeed. I’ve worked such a long time with these kids and I admire them for the effort they and their families at home took to keep on coming to school and learn in an environment which is so very different from what you learn in your schoolbooks.”

Karin Lachmising

Amazon Conservation Team, Suriname

Communication & Information Coordinator

Witness to the First United Assembly of Male and Female Healers of the Colombian Eastern Andean Amazon

2011-05-19T10:30:00.000-04:00

To have witnessed a historic event of great importance to traditional medicine is an honor that can hardly go unnoticed in the life of a human being.

From March 20 to 23, 2011, in the community of Mocoa in the Colombian department of Putumayo, members of the Union of Indigenous Yagé Healers of the Colombian Amazon (UMIYAC) and the Women's Indigenous Medicine Association (ASOMI) assembled together for the first time. They held both concurrent and independent sessions to address issues of concern to both groups. I was fortunate enough to have been invited to observe.

A primary point of concern for both groups was the misuse of their traditional medicine that is occurring in many places, as well as the ongoing irresponsible commercialization of their knowledge by both indigenous and non-indigenous persons.

The message that they wish to disseminate to the world is that the virtuous practice of traditional indigenous medicine must comply with the cultural rules and traditions in which it is fostered. This means, among other things, that it must be the elders, the recognized knowledge-keepers, who give consent to this practice; that their traditional medicine must be performed in appropriate settings, that is, cultural and environmental conditions that ensure the "cleansing" of space; that the origin of the plants employed must be known with certainty, so that they have not been exposed to pollution of any kind; and that the musical instruments and songs employed are those belonging to the local cultural tradition.

The healers stressed that the worthy producers of the “remedy" are those that are supported by and are rooted in their communities. In contrast, those who are engaged in the distribution of medicine in a city without being in real contact with their natural environment are considered charlatans and “knowledge-mongers” who endanger the lives of their patients as well as the good name of traditional medicine.

The healers’ reflections and communications reinforce the importance of protecting both their lands and their culture. To keep their medicine alive, it is necessary not only to ensure that their youth engage in the study of plants (through an apprenticeship program), but also to protect and restore the territory in which this medicine was born, and to ensure that the state and its institutions provide the means to make certain that the culture and territories are respected and possess the proper conditions for their survival in the future.

As I mentioned at the beginning, having witnessed this new stage in the growth of these organizations is an honor for which I thank the generosity of the shamans and mamas present at the meeting. I received their concerns and enjoyed their conversations as well as the kindness of their healing and medicine. Now, I have both a personal and institutional commitment to support efforts so that this medicine and ancestral knowledge may continue to bring well-being to humanity.

Jose Pablo Jaramillo
Amazon Conservation Team Colombia

Improving Food Security and Economic Opportunities in the Amazon

2011-04-07T15:10:00.000-04:00

On April 22, environmentalists around the world will celebrate Earth Day. Our indigenous partners in the Amazon celebrate their land and its preservation every day as they strive to maintain their cultures and the rainforests in which they live.

Over the last several months, our indigenous colleagues and ACT staff in Colombia have collaborated with more than one hundred community leaders to promote integrated sustainable development in the Alto Fragua Indi Wasi National Park in the northwestern Amazon. Through training workshops, ACT is encouraging the region's communities - including non-indigenous farmers - to share farming techniques that improve the planting and maintenance of family gardens, as well as pasturing livestock with a sustainable approach that has less impact on the forest.

As part of our commitment to this important project, ACT Colombia recently delivered seeds, equipment and other materials used in the preparation of organic fertilizers to the communities for the planting of 124 family gardens and 44 plant nurseries.

Additionally, in Suriname, ACT staff is helping the rainforest community of Kwamalasamutu (Kwah-mah-lah-sah-MOO-too) to develop an immunity-boosting tea for the market. ACT provided training in plant propagation and cultivation, food safety, marketing, business planning, bookkeeping, and project administration. We are happy to report that production facilities are being constructed, and a management plan is under development.

Through these ongoing sustainable development activities, ACT and our indigenous partners in the Amazon are working to ensure the preservation of one of the Earth's most sacred forests--one whose survival may determine how hospitable an Earth we leave for our children and their children. Here's to celebrating Earth Day every day!

Surui Tribe Launches Carbon Fund

2010-12-13T13:41:00.001-05:00

As I return from the United Nations Climate Conference (COP16), I'm happy to share that there is some good news coming out of Cancún despite all the media headlines of stalled conversations. ACT is working on very concrete projects that will have a direct impact on the implementation of policies regarding the reduction of carbon emissions in the rainforests of South America.

ACT has taken the lead in creating coalitions of NGOs and indigenous peoples to design and implement effective land management solutions, and now is working with its partners to ensure that these solutions can be applied broadly - both on the ground, and also to positively impact the policy negotiations and implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and REDD+. ACT is an integral part of the discussions surrounding the design of these methods where the results generated on the ground will help to shape how these solutions can potentially be implemented on an international scale.

I joined Chief Almir of the Surui Tribe in Brazil at COP16 in his announcement of the launch of the Surui Carbon Fund. The Fund-created by the Surui with help from the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO)-will enable the indigenous community to manage the funds derived from the marketing of their carbon credits. The Surui will be responsible for fund financial management as well as implementation of their self-created management plan for their 600,000-acre reserve in Rondônia, Brazil.

The Surui Carbon Project is an initiative led by the Surui and involves expert NGOs including Kanindé, Forest Trends, FUNBIO, and the Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Amazon. The project uses two forms of carbon offset: avoided deforestation and conservation through carbon stocks, as measured through the REDD mechanism; and carbon sequestration through reforestation. The impact of the project will go far beyond the Surui and will bring new alternatives in the management of indigenous lands to other indigenous groups worldwide.

Vasco van Roosmalen

Director, Amazon Conservation Team Brazil

Brazilian Drought Continues to Impact Amazonian People

2010-12-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

You may have recently read some of the articles in the news about the major drought occurring in the Brazilian Amazon. Disasters like this make it more challenging for our indigenous partners to protect their ancestral lands. This months-long drought has eliminated food supplies, basic building materials, and plant-based medicines upon which many of the indigenous groups in the northern and western Amazon depend.

For fifteen years, ACT has been pointing out the clear and unbreakable link between healthy forests and human well-being. In the Amazon, the destruction of the forest itself precipitates both major droughts and fires, with associated human misery and deep economic costs for tens of millions of people.

Despite this news, we continue our innovative community-based approach to conservation--in true partnership with our indigenous colleagues--which not only addresses global issues like climate change, but also helps alleviate poverty and find lasting solutions that work at the local level.

Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.
President, Amazon Conservation Team

Indigenous Culture Lessons for Surinamese Schoolchildren

2010-11-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

In Suriname, one of ACT’s focus areas is to bring greater awareness of indigenous culture to the capital city of Paramaribo. To do this, we created the Wapono Pakoro Indigenous Day Project. The project’s focus is on knowledge exchange between the Trio and Wayana tribes and schoolchildren in Paramaribo. The project involved educational, hands-on, and showcase events for the schoolchildren.

The event kicked off in July 2010 with three elementary and technical schools in Paramaribo learning about indigenous culture and building scale models of traditional indigenous houses. This project is a follow-up to a recent publication, Wapono Pakoro: Traditional Indigenous Architecture of the Trio and Wayana in Southern Suriname, and is funded by the Dutch Embassy in Suriname, reflecting the theme “respect for different cultures.”

In partnership with an architecture team, indigenous park guards of Kwamalasamutu (an indigenous village in the remote southern interior of the country), held workshops for the technical schools to share their knowledge about materials used to build houses and the indigenous wave-and-bind construction techniques.

For two months, with assistance from ACT staff, children ranging from 9-12 years old and their teachers worked on building a village model. Simultaneously, children of the technical school tested their architecture skills by building three traditional indigenous houses: a clay house, a wooden house, and a bamboo house. The replicas were built at 50 percent scale by students in the 14-18 year age group.

The event wrapped up in August when the house models were on exhibit during the Indigenous Day weekend for all to see. We also invited local artists to share their work focusing on the indigenous people. Paul Woei, a famous Surinamese visual artist, displayed his sculptures and paintings of the nation’s indigenous peoples. Charles Chang, a local photographer and journalist, displayed pictures of the Trio (Suriname) and Xingu (Brazil) tribes.

To capture such a monumental event, we created a DVD which can be viewed by other schools to promote their own cultures. As I write, one replica, the clay hut, as well as one village model have been adopted by the Villa Zapakara children’s museum in Paramaribo.

It was very special to watch these young children work together with indigenous peoples on such an inspiring project. I’ve included pictures of some of the final pieces of work from the project.

Karin Lachmising

Amazon Conservation Team, Suriname

Communication & Information Coordinator

Backyard Observations – Spiders

2010-10-28T10:22:00.036-04:00

Editor’s Note: Author, illustrator, passionate conservationist and all-around cool lady, Janell Cannon is best-known for classic books like Stella Luna and Verdi – works that focus on what some consider “creepy critters,” but Janell uses her unique skill to show us the beauty and wonder of all creatures. ACT is greatly privileged to have Janell as both a friend and member of our Advisory Board — she is a fascinating person with an awesome sense of humor, love of nature and inquisitive mind. She shares her observations of nature and the wonders that we can find in our own homes, if only we paid better attention. We asked Janell for permission to share some of her findings and photographs that document fabulous aspects of common wildlife right in our own backyard, of which many of us are unaware. Enjoy!

I first noticed her yesterday, bundled in a branch of a plum tree. She is just short of an inch long in this bunched-up form, so she's big. I noticed she had a nice big orb-web stretched between the branches nearby, and the main anchor point was attached to the ground near the base of the tree so that her web would be oriented in a vertical plane. The ground anchor seemed a bit vulnerable to disruption, and by this afternoon, I noticed that her web had been destroyed.

I knew come nightfall she'd rebuild, and so I went out to watch. Since she no longer had the ground anchor, she made do with the branches around her--all of which leaned steeply outward, offering no easy way to build a web at the optimum vertical angle. She began to weave the web at a nearly 45 degree angle.

Soon enough, she finished and settled in the center to wait for dinner. I wondered if this oddly slanted trap would be effective. So, I checked back in about two hours and she had a nearly-devoured prey in her clasp. Everything was covered in fine dew and she was sparkling.

Janell Cannon
Author and Illustrator
ACT Advisory Board Member

Inga Education: An Innovative Model Enjoys National Recognition

2010-10-11T21:44:00.003-04:00

Through our work at ACT, we see education as a pillar, a powerful tool for change. We usually take for granted education as instruction that one receives within four walls, but for indigenous groups, education is much broader than that, contrasting with western ways of acquiring knowledge.

In Colombia, western education systems have been one of the most aggressive means of acculturation among indigenous groups, in many cases making communities abandon their traditional rituals, dress and language. Nevertheless, Colombian constitutional rights since 1991 and the national compliance with Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization have allowed indigenous communities to develop an educational model that responds to their particular needs, values, and traditions as well as their social, economic and cultural desires.

It has taken many years for national legislation and policies to become effective and for indigenous communities to create their own institutions as well as the means to develop a curriculum appropriate for the Colombian intercultural context.

In this regard, we have some great news to share! Recently, the Colombian government approved the national contracting (funding) of the Yachaicury Ethno-Education School of the Inga indigenous community of the department of Caquetá to continue providing education that meets both national quality standards and indigenous traditional ways of learning. To this development, I wish to say
hallelujah! This certification is of immense importance for the recognition of indigenous rights in our country.

Because of the absence of suitable education for their youth, the Inga community of the Caquetá has developed a curriculum structured to provide coursework embracing traditional knowledge such as traditional medicine and forest stewardship, in addition to standard “western” subject matter. The Inga community has determined that new generations must be educated under the guidance of their traditional authorities, many of whom carry expert knowledge of the surrounding forests and their diversity.

At the School, approximately 80 Inga students, 5 to 18 years old, participate in training courses emphasizing sustainable agriculture, and record ancestral knowledge in their native language. Located on 136 acres, the school grounds include a natural sciences laboratory and an agro-ecological farm where the students learn firsthand the sustainable farming techniques that allow them to grow their own food, contribute to the food resources of the surrounding communities, and provide an economic base for their institution.

The Yachaicury School is the first Inga school in Colombia and the first indigenous school in the Caquetá department to receive this very important political recognition. I’ve included a video clip which highlights some of the School’s educational aspects.

Javier Ortiz Bahamón
Colombia Program Director
Amazon Conservation Team

Biodiversity and Health

2010-09-30T10:15:00.001-04:00

The United Nations declared 2010 the "International Year of Biodiversity." We naturally are very gratified that this subject has been given such prominence, since the conservation of rainforest biodiversity has been a primary goal of the Amazon Conservation Team since our founding 15 years ago.

One of the most unique, creative, and passionate experts on the subject of biodiversity is physician Christopher Herndon, a longtime friend and ACT colleague. Chris received his medical training at Yale and Harvard and from the shamans of the northern Amazon – the latter he is quick to cite as particularly formative to his development as a physician and his understanding of healing.

Chris recently teamed up with another leading spokesman for conservation – journalist Rhett Butler, who publishes the extraordinary website www.mongabay.com – to pen a commentary for the influential journal Biotropica. Read the full article here. I think you will find it both insightful and informative.

Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.

President, Amazon Conservation Team

Brazilian Independence Day

2010-09-27T09:49:00.000-04:00

September 7 represents Brazilian Independence Day and also the date (in 1969) when the Surui Indians left the forest for the first time and made contact with the outside world. Surui
Chief Almir says that on the date that
marks Brazilian Independence, the Surui lost theirs.

In 2009, to mark 40 years of contact, the Surui were invited for the first time to participate in the traditional Independence Day Parade in Cacoal. Considered a success by all, they were invited back to the 2010 festivities. The mayor had t-shirts printed marking 41 years of contact, and more than 250 Surui – outfitted in traditional dress – participated in the parade. Both elderly and Surui children participated in force demonstrating different aspects of their culture and history. The last visions of Surui in traditional dress walking the streets of Cacoal are from 40 years ago.

I’ve included a few pictures of the Surui surrounding the mayor of Cacoal and handing him tree saplings from their reforestation project as well as the Surui map of their territory. The mayor raised both items high and praised the Surui for their strength and contributions. This is truly remarkable considering Cacoal has an economy dependent, in many ways, on illegal logging; and that only five years ago, Almir had to flee the region because of his work to stop the illegal logging of the Surui territory.

Like the first Diahui traditional festival, this is a very visual and concrete example of indigenous peoples taking control of their own destiny, changing their fate, and demonstrating that they can thrive.

ACT and its partners are at the heart of many of these results.

Vasco van Roosmalen
ACT Brazil Program Director

Colombia Women's Programs

2010-09-16T14:58:00.003-04:00

Editor’s Note: As Vice President of Programs, Liliana assists ACT’s in-country colleagues. As part of that role, she helps cultivate women’s programs that build esteem and advance human rights among women across Amazonia. In this post, Liliana describes her experience at a recent women’s gathering organized by the Union of Women Healers (ASOMI) of the eastern Andean Amazon.

My trips to Colombia are generally very short, never enough time to really visit projects, sit for unscheduled chats over “tintos” (small cups of freshly brewed Colombian coffee), that can go several hours. This summer, determined to share a bit of my work with my daughter Annie, and our friends Stephanie and Hannah Dodson, we set out to the Valle de Sibundoy – a lovely highland region where ACT has projects. We focused on the work of ASOMI – a group of indigenous women – all either shamans, healers or simply really wise old ladies, who are struggling to strengthen their families, communities, and traditional medicine. A small component includes their “chagras” – small gardens where they grow their medicine and nourishment. Nothing is more important to them since they derive so much for their overall physical, emotional, and spiritual health. ACT’s support helps them with the very basics so they can continue to keep that which means so much. I don’t think there is a need for a translation of mama Carmencita explaining why the chagra is so important – is her joy contagious or what?

- Liliana Madrigal
Amazon Conservation Team
VP of Programs

Amazon Rainforest: "The World's Heart"

2010-09-10T16:26:00.004-04:00

Editor's Note: Dr. Sara Bennett is a biologist who leads a small NGO, Maikuchiga, in Colombia’s Amacayacu National Park that operates a rescue center for orphaned animals. The Park, in the nation’s Amazonas state, is traversed by the Amazon River. This post is one in a series from Dr. Bennett. Post originally developed May 5, 2010.

After the epic battle with the bees, the toucans seem not to be nesting this year.

It’s always trickier perceptually to notice an absence than a presence, something NOT happening that’s part of one’s peripheral normalness. I finally twigged on this, and after registering my own observation and confirming it with the guys, then noticing that I’m disappointed, began to wonder in background mode, How come?

On the front porch, holding Rosie, the long-tailed, adolescent spider monkey (who is really a little too big for this but didn’t have enough hugs earlier in her life so we’re doing some catch-up), a nice soft, wiggly solidness centering the universe for a moment in my arms, I was aware as well of all the colors of the early morning forest around us.

It’s usually hard to see the trees because of the forest here, but lots of species have new leaves right now and for a few days each one is distinct in hue and overall effect (it’s lovely, thank you world, nicely done). Then I suddenly get what’s going on with the toucans. This year it’s about new leaves, not fruit.

I seem to be mostly cheerfully oblivious of a lot of stuff until I experience something entirely different and start noticing what I’d taken for granted and asking, so what’s going on? The seasons, for instance. You don’t have to pay much attention to notice the seasons changing in New England (just go to the drugstore). Even outside, the changes are pretty obvious even for someone like me. Oh, it’s cold. Oh, it’s hot. Oh, it’s snowing. Oh, there are all these nice leaves to shuffle through. Oh, the robins are back.

In equatorial regions, we get seasons, too. But it’s not about temperature, at least not to the same degree. It’s about rainfall. We’re not in the rainiest part of the Amazon, but even here people joke, “In summer, it rains every day; in winter, it rains all day”. And the river goes up and down – a lot: the difference between high-water and low-water averages 13 meters, and we’re hundreds of kilometers from the Atlantic.

It’s pretty easy to notice the difference when you live in the floodplain. Last year, for instance, the water came right up to the floor (the house is built on three-meter stilts); when a pequepeque (the people’s long-tailed motorboat) went by in the creek, the wake came sloshing up through the cracks in the floor. Each time this happened, the dog stood on guard and barked to make it go away.

The difference makes a huge difference to all players in the game - plants, animals, and people. As little as a centimeter higher or lower in water level in the river translates horizontally to who knows how many (LOTS OF) square kilometers of forest that is—or isn’t—flooded. And that translates to all those fishes who do – or do not – have access to all those fruits that fall and therefore will—or will not—make lots of baby fish to make their way up the food chain. And, for the plants, if it’s a good thing or not for your fruits to be eaten (and the seeds digested or dispersed) by fishes or not. Normally there is a huge peak of fruit as the water rises and the flooded forest is the place to be. Sometimes where a monkey troop is going at it in a fruit crop, there’ll be all sorts of other critters attracted to the activity— frugivorous birds taking advantage of all those keen monkey eyes watching out for and warning about predators; insectivorous birds ditto for the vigilant eyes plus all the big insects fleeing monkeys; fish taking advantage of all the fruits, insects, and other canopy flotsam and jetsam (monkeys tend to be messy eaters); herons, kingfishers, piscivorous fish, dolphins, and human fishermen piling on to the general feeding frenzy.

My interpretation of all the new leaves right now is that the trees didn’t get the appropriate cue from the physical world (more likely a set of cues) to flower this time around, and the pulse of nutrients in the water, when it finally came, has been invested in growth and maintenance instead (new leaves, that is). Likewise, the toucans, which are frugivores and reproduce when there is an abundance of fruit crops. I wouldn’t be surprised if the toucans are growing new feathers right now in a Plan B of their own.

There is hardly any long-term empirical information about phenological (seasonal) patterns in tropical rainforests. My own operative hypothesis is that there are complex combinations of temperature and moisture cues that trigger different enzyme pathways in the bud meristems for leaf abscission, leaf growth, or flower development. Each species’ unique and fine-tuned response to these physical variables results in the temporal synchronization of the population. The overall ecosystem phenology is a higher-order consequence of individual species physiologies. Moreover, my impression is that the physical world is running the show, in which the plants respond to the weather cues and the animals respond to plant cues. (As in, I’m speculating that the toucans aren’t nesting this year because there’s less than critical mass of fruit available.)

The Amazon is often referred to (mostly by the regional tourist industry) as the “pulmón del mundo” (the world’s lungs). I prefer “the world’s heart” as a metaphor, because the Amazon forest acts as a heat pump that transfers heat from the equator to higher latitudes as part of the overall powering mechanism of global air and water currents. And, as the saying goes, “What goes ‘round, comes ‘round.” The Amazon’s climate is, in turn, determined primarily by these global air and water currents. Secondarily there is an internal feedback mechanism from the forest itself – rainfall within the Amazon basin depends on intact forest; it rains less where there has been massive deforestation. Heard about tipping points? There’s a big field experiment going on to find out which massive new soybean/sugar cane/oil palm biofuel crop in Brazil will be the one that turns off the Gulf Stream. Not to mention the toucans.

Dr. Sara Bennett

Traditional Diahui Festival

2010-09-03T11:10:00.002-04:00

Traditional Diahui Festival

Like the Kaxuyana of northern Brazil and the communities of the Middle Rio Negro region, the Diahui people of the western Brazilian Amazon built a central maloca (roundhouse) for the first time in many decades. ACT, the Brazilian NGO Kanindé, the Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil, and USAID supported the construction of the maloca as well as the first traditional festival that the Diahui have held in almost half a century, taking place in the third week of August. They danced, sang and played their flutes for two days straight. All food and dress was traditional. It was quite an experience being part of this ceremony.

Until the mid-1990's, just a few Diahui remained and lived spread out in other tribal villages or even the city. Thanks to the leadership of one Diahui, they were able to reconstitute their community and gain territorial recognition. Today, there are approximately 70 Diahui who live in one village on their traditional lands.

New Central Maloca

The Trans-Amazon Highway (Porto Velho-Santarem-Belem) passes straight through their village, and they have set up a toll booth to collect fees from passing trucks and cars to compensate the community for the road and its impacts. The impact of the road and access to the outside world has in many ways been disastrous, but these people really have pulled back from the brink. Today, they have a functioning association, which is receiving independent funding as well as support from Kanindé and the Moore Foundation, and they are implementing a diagnostic survey implemented jointly by Kanindé and ACT, a cultural mapping project (idem), a vigilance plan and park guard training all funded by USAID. The Diahui also wish to commence a REDD carbon project in the near future.

I have included a photo that was taken off a bridge from the Trans-Amazon Highway on the way to the Diahui lands. This photograph is of a member of the Piraha tribe, which is still nomadic, speaks almost no Portuguese and who live close to the road and the Diahui. This tribe was almost wiped out by missionaries and has fought to retain their culture and nomadic lifestyle.

Vasco van Roosmalen
ACT Brazil Program Director

Belo Monte Dam Complex

2010-09-01T10:17:00.001-04:00

Since 1999, ACT has supported the tribes of Brazil’s 6.5-million acre Xingu Indigenous Reserve in their efforts to formulate land management plans and to acquire the necessary technical and administrative skills to assume full responsibility for their conservation and sustainable development activities. Recently, international attention has been drawn to the region due to the likely highly negative impacts of the proposed Belo Monte Dam Complex on the Xingu’s people and ecology. To understand why this matter is of such great urgency, watch the new Google Earth tour and YouTube video “Defending the Rivers of the Amazon” by Amazon Watch and International Rivers.

Picturing the Brazil Forest Fires

2010-08-18T16:31:00.000-04:00

Editor's Note: Yesterday we shared a post from Frederico Schlottfeldt on the Brazil forest fires in our Brazil office. Today we share a direct encounter of the fires from our Brazil Director. In mid-August 2010, ACT-Brazil Director Vasco van Roosmalen traveled via the BR-364 road in the Brazilian state of Rondônia between the population centers of Cacoal and Porto Velho. The area represents one of the great remaining Amazonian frontier regions, and is susceptible to forest fires, many created intentionally to clear land.

Vasco documented the air effects of these fires:

“It is hard to capture in a photo just how much smoke from forest fires is covering the area. It has been really bad for almost a week now. These pictures were taken on the outskirts of Cacoal, where Metareila, the association of the indigenous Surui people is located.

We are in the middle of the Amazon, where there just isn't enough industry and there are not enough cars to create smog like this over such a large area. The sky in these pictures should be full blue...there is not a cloud in the sky.”

Vasco van Roosmalen
ACT Brazil Director

Increasing Forest Fires in Rondonia, Brazil

2010-08-17T15:52:00.003-04:00

For more than a week, a cover of smoke in the sky around the Brazilian state of Rondonia has drawn the attention of residents and visitors. Fires have increased significantly in the local forests. One of the hardest hit regions is between Porto Velho and Cacoal.

Smoke over Rondonia

The situation in Rondonia resembles that of other regions of the country. According to the National Institute of Space Research, fires in Brazil increased 85 percent in 2010. The research was based on the time period from January 1 through August 12. A recent article published by Folha de São Paulo, one of the most recognized newspapers in Brazil cited that 25,999 fires occurred during this period compared to 14,019 in 2009. Studies conducted by researchers from the Institute of Physics of São Paulo´s University (USP), and financed by Fapesp, found that the air quality in the Amazon during this period, due to fires, is worse than the air of São Paulo.

The states of Brazil with the largest number of fires were Mato Grosso (6,693); Tocantins (4,210); Pará (2,526); and Bahia (2,020). In 2010, Mato Grosso has experienced a 91percent increase in fires.

For over a decade, ACT has been pointing out the clear and unbreakable link between healthy forest and human health. In the southwest Amazon, the destruction of the forest has brought drought, fires, airport closures, economic costs and human misery.

Frederico Schlottfeldt
ACT Brazil
Communications Coordinator

Environmental Education

2010-08-13T10:14:00.001-04:00

Editor's Note: Dr. Sara Bennett is a biologist who leads a small NGO, Maikuchiga, in Colombia’s Amacayacu National Park that operates a rescue center for orphaned animals. The Park, in the nation’s Amazonas state, is traversed by the Amazon River. This post is one in a series from Dr. Bennett. Post originally developed February 6, 2010.

Saturday morning, Animals House. Claudia, the littlest, special-needs woolly monkey, is a nice warm, fast asleep, softly snoring, getting better lump on my lap. It’s raining quietly outside, with no drama. The river’s rising.

Dr. Sara Bennett with manatee

There is no crisis at the moment and no one’s being bad (Aladino having just fixed the hole one of the squirrel monkeys either made or found to get into the kitchen and make a big mess). A faraway hoodoo pigeon is calling “hoo doo, hoo doo.” Lo, the spirit moves.

A friend from Palmeras, the community just upriver, told us last week that there was a woolly monkey in Eugenio’s house that was probably the aforementioned Surba. Jhon and I went up to check it out. It checked out and we’re concerned again. They’d come across her in the woods about a two hour walk away, and either she came back with them or they brought her back and was with them a few days in their house. They left the house alone on Sunday and she was gone when they came back. The upriver communities think woolly monkeys are delicious and fair game. The four downriver communities think woolly monkeys are delicious and have agreed not to hunt them. We have spread the word that if someone helps us round her up (alive), the reward will be better than one monkey stew.

So, ahem, Topic for the Day here: environmental education in acculturated indigenous communities. Whatever does this mean and how do you do whatever it is? Without being Right, culturally insensitive, overbearing, arrogant, well-meaning, out-of-context, irrelevant, disrespectful … There are a lot of reasons to let this be someone else’s responsibility. Someone Else hasn’t shown up.

[Time Out.]

Somebody showed up. María Gasca – they’re going to saw wood to fix up their kitchen today; she came to pick up some lubricant I brought back from Leticia for the chainsaw. “How’re the kids?” “ Good, but Germán (2^nd grade) doesn’t know how to take care of his stuff— it’s only the first week of school and he’s already lost a pen and an eraser.” As in, they go out for recess and when they get back, useful items are gone. I protest and say this is a structural problem: if the kids don’t have any place they can safely leave things, then … not to mention that if the kids are stealing from one another the first week of school when EACH of them got a nice kit of supplies (plenty of pencils and erasers to go around) on Monday from the monkey interpreter group … the trouble is bigger than just Germán being heedless. She says the teacher says it’s impossible to fix, not his problem. Shrugs her shoulders and heads off to her project.

This drives me nuts.

The week before school started, we (the national park team) organized a workshop for the teachers from the eight communities closest to the park. The Ministry of Education decreed a few years ago that each school in the country should have an Environmental Education Project (PRAE) as a transverse curricular organizing principle; haven’t been there or done that yet around here. The UN General Assembly declared 2010 The Year of Biodiversity.

So we called the workshop Biophilia: the Love for Nature. The general subject matter: biodiversity, traditional culture, multiple intelligences. It was pretty good; each school came up with a theme. We changed the general name from Environmental Education Project to Environmental Philosophy of Education (FAE) to emphasize that recycling trash—the typical PRAE, which typically fails to spark anybody’s imagination—isn’t necessarily the ideal PRAE. The name for their FAE is Naãneküé, meaning “Mother Earth” in Tikuna. There was a long discussion about whether it should be Mother Forest or Mother Earth; they chose the more all-inclusive term.

Carlos Rodríguez—the charismatic Director of TROPENBOS-Colombia and originator and academic/professional champion of the “dialogue of ways of knowing” approach to education, conservation, and natural resources management in the Colombian Amazon—led a discussion about how traditional Amazonian culture expresses beautifully each of the “multiple intelligences” (the list of intelligences we were considering: mathematical, linguistic, kinesthetic, visual, musical, spatial, and emotional).

Some background: The Catholic Church was the subcontractor for education in the Colombian Amazon until about 10 years ago. This implies a certain way of perceiving and organizing how the world should be and what/how children should learn. Since then, there has been more awareness in the communities about the value of “ethnoeducation”, without much consensus about what this should look like or what the results should be. Most schoolteachers in the communities around the park are either white people from Leticia, or those from the communities who were successful under the ancien régime. To cast asparagus, the general quality of education here is…dreadful. Little emphasis on problem-solving, creativity, conceptual tools of any stripe (i.e., the best of “white” education) and little of what would have been a traditional education (i.e., watching and doing with parents and family in everything, everywhere).

So it’s a really good sign that the teachers were receptive and enthusiastic. Only … they are the people who probably know the least about biodiversity here. We did a game at the start: each teacher wrote down five animal names on the blackboard, with no repeats allowed. The result was predictable: cow, dog, rabbit, elephant, giraffe, bird, etc.—in other words, domestic animals, animals from some other part of the world, enormous categories. (There are 500+ bird species on the regional list.)

Another illustration of the nature of the challenge: during the introduction to the idea of multiple intelligences, Alberto Parente, a Tikuna who has been part of the national park team for over twenty years, said he wanted to tell a traditional story. He’s good at this. Went something like this:

The hoatzins had a lovely daughter who had come of age and was ready to marry. All the birds sent their handsomest sons to court the pretty young hoatzin. It was the tiger heron who got the nod. He’ll be a good son-in-law, the parents said to one another, and accepted.

The first morning, the father said to his new son-in-law, “Son-in-law, time to get up and go make a chagra.” The son-in-law responded with an indifferent “mmmmmmmrnnnnghhhhh” and went back to sleep.

This surprised the parents-in-law, but they let it pass. The next morning, the father-in-law hoatzin said, “Son-in-law, time to get up and go make a canoe.” The son-in-law, unconvinced, responded, “mmmmmmmrnnnnghhhhh”, and went back to sleep.

Now the parents-in-law were truly chagrined. They waited the next morning to see what the son-in-law would do on his own initiative. Slept all day long. When evening came, the father-in-law, now cross and anxious, said, “Son-in-law, time to get up and go fish.” The son-in-law responded “herka herka herka herka!” and happily went off to fish and brought back lots of fish.

This made me howl; Alberto does the sounds just right. It was perfect – both the message and the timing. The teachers got it. Only most of them didn’t seem to think it was nearly as hilarious as I did, which puzzled me, until I realized that they didn’t have a mental picture of a hoatzin (local Spanish name translates as “stinking guan”), or a tiger heron, or the sounds that the tiger heron makes (like a loud and mournful cow or squawky), or that the tiger heron is a nocturnal fisher.

So… we’ll take it bird by bird (bottom-line advice from book of same name). We all enjoyed the chance to get to know one another, talk, reflect, plan, “throw out [electrical] current” (=brainstorm) and generally get fired up about a new school year. We’re enthusiastic about another encounter in 2 months to debrief together and share what they’re doing and how it’s going and where they want to go. The eight communities are grouped together into an umbrella Educational Institution, which was the reason it made sense to work with eight and not three or ten. Two of these communities have never been included as part of the “area of influence” of the park. They’re the communities where many if not most of the animals that show up in the regional (illegal) wildlife traffic originate. New possibilities for ongoing dialogue about ways of knowing.

It blew our minds that most thought that Amacayacu is a hotel or tourist destination. Simply did not occur to them that the people, the library, or the ecosystems themselves of a major national park might be educational resources available to them. There’s a lot of information here about the priority of environmental education in local schools in the park’s budget and the consequences of that choice. (We were able to do the workshop thanks to a generous donation from ACT Colombia.) So the next workshop will be two days during the last week of March, in the park. The first day: How’s it going in each grade/each school? And presentations by university psychologists from Leticia in emotional intelligence, and how to develop these skills in the curriculum. Second day – in the field at Amacayacu.

Meanwhile, back at the Animals House. This is the time of year when the forest here is full of fruit, and when many animals have their young—a squirrel monkey troop passed through last week, and Leoncio was able to count 17 mounted infants—and many animals lose their young to human or nonhuman predators. Newest members of the troop of familiars* arrived last week: a baby three-toed sloth and an adult pygmy marmoset confiscated in Manizales. (*Like the Lost Boys in Peter Pan!)

If environmental education – of sellers and buyers all along the chain - could put us out of the animal rehab business, it would feel like success. This probably is not going to happen next week. My hypothesis is that one index for constructive change in the system might be the number of pencils ripped off during the wild rumpus at recess.

We Want our Planet Back.

2010-06-15T09:37:00.004-04:00

New Orleans is the most aquatic of American cities.

This may seem surprising, in light of the fact that other cities exist atop islands, making them a more likely candidate for this title, but a number of factors bear consideration.

Sited as it is in a crescent-shaped bend in the Mississippi River, New Orleans is surrounded by river to the west, south, and east. And, to the north is Lake Ponchartrain, the second largest saltwater lake in the United States.

And what makes the city so thoroughly aquatic is the water underneath. When I was growing up in New Orleans, I was taught that we lived at sea level. Post-Katrina, we all know that such is not the case – the Crescent City, to a large degree, is below sea level. With the exception of some relatively high ground areas like the French Quarter, St. Charles Avenue and the Esplanade ridge, much of New Orleans is a below sea-level bowl into which water poured after that horrible hurricane.

Perhaps the two most unique aspects of New Orleans’ culture and history are intimately linked to this aquatic setting. Ask anyone who has been to New Orleans what makes the city so unique, and the two most common answers are almost always the same— food and music. And the food comes from the water around us: crabs, crawfish, oysters, shrimp, seafood gumbo and jambalaya, frogs legs and turtle soup. New Orleanians have a sensual – almost erotic - fixation with their food. Just ask an ex-pat New Orleanian planning on a visit to his or her hometown where and what they will be eating, and you will receive a detailed response more akin to planning the D-Day invasion of Normandy than a simple trip home.

And New Orleanians treasure most highly the foods from the waters that surround them. New Orleanians feast on foods from the waters.

From the classical compositions of Louis Gottschalk to the rhythm and blues piano of Professor Longhair to the rap stylings of Lil’ Wayne, New Orleans has produced more than its share of music and musicians. But the most important musical genre born in the Crescent City is jazz. While many different cultures contributed to the birth of jazz, most credit the combination of African, Caribbean, and European sounds as having the greatest influence. And all of these influences met and mixed because New Orleans was such an important port of entry into the United States.

But the Gulf through which New Orleans has derived so much sustenance – both edible and cultural – still fills with poison. In the wonderful 1999 film “Three Kings,” the American soldier played by Mark Wahlberg is captured by Saddam’s soldiers. They tie him up, say he and the Americans can have all the oil they want, and they force him to drink it – a sad, frightening, and somewhat appropriate analogy to the situation we have witnessed on the nightly news for 57 days.

Breaking our addiction to foreign oil has been a much bandied-about goal since the Carter Presidency. After 9/11, journalist Tom Friedman called for a dollar a gallon tax on gasoline to reduce demand and provide generous funding for research on alternative energy sources. None of these propitious cries were heeded.

BP’s CEO recently whined that he “wants his life back.” Well, Tony – we want our Gulf back. We want our economy, culture, seafood, and our wetlands back. We want our history and our way of life back. We want our planet back.

We are all somewhat complicit in this disaster—all of us who use fossil fuels, all of us who waste fossil fuels. But now we all see more of the real costs: injured wildlife, human suffering, and cultural degradation that happens when we do not treasure Mother Nature and her gifts. Giving giant companies a free hand—free from regulation, free from oversight—does not mean there is a free ride. Eventually, the bill comes due—and we all end up paying it.

Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.

ACT's Present Position on Climate Change

2010-03-03T17:20:00.003-05:00

ACT believes, on the basis of very strong evidence, that accelerating global climate change is a reality, and that this acceleration is caused by human activities, specifically the injection of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Though it is not possible to predict the exact consequences of the overall warming trend that this increase in the greenhouse effect creates, ACT also believes that it is sensible to expect that some local changes may have very negative effects on vulnerable populations, both human and otherwise.

Indeed, it is already obvious that many areas—notably the temperate zones where humans live—are becoming drier, putting increased pressure on already scant water resources. Over time, the more our planet warms, the fewer winners and the more losers there will be. Therefore, both mitigation and adaptation strategies are needed.

Read more about ACT and mitigating climate change.

Tragedy in Haiti

2010-01-14T17:31:00.006-05:00

Stories of despair are resonating around the world – stories of orphaned children, displaced families, and an absence of food and water. These stories simply cannot and should not be ignored. Recovery from natural disaster cannot easily be accomplished, yet the Haitian people continue to maintain resilience and look forward. We’re confident that they will prevail, as the Haitian people have for so many years proven that their collective heart is strong. In recent days, we’ve shown how powerful a movement for relief can be if we all pitch in for a common cause, and ACT shares its thoughts and prayers with those lost and hurt by the tragedy in Haiti.

Find out how you can help by clicking here: http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/

Mac Fanieh tries to rescue a teacher, trapped amid the rubble of the earthquake, as he crawls past a schoolgirl that died at Ecole St. Gerard Technical School in Port-au-Prince.

Carol Guzy-The Washington Post

Meet Dr. Sara Bennett

2010-01-04T10:04:00.009-05:00

A note from ACT President, Dr. Mark Plotkin: I first met Sara Bennett over 30 years ago when she appeared my office at the Harvard Botanical Museum. “I’m headed for the Colombian Amazon,” she began

...Still there, doing that.

The lower Apaporis River, where she rucked up for fifteen years, had been included in the list of “preselected areas” for eventual inclusion into the Colombian National Park system. There were hardly any humans there at the time. A good place to do ecosystem science, and to live (not necessarily in that order). With a National Geographic Society grant she dug in to find out about the seasonal rhythms of the forest; the orphaned animals were never part of a plan. That just happened. So did the drawing and the musings. Sara has since been an exotic element in the fauna of Amacayacu National Park (on the Colombian stretch of the Amazon River) for almost ten years, and a supporting actor/loose-cannon-on-deck in an evolving dynamic with the acculturated indigenous communities who share jurisdiction for much of the area’s management. This is a unique vantage point for perceiving, sharing, and (ojalá, which translates loosely as “maybe” [in a hopeful tone of voice]) bridging some of the gaps across cultures and languages.

Her incredible experience, knowledge, wisdom and humility have led at least one colleague to call her the “Jane Goodall of the Amazon.” In this new blog, Sara shares her insights and experiences with us: about her primate family and friends (including humans and other animals, wild or otherwise), her observations, her opinions, and even her drawings. We are all privileged to have these off-the-wall reports from the heart of the Colombian Amazon.”

Letters from the Colombian Amazon, where some wild things still are. (Whatever do you do about it?)

By Dr. Sara Bennett

“You know you’ve been in the woods too long when …. It blows your mind to go to the Portland (Maine) grocery store, for starters and, in general, one’s “obviousnesses” don’t match up any more with anybody else’s. Results in Dangerous Questions (1). Sometimes it’s so crazy it gets hilarious … and laughing sometimes results in insights and always feels good. Sometimes it gets impossible. Grief, rage, boredom, and despair happen. And then, (this is a quote, I forget whose): “Things are only impossible until they’re not.”

This golb (amorphous, with potential) is a reality check. It’s brought to you by ACT (and especially Liliana Madrigal, whose knack for the strategic noodge or powdermilk biscuit makes her one of the benevolent forces of nature). The intention here: to respond thoughtfully to her invitation to express and look at what comes up for a New Englander long in the Colombian Upper Amazon and share what’s coming down.

Maikuchiga means “the monkeys’ story” in Tikuna (2). We’re a small, funky ngo that runs a rescue center for orphaned animals, mostly monkeys, in Amacayacu National Park (Colombia), as the most visible element of an overall program to design and implement human alternatives consistent with the long-term conservation functions of an important protected area. The park overlaps with acculturated indigenous communities eager to participate as intensely as possible in the cash economy. Some of these people are concerned about how to hang on to some cultural identity as well: for the Tikuna, hunting is important…and so are hair gel, a cell phone, a chainsaw...

Like, picture The Gods Must Be Crazy – played out on the banks of the Amazon, with less plot resolution.

Nobody seems to have the script.

___

[1] Dangerous Questions, recurring themes of:

The right amount of “Stuff” – (how do you know?)
Bounty, scarcity, enough (cf., you’ll never get enough of stuff you don’t need)
Caring and sharing (remember kindergarten?) – of bounty, scarcity, stuff at different scales.
“Stuff” and the aesthetics of living, social status, good design
Complex systems, (common name = Horrible Messes). Individual behaviors and collective consequences. How do you know what you know? How do you save the planet by consuming less while buying more to save the economy?

[2] The Tikuna comprise the dominant of several indigenous ethnic groups in this area of the Amazon.

So, (riffing off Maurice Sendak): “Let the wild rumpus begin…”

___

Next installment: woolly walkabout. Coming soon:

· Environmental education in the Amazon and what that should look like.
· Science in Amazonian conservation: the paradigms, the protagonists, and the protected areas
· Seasonal rhythms in lowland rainforest and climate change. More uncomfortable projections you’d just as soon not know about.

The current cast of main characters includes:

Critters – woollies, capuchins, flying monkey, squirrel monkeys, stinkpoo night monkey, reddish sea monkey (aka dusky titi), black-mantled tamarins, pygmy marmoset, the dawg…others will fall out of the sky.

Humans – Jhon, Leoncio, Aladino, Lucho, María, Manuel, Sara, the indigenous community of Mocagua, the Amacayacu park staff (including assorted students and volunteers), the profe’s ([pron. PROfays, affectionate slang for profesOR], teachers from local primary schools), the visitors to the park...

Maikuchiga happened because sometimes some problems represent solutions for other problems, and sometimes somebody perceives this. The problems:

1. Providing ethical and humane care for animals confiscated from illegal wildlife traffic.
2. Providing disincentives for the regional commercialization of fauna, especially by increasing the probability of law enforcement (i.e., confiscation of the animals).
3. Motivating the inhabitants of the indigenous communities that use the natural resources of a major national park to manage wildlife populations sustainably.
4. Developing high-quality experiences for ecotourists to the region, who are often disappointed when they don’t see animals.
5. Enriching local education with environmental activities not otherwise available in the normal curricula.
6. Restoring ecosystem integrity in an area where the large primates are locally extinct and where there is now a local norm no longer to hunt them.

___

The primary function of Maikuchiga is to care for confiscated or otherwise “accidented” animals (especially monkeys, but whatever shows up that doesn’t eat or get eaten by the residents of the moment) in the Colombian Amazon and, when appropriate, give these individuals the opportunity to re-integrate into wild populations. The area is both national park and indigenous reserve, distinctive because the local residents have decided no longer to hunt endangered species, with special emphasis on the large primates. This was a miracle, but not an accident, which resulted from a previous project focused on an endangered species of curassow that generalized to overall community natural resource management. Maikuchiga, the park and community members have developed an interpretive activity about monkey natural history and conservation that provides some significant “green” income and also generates indirect benefits by buying school supplies for all the kids in the community.

Better late than never, a re-post of a fan favorite blog!

2009-12-19T15:39:00.000-05:00

In Leticia – on the way back to Amacayacu after a month in US, with bits in Bogotá coming and going. Buying monster food to take back to the monsters and URGENT – a new baby bottle for Pauli, the reddish sea monkey; going to the bank, running around, and greeting/ debriefing/updating intensely before catching the public fast boat early this afternoon. This’ll be quick.

Leoncio called yesterday and said Surba, the adult woolly who has the most seniority in the troop (she was confiscated in the Leticia airport as a baby) has disappeared. I wasn’t worried; she’s reached the age of dispersal and has clearly been restless. Too bad she couldn’t have waited until we could give her a boost into the interior of the park where the wild woollies won’t be quite so remote, pero bueno. Last night, I find out that he called another friend with a heads-up about somebody who’d been in Macedonia (one of the communities near Amacayacu), looking for monkeys to sell…or something….the jungle telegraph leaves a lot to the imagination. Ack. She’s not a cute little baby, but a nice fat adult – as in, “tastes a lot like chicken!”

I go to the port to check out the balsas where people from the communities tie up and bump into a friend from Macedonia, whom I ask for information. Turns out there’s a baby woolly in Macedonia (where supposedly they don`t hunt woollies any more). This news doesn’t exactly make me happy, but it’s a less dire reading of Leoncio’s message than what I was fearing. Later he calls – forgot to include laundry soap on the list – and I ask what’s going on. He says there’s a guy from the kilómetros (the communities along the road that goes out from Leticia) who’d been looking for monkeys to buy to have on hand for tourists, and that they’d gone back to Leticia through the forest and not on the river.

So… I’ve got to go the bank before it closes or the world will come to an end. Surba is no dummy. I hope she’s avoided them and any stray harpy eagle, and that the baby in Macedonia will survive.

Paradise it ain’t. And I am really glad to be back! As a billboard in the Boston subway put it: “Why be cold and wet, when you can be warm and wet?” Why ever?

Happy Christmas.

-Sara Bennett

Speaking for the Forests - Indigenous Communities & Google Earth Outreach – Partnering in Redd in Copenhagen

2009-12-18T17:22:00.001-05:00

The Amazon Conservation Team has teamed with Google Earth Outreach and The Jane Goodall Instituteto create a very cool virtual tour of communities in Tanzania and Brazil who are impacted by, and working innovatively on, deforestation. They have presented Speaking for the Forests - Indigenous Communities Google Earth Outreach – Partnering in Redd in Copenhagen. Narrated by Jane Goodall, the 6-minute virtual journey provides good insights into the issue of deforestation on both continents. You have to have Google Earth on your computer to watch this, but it’s worth downloading. The file is here.

Striking a deal in Copenhagen

2009-12-17T13:27:00.002-05:00

As the conference winds down, the countries of the world are scrambling to strike a deal.

The developing nations claim – correctly – that the industrialized nations have generated most of the pollution believed to be causing climate change. These developing countries believe the industrialized world should provide massive funding to mitigate or halt climate change.

The industrialized world claims – correctly – that enormous transfer of wealth guarantee nothing without better safeguards that monies will be spent efficiently and effectively.

Further complicating this dilemma is the fact that some large developing countries are extremely wealthy and are generating enormous amounts of pollutants themselves.

These are major sticking points, but there are many other challenges and nuances. For example, what is the role of indigenous peoples? If an enormous fund is established to protect the rainforests, does a piece of the action go to the Indians, or does all the money go to national government (or state governments? Or NGOS? etc. etc.) Can indigenous people negotiate conservation accords on their own (so-called “subnational rights”) or does everything have to go through national governments?

And what is the role of monitoring? Several governments, still smarting from a legacy of colonialism, loathe the concept of industrialized nations checking to see whether these developing nations are keeping their promises in terms of protecting forests or emitting pollutants. Industrialized nations argue that accepting major funding to modify carbon output or carbon capture means that you must agree to be monitored. The discussion continues…

Some of the best news of the conference comes from the technological world: we can remotely monitor down to the level of a single tree in many forests of the world. Yet agreements need to be reached on the role of monitoring if this technology is to prove as useful as it can be. And enhanced forest monitoring without enhanced forest protection would ultimately prove futile.

-Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.

ACT at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

2009-12-15T12:18:00.002-05:00

The nations of the world have assembled in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and the Amazon Conservation Team is honored to be in attendance. The sights, sounds, colors, hues, national dress and emotions combine into a crazy kaleidoscope reminiscent of the cantina scene in “Star Wars”.

Copenhagen is a warm and welcoming city, but is struggling to accommodate so many visitors. The lack of hotel rooms is so severe that some people have had to book accommodations in neighboring Sweden! And lines to register for the conference are so long that some attendees have waited over five hours to check in.

Nevertheless, there is much optimism that so many people have come from all corners of the planet to grapple with one of the greatest issues of our time. That same optimism is balanced by cynicism, nationalism, resentment, hostility and fear – the glass of progress here is both half full and half empty. That this conference is taking place is indeed a tremendous achievement; whether it will result in a sea change towards the issue of climate change is yet to be decided.

Last night, my colleagues and I attended a gathering organized by our friends from the Skoll Foundation. For me, the highlight was listening to a conversation on the future of the forest between former Vice-President Al Gore and Chief Almir of the Suruí tribe in Brazil. The former VP cautioned Chief Almir to be careful, pointing out that forest protection could be a dangerous job. Chief Almir invited the Vice-President to visit the Suruí territory in western Brazil and observe the work firsthand. And the Vice-President congratulated the Chief and his partners at the Amazon Conservation Team for mapping and protecting the forest with the help of Google Earth.

Presently, ACT Brazil Director Vasco van Roosmalen is hard at work with our colleagues at the Jane Goodall Institute to complete a “Rainforest Tour” which will be featured on Google Earth. The tour – which should be posted later this week – will be narrated by Jane Goodall herself. Stay tuned!

Ethnographic maps built using cutting-edge technology may help Amazon tribes win forest carbon payments

2009-12-02T15:34:00.008-05:00

The following is adapted from November 29th article by Rhett A. Butler of Mongabay.com.

A new handbook lays out the methodology for cultural mapping, providing indigenous groups with a powerful tool for defending their land and culture, while enabling them to benefit from some 21st century advancements. Cultural mapping may also facilitate indigenous efforts to win recognition and compensation under a proposed scheme to mitigate climate change through forest conservation. The scheme—known as REDD for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation—will be a central topic of discussion at next month's climate talks in Copenhagen, but concerns remain that it could fail to deliver benefits to forest dwellers.

Much of the Amazon rainforest remains occupied by tribal groups. While few of these live as conjured in the imagination, the state of the forests in their territories is a testament to their approach to managing lands. But like the Amazon itself, these groups face new pressures from the outside world. For the indigenous, the lure of urban culture is strong—cities seem to offer the promise of affluence and the conveniences of an easy life. But in leaving their forest homes indigenous peoples are usually met with a stark reality: the skills that serve them so well in the forest don’t translate well to an urban setting. The odds are stacked against them; they arrive near the bottom of the social ladder, often not proficient in the language and customs of city dwellers. The lucky ones may find work in factories or as day laborers and security guards, but many eventually return to the countryside. Some re-integrate into their villages, others return in a completely different capacity than when they departed. They may join the ranks of miners and loggers who trespass on indigenous lands, ferreting out deals that pit members of the same tribe against each other in order to exploit the resources they steward. As tribes are fragmented, and forests fall, indigenous culture—and the profound knowledge contained within—is lost. The world is left a poorer place, culturally and biologically.

But there is new hope, embodied by efforts to enable tribes to become more self reliant through the use of state-of-the-art technology that builds on and leverages their traditional knowledge. These tools can help them better defend their lands and offer the potential for the next generation of Surui, Trio, or Ikpeng to have a future of their determination rather than one dictated to them by a society that values the resources locked in their territories over their forest knowledge and rich cultural history. Through such technology, tribes may be able to avoid a fate in which they become destroyers, rather than protectors, of the basis of their culture—their forest home.

At the forefront of this effort is the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), a Virginia-based group with field offices in Brazil, Suriname, and Colombia. the Amazon Conservation Team has pioneered geographic information system (GIS) training of indigenous groups in the Amazon to enable them to map their land, not only as a means to demarcate it and win title, but to catalog their cultural links to the land. In building these “cultural maps,” tribes construct maps of their territory that go beyond the topography of the terrain, capturing the underlying richness of generations of human experience, including their interaction with the land and other tribes, and the distribution of plants and animals of nutritional, medicinal, and spiritual significance. In other words, in as much as indigenous culture is a product of the land, the maps capture the essence of these tribes.

But creating a cultural map is no easy task. It can take years of work by the tribe, laying out what the map will contain, determining what communities will participate, and coordinating who in the community will do the actual footwork. Other considerations also come into play, including harvesting cycles and seasons—mapping can’t interfere with the ongoing the activities that sustain the tribe—and the treatment of intellectual property contained in the maps, since these can be used for nefarious purposes in the wrong hands, including exploitation of timber, game, and medicinal plants.

The training itself can also be complex. Indigenous mappers must learn the ins and outs of handheld GPS units, GIS systems, computers, and Internet tools like Google Earth before they can construct maps and monitor their territories for threats and encroachment. But the payoff can be well worth the effort: 20 groups in the Brazilian Amazon have created culture and land use maps of their territories. The maps include 7,500 indigenous names, 120 villages, and thousands of area of cultural and historical significance. In Suriname, the maps are being used to help indigenous groups get government recognition of—and eventually title to—their lands. Some of the indigenous mappers have gone on to become certified as park guards, enabling them to earn an income while working to safeguard their lands.

The new handbook, "Methodology of Collaborative Cultural Mapping," walks readers through the process of establishing community meetings between stakeholders, composing the mapping team, setting up training workshops, conducting fieldwork, developing the map, and finally delivering the map. The guide, which is available in both English and Brazilian Portuguese, comes at an opportune time: interest in tropical forest conservation has never been higher. The reason? Tropical forests are seen as critical in combating climate change, both in terms of their value in sequestering carbon and as a political compromise that could serve as the developing world’s contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As long-time stewards of tropical forests, indigenous people are effectively forest carbon guardians. But questions remain as to whether they will be recognized as such. Mapping their lands may help indigenous groups demonstrate their critical role in forest conservation efforts, earning them recognition, compensation, and a stronger voice in determining how their resources are managed.

An example can be found in the Surui tribe's carbon project in Rondônia, Brazil, which aims to protect 250,000 hectares of forest. Prior to establishing the carbon project , the Surui worked closely with the Amazon Conservation Team to develop a cultural map of their lands.

"The Surui ethno-graphic (cultural) map has become the key instrument in integrating their traditional knowledge of the forest with the latest technologies in carbon measuring and monitoring," Vasco van Roosmalen, director of the Amazon Conservation Team-Brazil, told mongabay.com. "It is one of the key instruments in translating the necessities of a carbon project to the community and in ensuring that their perspectives are truly integrated into the project design."

Mark Plotkin, president of the Amazon Conservation Team, adds that having completed their map, the Surui are much better positioned to move ahead on their carbon credit project.

"After the mapping process has been completed, some of the indigenous are trained as internationally accredited park guards—meaning the forest protectors are in place, which is a real hurdle for other carbon projects where nobody lives in and protects these forests," he told mongabay.com.

"Ethnographic mapping represents the perfect marriage of ancient shamanic wisdom and 21st century technology," Plotkin continued. "When done right, it results in better protection of the rainforest and enhanced capacity of the Indians to meet the opportunities and challenges posed by the outside world."

What Ever Happened to the Amazon Rain Forest? -- Did We Save it or what?

2009-11-03T17:23:00.005-05:00

Earlier today, Slate.com featured a short, but insightful article from Brendan Borrell on what exactly is going on in the Amazon Rainforest.

The Surui, ACT and Google Earth Outreach launch the Surui Layer on Google Earth

2009-10-21T16:29:00.004-04:00

Below is a result of what happens when you get the Surui people, the Amazon Conservation Team and Google in a room with no easy exit. :)

Step 1: Download Google Earth: http://bit.ly/1zuvpu
Step 2: Watch the Surui Layer, launched by the Surui, ACT and Google: http://bit.ly/2iQbYv
Step 3: Select "Click To Play This Tour" on the left side of your window, and enjoy!

Email ACT's Communications Associate, Hamza Ghaznavi at Hghaznavi@amazonteam.org if you have any questions or comments!

Regional Knowledge Exchange in the Colombian Amazon

2009-10-07T15:19:00.006-04:00

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

From August 23-28, with ACT support, the first regional knowledge exchange of the Uitoto community of the Colombian department of Caquetá was convened with the participation of 44 indigenous representatives including traditional healers, chieftains and community leaders associated in the ASCAINCA and ORUCAPU organizations.

During this event-which included workshops on the right to intellectual property, the rights of indigenous communities over their traditional knowledge, and current national and international legislation on intellectual property-the participants analyzed and discussed the current state of Uitoto traditional medicine. The meetings were advised by taita Luciano Mutumbajoy, the coordinator of the Union of Traditional Healers of the Colombian Amazon (UMIYAC, an ACT partner), who shared his experience and thoughts on the challenges encountered by practitioners of indigenous traditional medicine.

ACT Holds Sixth Institutional Park Guard Training Course

2009-10-07T15:17:00.004-04:00

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

From August 24 - September 12, 2009, in the Brazilian state of Amapá, ACT held its 6th park guard training course for representatives of stakeholder institutions in the Amazon, a course certified by the International Ranger Federation. ACT trained 29 persons including representatives of the Brazilian environmental enforcement agency ICMBio, the Brazilian Army, the Environmental Police of the state of Acre, the Cabo Orange National Park, and Peru's Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. Activities were coordinated by ACT and the Amapá Park Guard Association.

Course modules included ecology and biodiversity; flora; the management of protected areas; geoprocessing; firefighting and fire management; first aid, search & rescue, and survival techniques; trail maintenance; outboard motor repair; radio communications; environmental ethics; environmental legislation; waste management; and public relations.

Beyond its value in spreading conservation knowledge, the course enables actors from a wide variety of backgrounds and locations to share experiences and conservation best practices. ACT has conducted this course bi-annually since 2006, with a 5th course in June 2009. To date, the course has trained over 160 guards. In November, ACT will hold its 5th Indigenous Park Guard Training Course.

Groundbreaking Park Guard Training Manual Published

2009-10-07T15:14:00.004-04:00

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

ACT and the Amapá Park Guard Association, together with Brazil's environmental enforcement agency ICMBio and the Federal University of Amapá, have published a park guard training methodology manual. The manual enables ACT to disseminate its pioneering methodology to other indigenous and non-indigenous groups seeking to gain the means to better monitor and conserve protected areas.

To complement the publication, the partners will launch a park guard program website that will contain information regarding the current legal status of park guards in Brazil; information on park guards around the world; a description of the role and objectives of park guards; and information on the availability of training courses in Brazil and in Latin America. The website and manual will be used by ICMBio and the state of Amapá to further the process of official recognition and legalization of the role of park guard.

ACT Commences Collaborative Mapping Project With Brazil's Kaxuyana People

2009-10-07T13:16:00.009-04:00

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

In September, upon the tribe's request, ACT commenced work with the Kaxuyana people of the northern Brazilian Amazon to map millions of acres of their traditional lands. Additional regional groups participating in the project include the Wayana, Wai-Wai and Txikiyana. On-the-ground work was officially initiated on September 25th in the Santidade Village in Pará state.

With GPS handhelds to record waypoints, indigenous researchers are traversing these lands largely on foot and by river. Data collected is uploaded to the laptops of ACT technicians and cartographers, who digitally insert the information into rough maps and subsequently present drafts for revision by the indigenous researchers. Beyond natural features, the maps identify traditional hunting and fishing and other resources areas, areas of potential risk, and culturally sacred sites.

Capacity building topics for the indigenous researchers include utilization and interpretation of satellite data; identification of areas of importance; assessment of risks and threats; confirmation of specific locations using hand-held GPS units; and direct involvement in the legal process.

Once completed, the maps will serve as the basis for land management plans developed by the regional indigenous groups. Both the maps and the plans will enable the Kaxuyana and their neighbors to more effectively monitor their traditional borders against illegal incursions and report such encroachments to state environmental enforcement agencies.

ACT previously worked withed Kaxuyana groups to ethnographically map the adjacent 10-million-acre Tumucumaque Indigenous Park, and Kaxuyana representatives have been trained through ACT's Indigenous Park Guard Training Course, a program certified by the International Ranger Federation.

In Memory Of Silviano Camberos

2009-09-16T20:41:00.007-04:00

Silviano Camberos was a Mexican physician and ethnobotanist, much beloved by members of the ethnobotanical community. He was a close personal friend of mine, and he worked with the Huichol tribe for well over 15 years. Silviano passed away last month.

I first met Silviano Camberos at the Juan Santa Maria Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. I was told to be on the lookout for a fellow in his early 30’s with a shock of unruly hair, twinkling eyes and an enormous smile. As soon as I saw him, I knew exactly who he was. It was impossible to mistake Silviano for anyone else.

We spent over a month together traveling throughout Costa Rica. At no time did he ever change: he was unfailingly polite, good humored, kind, generous, and full of wonder. Everyone who met and spent time with him adored him – whether he was helping my mother-in-law bring in the groceries or whether he was providing free medical treatment (and medicines!) to the poorest campesinos, Silviano always had time to help people.

I only saw him annoyed once.

We spent two weeks working with a Shaman in one of the most remote corners of Costa Rica. The terrain was phenomenally difficult: it seemed as if every waking moment was spend climbing or descending – usually hand over hand, as the slopes were so steep. As Silviano said, “it was like doing ethnobotany on a wall.”

The Indians were very poor, yet readily shared their food with us. And, not wanting to take advantage of their hospitality, we brought huge sacks of both rice and beans to feed both them and us. We ate rice and beans every morning before we left for the bush and every night when we returned. It was filling and nutritious, but very monotonous.

On the last night, when presented with yet another plate of rice and beans, Silviano pushed it aside, mumbling to me under his breath in English: “enough gallo pinto - we Mexicans can even make grasshoppers taste better than this!!”

He reached into the bottom of his backpack, pulled out a jar of Mexican mole sauce, dumped in into a pot, heated it over the fire, and then shared his precious cargo with all twelve people in the hut. As soon as we had finished eating, he proceeded to provide free medical care to everyone who wanted it, including a young boy with a badly infected cut and a woman who had travelled for two days so he could treat her sick daughter. Once he had taken care of everyone, he thanked them for coming to see him and went to sleep.

My next adventure with Silviano was in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. As a student of ethnobotanist R.E. Schultes (who had done the original field work that uncovered the secrets of the magic mushroom), I had been reading about and studying the culture of the Mazatec Indians for over two decades. Arriving by bus in Huatla, the capital of Mazatec country, Silviano was greeted with enormous enthusiasm by almost everyone we met. It was clear that he was regarded as a friend and almost a family member by many of the Mazatecs who passed us as we walked through the village.

We spent several weeks there – meeting Shamans, looking at plants, visiting markets, attending ceremonies. Silviano would hold free medical clinics for all the Indians on a regular basis. Because he was so beloved, the Indians announced that they would have a farewell dinner in our honor the night before we departed.

The next evening, the central plaza was filled with chairs and tables. Colored paper streamers had been scattered around to add a festive air. The plaza had candles everywhere, and their flickering fires gave off a ghostly glow.

The Mazatecs entered the plaza and took their seats. We were invited to sit with the Mayor at the table of honor. The Mayor then stood and gave what seemed like a speech of appreciation in Mazatec. As the Guests of Honor, each of us was served a bowl of soup while our fellow guests watched expectantly. Unfortunately, the soup was made from tripe which emitted a foul odor. We both looked up, and saw the Indians watching us still. Ever the good sport and gracious guest, Silviano picked up his spoon, devoured the soup with gusto, and everyone applauded.

Our final expedition together was to Suriname in the northeast Amazon. Working deep in the forest near the Brazilian border, there were no Indians who spoke Spanish, English, French, Huichol or any other language in which Silviano was conversant. I was (frankly) curious to see how Silviano would do in a place where he could not communicate with the Indians.

I guess I should not have been surprised – the failure of a common spoken language proved little in the way of a barrier. Silviano made friends almost immediately, and began teaching the Trio Indians songs and calls in the Huichol language. Ten years after he last set foot in that village, they ask about him still.

Such was the impact of our beloved late friend Silviano Camberos. In one sense he is gone. In a more important one, however, his kindness, generosity, passionate desire to help the less fortunate, and his smile will be with us forever.

By Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Amazon In Colombia

2009-09-10T13:35:00.005-04:00

The Colombian Amazon represents one of the world’s most important—and most often overlooked—rainforest regions. While most folks associate the Amazon with Brazil—rightfully so, considering that over 60% of the Amazon forests lies within Brazil’s borders—the size and diversity of Colombia’s corner of Amazonia are staggering. How many people realize that the Colombian Amazon is twice the size of New England? Or that the biodiversity in western Amazonia is much greater than that found in the rest of the Basin? Or that indigenous peoples—thanks to farsighted Colombian government policies enacted by conservation leaders —manage enormous tracts of these forests?

Much of the news regarding Colombia that appears in the western press is unremittingly negative. And the forces of environmental devastation that beset much of the rest of the world; deforestation for industrial agriculture, destructive extractive activities, and the migration of the impoverished—exist in Colombia as well. Nonetheless, there are ample reasons for hope and optimism regarding the Colombian forests that one seldom reads about in the English-speaking world.

So, when we think about the Amazon, we must extend our visions beyond the borders of Brazil. Brazil certainly plays a key role in the fate of the forest - but there are eight other Amazonian countries. How many of us think of Colombia as a land of hope and good news? It may seem surprising that this will prove to be the case in Colombia, but remember: this is the country that invented magical realism.....

The Healthcare Debate's Missing Ingredient

2009-08-21T17:27:00.017-04:00

Healthcare impacts much more than just national policy and economics. A major shortcoming of the ongoing debate is that it largely overlooks the whole concept of prevention: a better life and better living by addressing root causes.

A fundamental pillar of Shamanic healthcare in the Amazon is spirituality, a belief that deep healing happens in the invisible realm, or otherwise happens in the realm of the placebo – that is, between your ears.

Shamans are masters of both of these “alternative” types of healing, and logic dictates that the global conservation agenda should focus more on the need to preserve their specialized knowledge and the plants they employ, directly demonstrating why people in our industrialized and often stressed-out society have a stake in these far-off cultures and forests. Why should we care about the Amazon? Why should people concern themselves with the fate of the Shamans? Whether you’re worried about your own health, that of your children, or that of the planet, it’s all tied together.

The urgent global need for the preservation of forests, the preservation of biodiversity and the preservation of indigenous forms of healing and diagnosis should be merged into the broader healthcare discussion because we have a personal wellness stake in each of these issues. The Shamans I have come to know see no personal health without the health of their environment—in the face of increasing resource depletion and climate change, I believe this is an understanding to which we are all now being led.

Why The Amazon?

Apetina Schoolchildren Take Part in Primary Exams: Building the Future of Indigenous Children

Witness to the First United Assembly of Male and Female Healers of the Colombian Eastern Andean Amazon

Improving Food Security and Economic Opportunities in the Amazon

Surui Tribe Launches Carbon Fund

Brazilian Drought Continues to Impact Amazonian People

Indigenous Culture Lessons for Surinamese Schoolchildren

Backyard Observations – Spiders

Inga Education: An Innovative Model Enjoys National Recognition

Javier Ortiz BahamónColombia Program DirectorAmazon Conservation Team

Biodiversity and Health

Brazilian Independence Day

Colombia Women's Programs

Amazon Rainforest: "The World's Heart"

Traditional Diahui Festival

Belo Monte Dam Complex

Picturing the Brazil Forest Fires

Increasing Forest Fires in Rondonia, Brazil

Environmental Education

We Want our Planet Back.

ACT's Present Position on Climate Change

Tragedy in Haiti

Meet Dr. Sara Bennett

Better late than never, a re-post of a fan favorite blog!

Speaking for the Forests - Indigenous Communities & Google Earth Outreach – Partnering in Redd in Copenhagen

Striking a deal in Copenhagen

ACT at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

Ethnographic maps built using cutting-edge technology may help Amazon tribes win forest carbon payments

What Ever Happened to the Amazon Rain Forest? -- Did We Save it or what?

The Surui, ACT and Google Earth Outreach launch the Surui Layer on Google Earth

Regional Knowledge Exchange in the Colombian Amazon

ACT Holds Sixth Institutional Park Guard Training Course

Groundbreaking Park Guard Training Manual Published

ACT Commences Collaborative Mapping Project With Brazil's Kaxuyana People

In Memory Of Silviano Camberos

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Amazon In Colombia

The Healthcare Debate's Missing Ingredient

Javier Ortiz Bahamón
Colombia Program Director
Amazon Conservation Team