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

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

[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

[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

[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

[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.