Feb 26, 2015

• This is the first project the Fund has supported that is directly conceived and submitted by indigenous people with no public sector or NGO intermediation

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) approved a R$ 6.6 million loan operation with resources from the Amazon Fund to the Ashaninka Association in the Amônia River. This is the first project directly conceived and submitted to the Amazon Fund by an indigenous community with no public sector or NGO intermediation.

In this pioneering operation, the BNDES’ Amazon Fund team, together with Acre’s Ashaninka indigenous representatives, reviewed the several steps in the Alto Juruá project until it was finally approved.

Most of the Ashaninka people on the Amônia River live at the Apiwtxa village (‘Apiwtxa’ in their native tongue means “union”), a part of the Kampa Indigenous Land (TI) along the Amônia River. This Indigenous Land, which is located in the city of Marechal Thaumaturgo, bordering Peru and near the Alto Juruá’s Extraction Reserve, is currently the target of deforestation and forestry degradation.

The project includes efforts that benefit not only the Ashaninka people, but also the indigenous and non-indigenous communities surrounding the Kampa TI along the Amônia River, which comprises a set of protected areas.

The goal is to promote agro-forestry management and production within communities in order to create a sustainable and economic alternative to deforestation, as well as to support initiatives to monitor and control the territory and strengthen local organization in the Alto Juruá/Acre region.

The initiative approved by the Amazon Fund will benefit 720 residents on the Kampa Indigenous Land along the Amônia River, in addition to 600 residents from the Indigenous Land on the Breu River and another 50 communities from Alto Juruá’s Extraction Reserve, as well as supporting six Peruvian Ashaninka communities. Term for project completion is 36 months.

Strategy – The project, which took the indigenous community three years to conceive, is part of the Ashaninka strategy to protect their territory and natural resources. In the work in surrounding communities, these people saw an opportunity to mobilize partnerships and minimize predatory tension in the region.

The proposal involves a differential territorial approach to deal with deforestation on indigenous land and includes support efforts to strengthen indigenous prevalence.

The Amazon Fund, using non-reimbursable resources, supports efforts to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, while fostering preservation and the sustainable use of forests in the Amazon biome.

The project with the Ashaninka people of the Amônia River is the fifth project the Amazon Fund has supported, focusing on support for indigenous communities, amounting to a total of R$ 75 million in financial collaboration, in addition to the R$ 14 million that benefits indigenous communities in other eight projects.

Moreover, the Amazon Fund issued a public call-for-submission to select projects to prepare and implement Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTA’s) on indigenous land in the Amazon Biome. The call-for-submission was held in partnership with both the Ministry of the Environment and the Brazilian Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI).