URL: http://www.amazonteam.org/index.php/174/Partnering_with_Indigenous_Peoples
Partnering with Indigenous Peoples
Successful strategies for forest conservation in the Amazon depend on developing conservation programs that work effectively at the local level. Traditional indigenous populations are historically some of the most overlooked allies in this regard. The fact that up to a quarter of the Amazon overlaps with indigenous territories underscores the potential contributions of indigenous peoples to conservation and sustainable development plans. Furthermore, indigenous communities have proved to be determined defenders of their territories and of their way of life, which relies on the forest for physical, cultural, and spiritual well-being.
For this reason, since its inception in 1996, ACT has designed and implemented conservation programs in true partnership with indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Our relationships of trust with such communities are the foundation of our success. Meaningful collaboration requires a consistent long-term field presence and an unwavering respect for our indigenous partners, their knowledge, and their capabilities. Our approach has led us to enjoy relationships with 36 (and growing) indigenous groups from various corners of the Amazon to lay the groundwork for the improved protection for over 75 million acres of ancestral rainforest in Brazil, Colombia, and Suriname.
Although biodiversity protection is central to ACT's mission, ACT also places great value on traditional knowledge and culture itself, since this determines community cohesion and unity. The intimate bond between indigenous cultures and the Amazon's biodiversity expresses itself through our partners' unparalleled knowledge of forest ecosystems, as well as in their healing traditions and other cultural expressions. This provides yet another reason for working with indigenous communities in conservation - they simply know the land and ecosystems better than anyone on the planet. Indeed, Amazonian indigenous communities introduced pioneering western researchers and explorers to the natural wonders of the forest and their applications. Were it not for the knowledge of forest ecosystems accumulated by indigenous communities over millennia, many important resources, medicinal compounds, materials, and ecological processes would be unknown to western science and would be unavailable for others to understand and benefit from.
By supporting ACT's programs you support a new model for conservation - one that supports and acknowledges the needs of communities and their role in maintaining and living sustainably within areas of interest to conservation. Please donate today to support ACT's innovative conservation programs with our partner communities.