Brazil
Our COVID-19 Response: Update
The pandemic is hitting indigenous communities of the Amazon from all sides. They are in dire need of support to ward off the virus and save human lives right now, and to protect their cultures and forests from mounting ecological threats and economic pressures.
ACT is continuing to scale our efforts to support communities in tackling this critical issue from within in alliance with local organizations and government agencies. In areas where aid is simply not available or public services lack the capacity or will to independently reach communities in need, our work has been indispensable.
Read MoreInterview with Evandro Bernardi | Covid-19 Response
We sat down with ACT’s Evandro Bernardi for a firsthand look at how indigenous communties in the Brazilian Amazon are being impacted by the virus, and how ACT-Brasil is helping them respond to this crisis. Evandro has worked with indigenous communities for more than 20 years, and coordinates ACT’s fieldwork in the northeastern region of…
Read MoreCountering Emerging Crises in the Amazon: Covid-19 & Fires
In the following report, the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) highlights some of its on-the-ground efforts in response to the two tragedies that have defined the last year in the Amazon: the fires of 2019, and the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. To view the report, please click on the image:
Read MoreCOVID-19 Response June, 2020
The pandemic is still sweeping through the Amazon, showing how exposed this seemingly impermeable forest can be. Indigenous and traditional communities of the rainforest are in dire need of support.
ACT continues to band together with civil society and governments in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Suriname to mitigate and manage the crisis locally. Our partners span universities, public health departments, volunteer air patrols, health NGOs, indigenous organizations, ACT-trained Amazon Conservation Rangers, and more.
COVID-19 Response May, 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in Amazonia, indigenous and local communities are some of the most vulnerable.
While we have had to leave our offices and field locations and pause many of our projects, we have strategically pivoted to address communities’ most pressing needs in the face of the current global health crisis.
This is how we have reshaped our current priorities in response to COVID-19
Read MoreCOVID-19 Response
This is how we are reshaping our current priorities in response to the pandemic.
Read More2019 Fire Crisis Situation in the Amazon
The Amazon is burning. Parts of the Brazilian Amazon are experiencing unprecedented fires. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research has reported a recent 84% increase in forest fires from the same period in 2018. Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, experienced a blackout caused by smoke from the fires. Ecosystems are being devastated and countless indigenous…
Read MoreSolar Solutions for Traditional Communities
For remote forest communities, steady sources of renewable power can improve air quality, minimize tree harvesting, and provide domestic lighting for the evening work, especially important for children’s studies. In the Waura village of Ulupuene, which is situated along the banks of the Batovi River within the confines of the Xingu Indigenous Territory in Brazil,…
Read MoreAluakumá, the Big Bat: Oral Histories in a Waurá Community
Oral Histories in a Waurá Community: In the village of Ulupuene, which partners with ACT, two elders and community leaders passed away: the regional “keeper of songs and dances,” Yakuana, who took with him a vast wealth of knowledge about Waurá cultural practices; and most recently, Aluakumá (“Big Bat”), a village elder, shaman, and healer. Both men were revered, and their kin expressed that they had lost more than just a loved one—they had lost an unrecoverable repository of cultural knowledge.
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