One Health: Communities & Forests

Home » One Health: Communities & Forests

Healthy Communities

Healthy Communities

Intercultural healthcare systems: We support Indigenous-led health posts that combine ancestral medicine and modern care, ensuring culturally appropriate healthcare reaches remote communities.

Healthy Forests

Healthy Forests

Conservation prevents disease: Protecting forests helps prevent diseases linked to ecosystem destruction, deforestation, and climate disruption.

Ancestral Knowledge icon

Ancestral Knowledge

Traditional knowledge sustains life: Indigenous knowledge systems maintain biodiversity, protect ecosystems, and strengthen climate resilience.

One Health: Communities & Forests

Learn about ACT’s One Health initiative, which connects Indigenous health, forest conservation, and climate resilience across the Amazon. Discover how intercultural healthcare, traditional knowledge, and sustainable land management strengthen community well-being while protecting vital ecosystems, and explore how Indigenous-led solutions contribute to global climate and health discussions.

What Is the One Health Approach?

The One Health approach recognizes that human health, animal health, and ecosystem health are inseparable.

Global health institutions now acknowledge that environmental destruction increases the risk of disease emergence. Changes in ecosystems, wildlife trade, deforestation, climate change, and habitat fragmentation create conditions for new diseases to spread.

Yet this understanding is not new.

For many Indigenous peoples, health has always depended on the balance between visible and invisible beings, territory, and community life. Caring for forests, water, and biodiversity is part of collective well-being.

ACT’s work builds on this understanding by strengthening Indigenous health systems while protecting the ecosystems that sustain life.

Health Clinic in Brazil
Indigenous Medicine, Brazil.
Indigenous Medicine
Xucuru and Tiryió Indigenous Medicine Exchange, Brazil.
Health Clinic in Matawai
Matawai Community Clinic, Suriname.
Pattern 4
Kapai and Aretina Guardians of Knowledge Center inauguration in the Tiriyó village of Urunai, Brazil.
Kapai and Aretina Guardians of Knowledge Center inauguration in the Tiriyó village of Urunai, Brazil.

Why This Matters

The Amazon contains 10% of the planet’s known fauna and 20% of its flora, and it is home to nearly 400 Indigenous peoples across nine countries.

But deforestation, fires, mining, and expanding agricultural frontiers are rapidly altering ecosystems. Between 2022 and 2023, fires in parts of the Amazon surged dramatically, increasing risks to biodiversity and accelerating climate impacts.

Environmental degradation also threatens human health, increasing:

  • Food insecurity
  • Spread of infectious and tropical diseases
  • Respiratory illnesses
  • Mental health stress
  • Loss of medicinal plants and genetic diversity

These impacts are felt most strongly in remote Indigenous territories, where access to healthcare is often limited.

Protecting forests and supporting Indigenous health systems are therefore inseparable solutions.

One Health in Global Climate and Health Debates

Across the world, discussions on climate, biodiversity, and public health are increasingly converging. Governments, scientists, and communities are recognizing that environmental degradation, emerging diseases, and social vulnerability are interconnected challenges that must be addressed together.

International climate gatherings, including conferences such as COP30, offer opportunities to bring these experiences to the global stage and advocate for policies that connect climate action, public health, and Indigenous rights.

The solutions emerging from Indigenous territories are essential to shaping a healthier and more resilient future for both people and the planet.

"We are the nature". Indigenous March at COP30.
"We are the nature". Indigenous March at COP30.
Pattern_2

Our Strategies

Traditional Medicine

Territory & Biodiversity

We support Indigenous peoples in securing territorial rights, protecting sacred sites, and restoring ecological connectivity. These landscapes are essential for both spiritual and physical health.

Indigenous midwife

Livelihoods & Community Well-Being

ACT supports 21 intercultural health posts and trains Indigenous community health agents who provide culturally appropriate care and address neglected tropical diseases. We aim to expand and strengthen this network to reach more communities.

One Health

Governance & Culture

ACT works with Indigenous organizations and government health systems to strengthen Indigenous-led healthcare models and integrate culturally appropriate approaches into public health and climate policy.

Impact Across Indigenous Communities

Working alongside Indigenous partners, ACT supports community-led solutions that connect health, culture, and forest protection across the Amazon. Recent actions include:

Health Posts Strengthened

Midwifery Actions Supported

Traditional Medicine Actions

Medicinal Plant Initiatives

Plant Processing Actions

Chagras Strengthened

Healthcare Skill Development

Intercultural Health Models Developed

ACT's Health Posts Map

Testimonial

  • "I would like to thank ACT-Brasil for supporting the strengthening of our medicines and medicinal plants in the Tumucumaque Park, in the Paru River region. Before, many of us no longer used traditional medicine and depended only on Western medicine. Today that has changed: we use both together.


    Through the project, we trained specialists who now care for communities in several villages, including Urunay, Cuxaré, Aiki, Ayahuá, Maritapu, and Castanhão. This is very important, because we do not want to lose the knowledge of medicinal plants that our ancestors have always used.


    Today we also face new illnesses, such as diabetes and other health problems. For this reason, it is important that doctors, shamans, and traditional specialists work together. We hope that the support from ACT-Brasil will continue to strengthen this work in our communities."

    - Demetrio Tiriyó.

Pattern 4

Stories from the Field

Across the Amazon, communities are developing solutions that connect health, culture, and conservation.

Explore stories and updates on Indigenous health, climate resilience, and forest protection.

One Health, Indigenous Knowledge, and Climate Action at COP30 

Colombia Embraces Indigenous Health as National Policy

New Indigenous Cultural Center in the Brazilian Amazon

ACT Inaugurates New Indigenous Cultural Center in the Brazilian Amazon

A new healthcare model that seeks consensus among the indigenous peoples of Putumayo

Healthy Forests Need Healthy Communities

Your support helps strengthen Indigenous health systems and protect forests that benefit the entire planet.