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ARARIPE PROJECT

“lugar onde começa il tiempo”

BY

Bravo Amarante Edelvy （Cuba） Cavalcante Siqueira Ribeiro Lais (Brazil)

de Paula Francesca (Italy) Fang Xi (China)

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“Forest as a place without owners, where trees and

human beings live together and grow together, one

protecting the other.”

Rationale / Guiding principles

RELEVANCE

Background

The Amazon Basin contains the

world's largest rainforest, which

has long been recognized as a

repository of ecological services

not only for local tribes and

PROTECTION  

Of  community  

integrity  and  forest  

RESPECT  

For  diversity  and  

indigenous  lifestyle  

HARMONY    

As  a  universal  value    

SCIENCE  AND  

TECHNOLOGY  in  support  

of  sustainability  

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communities, but also for the rest of the world, containing 60% of the world's biodiversity and

inhabited by hundreds of millions of people. However, despite being one of the most important

global environmental problems, the pheomena of deforestation and forest degradation are getting

worse. After increasing slightly in 2013, the pace of deforestation has more than doubled in the

past six months, according to an analysis of photographs from Brazil’s SAD monitoring system,

which analyzes NASA satellite imagery and provides monthly updates on the state of the forest.

It was estimated that the Amazon rainforest would be reduced by 40% in two decades.

The main causes of this problem are directly related to the current unfair and destructive

economic model of production and consumption, which depends on the direct exploitation of

numerous natural recources. A large portion of deforestation can be attributed to land clearing

for pasture by commercial and speculative interests, however, illegal logging and wood trade are

accelerated by subsistence patterns of indigenous communities. Logging is often the first step

towards deforestation. The extraction of the most valuable trees, such as Apé, reduces canopy

cover and opens up paths into the forest that are often later used to start fires for illegal land

clearance. According to the report of the Association of Imazon, the area illegally logged

increased by 151% in Pará between 2011 and 2012. The state of Rondonia, once home to

208,000 square kilometers of forest, has become one of the most deforested parts of the Amazon.

In the past three decades, clearing and degradation of the state’s forests have been rapid.

In 2013 the UN declared March 21 as the International Day of Forests, a new initiative to halt

deforestation.

Our idea is to contribute in the fight against deforestation of Amazon rainforest, in the safeguard

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of biodiversity and in local social – economical and cultural development, in full respect of

traditional local knowledge and lifestyle, by setting up a pilot project, which will then becomes a

replicable model for other communities of the Amazonian Area in similar situations.

Partners:

Federal University of Rondonia (Department of Indigenous Studies, Department of Medicine),

Federal University of Pará   (Department of Indigenous Studies, Department of Medicine) for

local knowledge, linkages with scientific, ecnomic and academic realities;

University of Sancti Spiritus of Cuba (Department of Applied Research and Technology) for

biogas, solar energy technology, and the reuse of natural waste as packaging for honey and other

alimentary products;

FUNAI (Fundação Nacional do Índio), knowledge of these indigenous groups, intercultural

communication and mediation, dissemination and replication;

KIP International School: expertise in local sustainable development, international visibility and

international dissemination and replication of the experiences.

Stakeholders: Amazon Fund, Projeto Amazonia Justa (Fairtrade Project currently implemented

in Pará managed by Istituto Brasil Justo funded by Petrobras and the Federal Government )

Duration: Three years

Target areas:  

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We have identified two indigenous communities in the

Amazonian area of Brazil which are the areas most

affected by illegal timber logging and trade. The two

communities Amanayé and Sakurabiat are respectively

located in the State of Pará and the State of Rondônia  

in  Brazil.    

The  target  beneficiaries  are  the  whole  population  of  

the   two   communities,   amouting   to   approximately  

300.    

Demographic, Social, Political, Cultural and

Economic Context

1. Amananayé or Amanagé (group of people)

community is located in upper Capim River in the

Pará state of Brazil.

Population: 210 (DAI/AMTB - 2010); 134 (FUNASA - 2010); 204 (Culturasindígenas.org

- 2005).

Official language(s): Amanayé

Religion: Catholic.

Social organization: the small tribe is located in

the indigenous reserve in the form of Balalaika

farm, isolated and surrounded by forests. The tribe is composed of six houses with twelve

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families. A diesel generator for electricity and

televisions are used in the community.

Existing economic activities:

Hunting, fishing and fruit gathering are the principal

way of subsistence. The alimentary products are sold to regatões, a person who sells products

by boat, in exchange of manufactured goods. There are also cultivation of rice, cassava, yams,

papaya, pineapple, bananas, oranges, guavas, lemons, acai, and many other fruits.

Problems:

-­‐ Environment degradation due to deforestation and the use of pesticides;

-­‐ Risks derived from logging and illegal timber trade;

-­‐ Low agricultural productivity caused by soil degradation and invasive agricultural practices.

-­‐ Lack of sanitary services. The nearest medical point can be arrived in two days by boat.

2. Sakiriabar or Sakurabiat (group of nail-monkeys) tribe lives in two different regions in

the State of Rondônia, in the indigenous land of

Guaporé river and in Mequéns.

Population: 84 (DAI/AMTB 2010), 161 (FUNASA

2010).

Official language(s): Sabanê   and   Sakirabiá.   25  

people  speak  Portuguese.  

Religion:   since   the  death  of   the   last   leader  of   the   tribe  pajé   in  1995,   the  rituals  have  

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been  abandoned.    

Social Organization: the residents live in round houses, surrounded by their plantation.

Children and women take care of the fruits plantations, while men are rubber workers. It is a

miscegeneous tribe, there are marriages with people from outside of the tribe. They are a

small group now because many people leave the tribe to start living in an urban place.

Existing economic activities:

-­‐ Handicrafts: manufacture of fabric which is called marico  and  it  is  becomes  from  the  

tucum  fiber.  Necklaces  and  bracelets  decorated  with  monkey  teeth  and  tucumã  

seeds.  

-­‐ Hunting,  limited  fishing  practice,  cultivation  of  different  kinds  of  corn,  cassava,  

annatto,  cotton,  peppers,  gourds,  papaya,  sweet  potato,  yam  and  tobacco.    

Problems:  

-­‐ Environment degradation due to deforestation;  

-­‐ Presence of illegal farms and sawmills inside the indigenous reserve;  

-­‐ Economic  dependance  to  an  illegal  activity  

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES

1. Use of new engergy and agricultural technologies for food and energy independance

and security

Activities:

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1. Setting up a working group of the Project participated by the project panel and

representatives of the communities.

2. Evaluating potentials for the reuse of available forest waste for producing biogas.

3. Acquiring necessary materials for the construction of the six biogas equipments.

4. Training people for the use and the maintenance of biogas equipments.

2. Facilitating the access of agricultural and handicraft products to local markets through

community exchanges, barters and projects like Projeto Amazonia Justa (Fairtrade)

Activities:

1. Working with the communities to identify local materials for creating hand-made

packages of their products (nuts, shells, leaves, etc.).

2. Promoting trade through exchange of products among neighboring indigenous

communities.

3. Promoting eco-agricultural practices for self-sufficiency and security of food.

Activities:

1. Utilizing biological waste for the production of biogas as biofertilizer.

2. Selecting and preserving seeds of traditional plants of the communities with the support

of the partner universities.

3. Villagers are trained in agro-ecological practices.

Developing a capacity building program in indigenous communities related to sustainable

forest management.

Activities:

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1. Organizing workshops with leaders and community residents to inform on the

importance of forest conservation.

2. Promoting the conservation of the forest as a resource for life.

3. Advising community leaders to claim their rights for financial compensation for the

environmental services provided in the forest protection.

Improving access to basic health services

Activities:

1. Setting up an itinerant medical service system, involving international and national

voluntary doctors.

 

SUSTAINABILITY

The sustainability of the Project is ensured by the empowerment of indigenous communities

using new technologies, which allows them to have resources to meet their basic needs without

exploiting illegally forest resources in the Amazon. The low complexity of the promoted

technologies allow local people to learn to use efficiently and realize maintenance work by

themselves. With the development of new income sources, the community can share the results

and experiences with the rest of the community and other indigenous communities,

disseminating a secure financial source for the development of indigenous communities. The

participation of universities and organizations such as FUNAI, Amazon Fund and KIP

International School contribute to ensure the sustainability of the Project.