the project
The Kayapo indigenous people of the southeastern Amazon have struggled to acquire and protect their land rights over 40 years since the frontier of settlement and resource extraction began to explode around their territories. Twenty-first century alliances of the Kayapo with conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have
enabled protection of almost ten million hectares of their contiguous ratified territories.
Key to success has been
the development of resource management and income generation activities within Kayapo indigenous territories, and territorial surveillance and protection that is essential given the lack of government enforcement.
threats
Threats
Kayapo lands are located in the midst of one of the world’s highest deforestation regions — an agricultural frontier with expanding road network and little of any form of law enforcement. Kayapo have fiercely protected their vast territory but face increased pressure from illegal incursions for goldmining, logging, commercial fishing, and ranching. The NGO alliance provided the Kayapo with new tools to monitor and control their territories and by about 2010 the Kayapo were successfully defending most of their territory. With the election of a new government in 2019, the struggle ramped up. President Bolsonaro vows to open indigenous lands to development and “integrate” indigenous people into national society -in other words, to destroy huge areas of forest and throw indigenous people into a pit of inequality, poverty and disenfranchisement.
goal
The overarching goal of the Kayapo-NGO alliance is to empower the Kayapo to defend their constitutional rights, protect their ecologically intact territories and develop sustainable economic autonomy. The Kayapo and their partners have worked over almost two decades to grow and diversify a portfolio of sustainable conservation-based enterprise, generate equitably distributed benefits, and strengthen territorial monitoring and surveillance over a vast roadless
area demarcated by some 2,000 km (1,250 miles) of border.
GOAl
conservation value
GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Kayapo defend the largest block of indigenous territory in Brazil and, in fact, the largest officially protected tract of tropical rainforest anywhere in the world. Kayapo territory is the last large tract of forest surviving in the entire southeastern Amazon and therefore, the last refuge for a mind-blowing number of species of animal and plants that cannot exist outside the Kayapo domain in this high deforestation region including such icons as: jaguar, giant otter, giant armadillo, white whiskered spider monkey, saki monkey, hyacinth macaw and harpy eagle; but also no less important timber tree species such as mahogany and many fish species that are being
logged and fished out everywhere else in the region.
The Territory: Overview
The Kayapo gained official land rights over an Amazon rainforest territory the size of a small country such as South Korea or Iceland. At 110,000 km2, or 42,421 square miles, Kayapo lands protect an intact primary forest ecosystem that forms the last large block of forest surviving in the entire southeastern Amazon.
Deforestation, goldmining and logging stays out of 90% of Kayapo territory that receives philanthropic investment. Before environmental NGO partner allies arrived on the scene in 2000, the process of invasion and corruption of Kayapo leaders by illegal loggers and goldminers was already well underway in a band of territory spanning approximately 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) along the eastern border. These eastern Kayapo communities were lured into the clutches of destructive forces before 2000 and, therefore, never allied with the environmental movement. The difference in territorial and cultural protection outcomes between those that allied with environmental NGOs and receive outside support and those that did not is stark.
Deforestation, goldmining, and logging stays out of 90% of Kayapo territory that receives philanthropic investment. Before environmental NGO partner allies arrived on the scene in 2000, the process of invasion and corruption of Kayapo leaders by illegal loggers and goldminers was already well underway in a band of territory spanning approximately 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) along the eastern border. These eastern Kayapo communities were lured into the clutches of destructive forces before 2000 and, therefore, never allied with the environmental movement. The difference in territorial and cultural protection outcomes between those that allied with environmental NGOs and receive outside support and those that did not is stark.
The 10.6 million hectare (26 million acre) block of five contiguous Kayapo indigenous territories (TI) from space (TI Kayapo, TI Bau, TI Mekragnoti, TI Capoto/Jarina, TI Badjonkore) outlined in red and blue. The light-colored non-forest in Kayapo territory marks savanna-woodland (cerrado) naturally occurring on shield rock outcrops and plateaus. Locations of Kayapo villages with more than 50 people are marked in yellow. Red outlines 9.4 million hectares (23.2 million acres) of the project area: NGO-allied Kayapo territory that is represented by a local Kayapo NGO and receives outside conservation and development investment. Blue outlines 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of Kayapo territory that receives no NGO investment and has been heavily invaded and does not form part of the project area. Pink alerts indicate forest cover loss from 2000 to 2019.
Figure 2. Hot spot analysis of all forest cover loss events across Kayapo territory from 2001 to 2019. The map shows statistically significant areas of higher hotspot incidence (in red) given the event points. Hot spots indicate deforestation events. Red outlines the 9.4 million hectare NGO-allied project area. Blue outlines the 1.2 million hectare area that does not form part of the NGO alliance. The three hotspot areas within the project area mark natural savanna/cerrado open areas. Hotspots in the eastern non-project area mark clearing for gold-mining and fires in forest degraded by logging.
KAYAPO NGOs
Kayapo NGOs and their partners have worked over almost two decades to grow and diversify a portfolio of sustainable conservation-based enterprise, generate equitably distributed benefits, and strengthen territorial monitoring and surveillance over a vast roadless area demarcated by some 2,000 km of border.
international conservation fund of canada
ICFC is a registered Canadian charity that since 2007 has carried out conservation work in Latin America, Africa and Asia. ICFC partners with local conservation organizations who conduct project activities in the field and who work with ICFC to develop project plans and budgets. They know best what needs doing and how to go about it. We look for opportunities that represent conservation priorities1 with good value in relation to cost and risk
Associação floresta protegida
The AFP is a non-profit indigenous organization (NGO) that represents approximately 2,800 Kayapo living in 30 communities located in the northeast sector of Kayapo territory. The AFP Kayapo protect approximately 2.5 million hectares (6 million acres) of their territory in the northeast.
international conservation fund
The ICF is the sister organization of the ICFC and a registered 501c charity in the USA and , therefore, is able to issue charitable donation receipts to American donors
instituto kabu
Instituto Kabu is a non-profit indigenous organization (NGO) that represents approximately 1,800 Kayapo living in 15 communities in the northwestern sector of Kayapo territory. The IK Kayapo protect approximately 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of their territory in the north and mid-west.
instituto raoni
Instituto Raoni is a non-profit indigenous organization (NGO) that represents approximately 1,700 Kayapo living in 12 communities in the southwest sector of Kayapo territory. The IR Kayapo protect approximately 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of their territory in the southwest.