information
The priority of the “People of the Forest” project is to restore degraded areas in the Amazon, in partnership with native communities, such as the Ashaninka people. The Ashaninka communities depend on the forest for their livelihood. This reforestation project enables them to plant fruit trees to restore their soils and recreate what they call “The Fruit forest” which enhances their self-sufficiency. It also contributes to revive the Ashaninka culture by helping them to take root in their territories through forest conservation activities.
Location
Acre state, Amazonia, BrazilType
Agroforestry and reforestation
Local partner
The Apiwtxa, Jovens Guerreiros da Paz e da Floresta associationsParticipants
Indian communities, young farmers descendants of Brazilian migrantsAchievements
69,052 planted treessupply chain
Fruits and VegetablesLocal partner
Created in 1993, the Apiwtxa association regroups 39 Ashaninka families from Rio Amônia. They are pioneers of a remarkable local development model that is based on an agriculture involving less deforestation (crop rotation, planting a “Fruit Forest”), which respects the forest regeneration cycle and enables the small animal rearing (turtles, fish). Benki Piyanko, co-initiator and local coordinator of the Povos da Floresta project, is an indian chief, an agroforestry specialist and one of the leaders of the Ashaninka community.
Plantation models
Species planted

Açai – Euterpe oleracea

Cupuassu – Theobroma grandiflorum

Kapok – Ceiba pentandra

Pupunha – Bactris gasipaes
participants
The beneficiaries of the project are families living on the Ashaninka territory and young farmers – descendants of Brazilian migrants – trained by the Ashaninkas on agroecology practices. They have no or low incomes, mostly coming from sales of fruit and vegetables and traditional art (jewelry, clothes, accessories, music instruments). The organization is community-based, with regular public meetings and consensual decisions.
Photo stories
The Amazon forest is the world’s largest and most diverse tropical rainforest. Named after the Amazon river, it is estimated to account for one fifth of all the freshwater in liquid form on this earth, and produce 20 percent of the earth’s oxygen. The Povos da Floresta project takes place in the extreme southwest of the Brazilian Amazon, in the state of Acre. It is a very remote area; “where the wind turns around” according to the Brazilians. This region, as many other regions in the forest, is threatened by the development of road infrastructure, oil exploration, extensive cattle ranching and illegal extraction of timber.