Mothers of the Amazon in close collaboration with FEPACH ( Huni Kuin Federation ), One Small Planet, the Global Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and the University of São Paulo has been monitoring over 340,000 hectares in the state of Acre in the Brazilian Amazon.  Acre represents the largest population and congruent territories of Uncontacted Communities in the world and is therefore home to some of the highest biodiversity hotspots on our planet.

Our strategic focus has been on lands that are adjacent or in close proximity with Indigenous demarcated territories, and mostly located within 3 territories that constitute the world's largest contiguous territory of Uncontacted Communities. The sale of these ancestral and high biodiversity lands which are already on the market and garnering interest, would jeopardize the way of life and the future of 7 Contacted and 5 Uncontacted Indigenous Peoples.

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Several of the lands we have monitored have already been sold mainly to carbon credit companies, logging companies and agribusinesses. Acre, a leading state for carbon offset in Brazil and worldwide, is being sold to the highest bidder leading to some of the largest and historically most extractive companies on the planet owning the Amazon rainforest. The anticipated growth of the carbon offset market is driving an “eco” gold rush fueled by impact investment throughout the Amazon and more specifically in Acre, putting our future, some of the last Uncontacted Communities on Earth and some of the highest biodiversity hot spots on the planet at risk.

 

Mothers of the Amazon, has secured 2 ancestral lands for the Shanenawa and the Huni Kuin Peoples that are now held in perpetuity by local Indigenous associations representing the Shanenawa and the Huni Kuin. We are in the process of securing additional lands that are under immediate threat from mining, logging and carbon credit developers to support the Indigenous communities affected by these sales and help them protect their ancestral territories.