Project selected under the Public Call for Support to Territorial and Environmental Management in Indigenous Lands

Contextualization

The Comissão Pró-Índio do Acre (CPI-Acre), a civil association founded in 1979, has the mission of supporting the Indigenous peoples of Acre in their efforts to achieve recognition and exercise of their territorial and sociocultural rights. For over 40 years, it has worked alongside various Indigenous groups in Acre, in nearly all of the state's 35 Indigenous Lands (ILs), actively contributing to the development of public policies for Indigenous peoples, with notable achievements in the areas of education, training for technical assistance, and support for participatory processes of ethnomapping, as well as the creation and implementation of Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTAs) for Indigenous Lands.

The institution had its first project contracted by the Amazon Fund in 2015, aimed at strengthening sustainable production, culture, and traditional ways of life in four ILs in Acre.

The project “Indigenous Experiences in Territorial and Environmental Management in Acre” was selected through a public call for proposals focused on supporting the development and implementation of PGTAs, understood as instruments that materialize the planning—agreed upon by the involved Indigenous community—for the use of their territory for cultural, environmental, and economic purposes.

The context in which the project was developed included both strengths and challenges—or vulnerabilities—present in Acre’s ILs, considering that communities still require improvements in food security and income generation, and remain susceptible to external threats.

THE PROJECT

The project included activities that contributed to the implementation of Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTAs) in eight Indigenous Lands in the state of Acre: Kaxinawa do Rio Jordão; Kaxinawa do Baixo Jordão; Kaxinawa Seringal Independência; Kaxinawa/Ashaninka do Rio Breu; Igarapé do Caucho; Kaxinawa Praia do Carapanã; Kampa do Igarapé Primavera; and Katukina/Kaxinawa.

The set of activities carried out in each of these regions was designed based on their respective PGTAs. Three activities were common to all Indigenous Lands: management of agroforestry systems and home gardens, installation of rainwater harvesting points, and workshops on environmental and territorial management and solid waste handling. Other activities had a more localized scope. Additionally, in some Indigenous Lands, actions were carried out to strengthen territorial protection, monitoring and surveillance, and coordination and training with surrounding communities.

The project also included other initiatives, such as the training of Indigenous Agroforestry Agents (AAFIs), through which four training groups were supported, resulting in the graduation and qualification of 50 AAFIs at the Forest Peoples Training Center in Rio Branco. These agents carry out educational and participatory work with Indigenous communities and their surroundings, contributing to the management of these territories.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project was part of the “sustainable production” (1) and “land use planning” (3) components of the Amazon Funds Logical Framework and contributed to ensuring that activities that keep the forest standing have economic attractiveness and constitute an alternative to deforestation in the Indigenous Lands, in addition to having worked to strengthen the territorial and environmental management of Indigenous Lands in the state of Acre.

Three direct expected outcomes were defined as part of the project’s implementation:

1. Sustainable forest and biodiversity-based productive activities identified and developed in the Indigenous Lands of Kaxinawa do Rio Jordão, Kaxinawa do Baixo Jordão, Kaxinawa Seringal Independência, Kaxinawa/Ashaninka do Rio Breu, Igarapé do Caucho, Kaxinawa Praia do Carapanã, Kampa do Igarapé Primavera, and Katukina/Kaxinawa;

2. Enhanced managerial and technical capacities for implementing sustainable forest and biodiversity-based economic activities in the Indigenous Lands of Acre;

3. Strengthened infrastructure, territorial protection, and management in the Indigenous Lands of Kaxinawa do Rio Jordão, Kaxinawa do Baixo Jordão, Kaxinawa Seringal Independência, Kaxinawa/Ashaninka do Rio Breu, Igarapé do Caucho, Kaxinawa Praia do Carapanã, Kampa do Igarapé Primavera, and Katukina/Kaxinawa.

Click on the following image to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impact.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED 

Four intensive training courses for Indigenous Agroforestry Agents (IAAs) were conducted at the Forest Peoples Training Center, enabling the continuation and completion of training for 50 IAAs. Additionally, the project supported 19 IAAs in completing technical-professional secondary education.

Six workshops on territorial and environmental management were held. A seventh workshop was conducted in the Katukina/Kaxinawá Indigenous Land (IL), focusing on forest fire prevention and the training of Indigenous fire brigades. Two exclusive workshops for women were also organized, involving the Kaxinawá Ashaninka of the Rio Breu IL, along with a workshop on agroforestry monitoring using georeferencing technologies. These activities positively impacted ongoing initiatives in the ILs.

Based on Indigenous-authored materials produced during courses and workshops, a book and three bilingual posters (in Portuguese and Hãtxa Kui languages) were created, addressing water resource and solid waste management.

In the area of territorial coordination and protection, 12 meetings were held with institutions responsible for IL oversight, and 20 surveillance expeditions were carried out across six ILs. These involved IAAs and other community members, including leaders, women, and youth, who participated in community monitoring, surveillance, and collective efforts to reopen demarcation trails. The Geoprocessing Sector (SEGEO) of CPI-Acre maintained remote monitoring, assessing forest cover, deforestation in surrounding areas, and regional threats such as roads and trails. SEGEO produced maps based on surveillance data and shared them with Indigenous leaders.

Regarding the management of home gardens and agroforestry systems (AFSs), 19 advisory trips were made to the eight ILs supported by the project, and three batches of tools were delivered to assist in managing crops and agroforests. The directly managed forest area resulting from the supported project was measured through a sample of 354 plantings in 28 of the 92 villages involved, using the Avenza app to map perimeters and automatically calculate AFS and garden areas. These data were extrapolated using statistical methodology, resulting in a total managed area of 287.22 hectares.

Several additional activities, not originally planned, were also carried out. Notably, poultry farming was supported in all 92 participating villages, with an average of two chicken coops built per village and the delivery of 4 to 6 free-range chickens per village, totaling 184 coops. By the end of the project, approximately 920 birds were being raised.

In terms of water resource management, 54 rainwater harvesting systems were built, along with two demonstration systems at the Forest Peoples Training Center. Additionally, 32 wells were constructed or renovated across five ILs, improving access to quality water, especially for women in their daily work.

For institutional strengthening of CPI-Acre, improvements were made to the infrastructure and security of the Training Center, as well as to institutional communication strategies. Support for administrative accounting routines and the preparation of external audits was essential for sound institutional management.

The project also catalyzed significant autonomous actions by Indigenous communities, through the provision of equipment such as boats, cameras, cell phones, laptops, and internet access in villages. These tools enabled Indigenous surveillance teams and consultants to carry out a wide range of activities across all project interventions, including advisory trips, workshops, surveillance expeditions, and coordination with oversight institutions.

RESULT AND IMPACT INDICATORS

The project activities contributed to the outcomes related to the components “Sustainable Production” (1) and “Territorial Planning” (3) of the Fundo Amazônia Logical Framework.

The main indicators agreed upon for monitoring these objectives were:

Direct Outcome (1.1) - Sustainable forest and biodiversity-based productive activities identified and developed in the following Indigenous Lands (ILs): Kaxinawá of Rio Jordão; Kaxinawá of Baixo Jordão; Kaxinawá Seringal Independência; Kaxinawá/Ashaninka of Rio Breu; Igarapé do Caucho; Kaxinawá Praia do Carapanã; Kampa of Igarapé Primavera and Katukina/Kaxinawá.

Output Indicators

• Area of Indigenous gardens and fields managed and/or enriched with agroforestry systems (hectares)
  Target: 197,4 | Achieved: 287,22

• Number of seedlings/seeds planted
  Target: 10,000 | Achieved: 10,108

Outcome Indicators

Volume of raw production generated by the supported project, broken down by product (in tons or other units):

• Açaí
  Target: 5 tons | Achieved: 5,5 tons

• Orange
  Target: 0,5 ton | Achieved: 21,9 tons

• Long banana
  Target: 10 tons | Achieved: 38,6 tons

• Buriti
  Target: 1 ton | Achieved: 6 tons

• Cupuaçu
  Target: 1 ton | Achieved: 8,9 tons

• Cassava (macaxeira)
  Target: 10 tons | Achieved: 56 tons

Direct Outcome (1.3) - Expanded managerial and technical capacities for implementing sustainable forest and biodiversity-based economic activities in Indigenous Lands (ILs) in Acre.

Output Indicators

• Number of training courses for Indigenous Agroforestry Agents (IAAs) conducted
  Target: 27 | Achieved: 32

• Number of IAAs trained in courses for the development of sustainable production activities, disaggregated by gender
  Target: 79 | Achieved: 84

• Number of Indigenous individuals trained by IAAs for the development of sustainable production activities, disaggregated by gender
  Target: 340 | Achieved: 841 (including 293 women)

Outcome Indicators

• Number of Indigenous individuals trained for the development of sustainable production activities who are effectively applying the acquired knowledge, disaggregated by gender
  Target: 275 | Achieved: 1,098 men and 522 women

These results reflect a higher number of advisory trips, training courses, and workshops than originally planned. They also highlight the project's focus on facilitating autonomous work by Indigenous consultant IAAs within their territories, who continuously visited villages to inform, plan, negotiate, and carry out activities with families.

Direct Outcome (3.2) -  The Indigenous Lands of Kaxinawá of Rio Jordão, Kaxinawá of Baixo Jordão, Kaxinawá Seringal Independência, Kaxinawá/Ashaninka of Rio Breu, Igarapé do Caucho, Kaxinawá Praia do Carapanã, Kampa of Igarapé Primavera, and Katukina/Kaxinawá have strengthened infrastructure, territorial protection, and management.

Output Indicator 

• Monitoring and surveillance reports submitted to competent oversight agencies
  Target: 18 | Achieved: 6

The main challenge that negatively impacted this activity was the politically adverse environment toward Indigenous causes. Although meetings were held with relevant institutions, they did not result in concrete actions.

Output Indicator 

• Number of territorial and environmental management workshops conducted
  Target: 6 | Achieved: 6

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the strategy of organizing workshops within Indigenous Lands (ILs) exclusively by Indigenous facilitators enabled the achievement of the target. This was notably the case in the ILs of Igarapé do Caucho, Kaxinawá Praia do Carapanã, and Katukina/Kaxinawá.

• Number of Indigenous participants in the workshops, disaggregated by gender
  Target: 180 | Achieved: 204 men and 75 women
• Number of participations by representatives from surrounding communities in coordination and engagement events
  Target: 9 | Achieved: 197

The high number of participations by representatives from surrounding communities is due to the project's strong emphasis on coordination and training activities for integrated management with residents of neighboring areas (such as RESEX Alto Tarauacá and RESEX Alto Juruá). These efforts aimed to foster dialogue on shared challenges and threats, negotiate territorial protection and political advocacy agreements, and define strategies to improve food security.

• Number of Indigenous villages served by rainwater harvesting systems
  Target: 26 | Achieved: 50

• Number of monitoring and surveillance expeditions conducted
  Target: 18 | Achieved: 20

Although the project originally planned actions in only four Indigenous Lands (ILs), six ILs ended up implementing territorial protection activities either with support from the project or through exclusive contributions from the villages themselves.

• Number of missions for meetings between Indigenous representatives and oversight agencies
  Target: 12 | Achieved: 12

The meetings were successfully held; however, they did not result in effective actions from the oversight agencies.

Outcome Indicator 

• Extent of protected areas with strengthened environmental management and/or improved territorial control (hectares)
  Target: 260,523 | Achieved: 1,610,156

This result reflects the intensive training of Indigenous Agroforestry Agents (IAAs) through courses conducted in 22 Indigenous Lands over the past five years with support from the project. It also reflects the ongoing support these agents provide for territorial and environmental management activities in their villages, the expansion of poultry farming across all these ILs, and the strengthening of agroforestry plantations.

Institutional and administrative aspects

Among the established partnerships, the Special Indigenous Health District (DSEI)/Secretariat of Indigenous Health (SESAI) of the Ministry of Health and the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) stand out, along with an emergency collaborative action supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), which coordinated donations of essential food items, distribution of food and fishing kits, hygiene and cleaning supplies, fuel, and equipment for access to potable water, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme flooding events in 2021 and 2022. Partnerships were also established with PREVFOGO/Ibama and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the training of Indigenous fire brigades, and with WWF Brazil for training Indigenous monitors and promoting the use of technologies for territorial protection—crucial for enhancing Indigenous protection teams’ capacity in preventing and combating wildfires and illegal resource extraction.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has also played a key role in defending Indigenous rights, particularly regarding the impacts and irregularities of highway construction projects and in enforcing public policies such as the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) and the Food Acquisition Program (PAA).

Risks and lessons learned

The coronavirus pandemic required adaptive strategies, such as virtual meetings, internet installation in villages, information campaigns, emergency support, and the reconfiguration of courses and workshops to prevent infections. The partnership with DSEI – SESAI was essential for delivering emergency aid to the villages, as well as for strengthening activities related to local production structures, such as poultry farming, construction of chicken coops, fish farming, lake management, well renovations, among others, to enhance food security and income generation in the villages during a delicate period of social isolation.

Another adverse scenario was the flooding that occurred in early 2021 and 2022, which redirected a significant amount of the team’s time to emergency response actions, in addition to those already underway due to the pandemic. The affected communities had to focus on recovering crops, agroforestry plantations, animal husbandry, and rebuilding many homes that were destroyed by the floods.

Therefore, the continuous planning, negotiation, and execution of activities in close partnership with Indigenous associations and Indigenous consultants from the ILs was of utmost importance for implementing all activities in the territories, enabling results that exceeded those originally anticipated.

Sustainability of the results

It is important to emphasize the need to further intensify actions that Indigenous people themselves can carry out autonomously, such as monitoring plantations, conducting evaluations, updating and implementing community proposals and demands, maintaining activities led by highly experienced IAAs and Indigenous leaders who already have significant professional experience as Indigenous consultants. These individuals can facilitate mediation and advisory actions between Indigenous Lands, ensuring that activities are carried out in the villages with knowledge-sharing initiatives and attention to key aspects of food security.

Participants in the project’s closing seminar raised issues related to the scale and coverage of actions, replicability, expansion, duration, and sustainability. The activities developed aim to promote the implementation or consolidation of alternative and intercultural practices in environmental management, agroforestry production, animal husbandry, among others, serving as demonstrative models. These practices, due to their low financial and material requirements, prioritization of locally available inputs, and familiarity to the communities, are accessible and replicable, enabling learning and reconstruction. Another important action will be to encourage local production of seedlings and seeds and the exchange of these inputs between villages and territories, maximizing autonomy of access and the genetic flow of local varieties.

The mobilization of resources that make these practices and demonstrative models possible also allows for scaling up, expanding coverage to a larger number of families. In addition to what is implemented as demonstrative models in the Indigenous Lands, the agroforestry agents have the experience of what they developed and implemented at the Forest Peoples Training Center of CPI-Acre. Thus, local actions, in the medium and long term, help maintain and expand the positive results of this and other projects beyond their execution period, sustaining and disseminating the learnings and solutions.

Participants also emphasized that regardless of the various resources and interests that families may mobilize, two elements are essential: that local Indigenous associations are strengthened to expand partnerships and secure projects, which are fundamental for continuity and scaling; and that the actions serve to influence public policies. Therefore, the sustainability of continued results must be anchored in the acquisition and enhancement of skills that enable local actors, their collectives, and organizations to intensify coordination for greater technical and financial support, as well as knowledge and capacity for political advocacy.