Fundação Guamá (Guamá Foundation for Science, Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development)
Código do projeto: 7475022
Support quilombola territorial and environmental management projects through public calls for proposals and cross-cutting actions in the Legal Amazon, in line with the guidelines, objectives, and strategic pillars of the National Policy for Quilombola Territorial and Environmental Management (PNGTAQ).
Quilombola communities in the Legal Amazon.
Legal Amazon
The 2022 Demographic Census, conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), carried out the country's first census survey of the quilombola population, identifying 1.3 million people in approximately 7,600 self-declared quilombola communities. These communities are found under different territorial situations, both within and outside officially demarcated Quilombola Territories. Considering only the Legal Amazon, which covers about 59% of Brazil’s territory, the census counted 426,000 quilombola people (32.11% of the total quilombola population residing in Brazil) and 201 demarcated quilombola territories.
According to a MapBiomas study released in August 2023, which analyzed the historical series of native vegetation cover in Brazil’s 494 quilombola territories from 1985 to 2022, quilombola territories are among the country’s best-preserved land tenure categories, with an estimated loss of only 4.7% of their area.
Regarding the Legal Amazon, the report of the fifth phase (2023–2027) of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) indicates that only 0.04% of the region’s deforestation occurred within quilombola areas, demonstrating the capacity of this category of protected area to contribute to maintaining standing forests. Accordingly, the plan identifies the expansion and strengthening of the management of quilombola territories as a necessary course of action.
In November 2023, Decree No. 11,786 established the National Policy for Quilombola Territorial and Environmental Management (PNGTAQ), consolidating the guidelines and objectives for the sustainable management of quilombola territories. Key priorities include the conservation of socio-biodiversity, the protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, socio-environmental development, and the improvement of the quality of life of quilombola communities.
In this context, given the alignment between the PNGTAQ and the objectives of the Amazon Fund, discussions were held throughout 2024 between BNDES and the Ministry of Racial Equality (MIR), which is responsible for coordinating actions for the implementation of the PNGTAQ. These efforts aimed to structure this initiative to support quilombola territories and to launch a public call for the selection of a Managing Partner under the Naturezas Quilombolas Initiative (https://www.fundoamazonia.gov.br/en/how-to-submit-projects/public-calls/naturezas-quilombolas/).
Project Components
Component 1 – Initiative Management
Component 2 – Financial Support for Quilombola Projects
Raízes Call for Proposals (Chamada Raízes): support for six projects aimed at developing and implementing PGTAQs on a larger scale through network-based approaches (R$ 30 million).
As provided for in the call for proposals for the selection of the Managing Partner, the initiative was designed to encompass two complementary territorial approaches: one local and the other broader in scope.
On the one hand, implementation through quilombola organizations will contribute to strengthening local management and governance structures within quilombola territories, in line with the objectives established under Axis 5 of the PNGTAQ.
On the other hand, supporting the implementation of the policy through larger and more structured organizations will enable broader, practical experiences across multiple quilombola territories, fostering the dissemination and scaling up of the PNGTAQ.
Component 3 – Cross-Cutting Actions
Expected Key Results
In accordance with the call for proposals for the selection of the Managing Partner of the initiative, at least two governance bodies are required: the Steering Committee and the Selection Committee.
In addition to these two committees, the proposal submitted by the Guamá Foundation included a third body, the Advisory Committee, composed of interested public universities from the Legal Amazon. This committee will have a strictly advisory, non-decision-making role, with responsibilities that do not overlap with those assigned to the Steering Committee and the Selection Committee already established under the Naturezas Quilombolas Initiative.
In addition, the Guamá Foundation will collaborate with a broad and well-qualified network of partner institutions. The initiative's institutional partners include the Maranhão Black Culture Center (CCN), the Center for Studies and Advocacy of Black People in Pará (CEDENPA), the Afrodescendant Movement of Pará (Mocambo), and the State University of Pará (UEPA), contributing their expertise and experience to support the implementation of the Naturezas Quilombolas Initiative.
| Date of approval | 08.13.2026 |
| Date of the contract | 10.06.2026 |
| *Disbursement period | 10.06.2031 |
| date | amount | |
|---|---|---|
| Total amount disbursed | R$0.00 |
In this area we offer some PDF files with the main publications generated by the project. Click the filename to start the download.
State of Maranhão
Federal Government/Brazilian Forest Service (SFB)
Institute of Research and Indigenous Education (Iepé)
WWF Brazil
Environmental Conservation Institute – The Nature Conservancy of Brazil (TNC Brazil)
Banco do Brasil Foundation (FBB)
