The Brazilian Amazon is one of the world’s best-known ecosystems and is a rallying point for people concerned about the global environment. Besides its importance in biodiversity, the Amazon also is home to many of the most remote indigenous cultures in the world. All of us are aware of the fact that the Amazon basin is facing the immense pressure of unbridled development, which is endangering its plants and wildlife. The areas where the forest is best preserved mostly coincide with Indigenous Territories: the indigenous populations are major stakeholders, since they depend on the forests for their very survival.
The Brazil Program of the Amazon Conservation Team became full-fledged in 1999 with two efforts: the successful protection of the Uwasu Rainforest Reserve, and the initiation of an biocultural mapping project for Kamayurá indigenous ancestral lands in the Xingu National Indigenous Reserve upon the direct invitation of the tribe. Since then, the Brazil Program has grown to encompass a variety of conservation projects, and we now have offices in Manaus, Macapá, and Canarana to complement our main administrative office in Brasilia.