Help to support indigenous projects in the Amazon

After a 2 month push back due to catastrophic, unprecedented floodings in the Acre region, I am thrilled to be joining an expedition in the Amazon to support indigenous biocultural preservation efforts on 15th May.

This delay only exposes the perilous, unpredictable nature of the climate and how it deeply affected those communities, threatens their lively hoods, their habitat and their way of life. These projects are close to my heart for so many reasons:

Indigenous peoples make up less than 5% of the global population but they steward around 80% of the earth’s biodiversity. They are at the front lines of the climate and biodiversity crisis, and with access to the right resources they have the power to help diminish some of its worst effects and preserve its ancestral cultural and medicinal heritage.

We will be visiting the 4 projects the El Puente foundation is funding at the moment:

• Realza Ethobotanical Reserve & Reforestation

• Sustainable Ethnobotanicals Research Program (SERP)

• House of cultures in Rio Branco with the the Xubua Institute

• Reserve Centro Huwa Karu Yuxibu

I am delighted to report that thanks to donations like yours, the El Puente foundation has recently acquired 2,400 ha of forest destined to be chopped for agriculture, thus managing to preserve ancient forest, invaluable medicine and the associated knowledge and wisdom.

El Puente is not only the bridge between the West and the Indigenous but also within communities through the Casa das culturas (House of Culture).

This historical house Casa da Gameleira was a cultural centre, and since 2023 it is being renewed with El Puente to be a Casa das Culturas to promote intercultural exchanges and to strengthen traditional cultures. The goal in 2024 is to raise funds to finish the purchase of the house, improve the infrastructure and support cultural activities and events.

Find out more about the El Puente Foundation and Watch this short video