Rationale

• Brazil is a priority country for action in our Tree Strategy and the Ashaninka’s indigenous territory is one of the remaining tropical Intact Forest Landscapes on Earth. It is 872 square kilometres (about the size of New York City) of primary forest and it is one of the most biodiverse areas of the Amazon.
• It is important for us to support a project which supports the guardians of the forest to keep the trees intact whilst supporting the exemplary life they yearn to live. Satellite data and maps have proven their role in the protection of the forest such as in this animation produced by the World Resources Institute. The Ashaninka started replanting in an outside area their indigenous land 14 years ago. They know what’s needed and they know how to do it. They did not wait for anyone to tell them what to do. However, they need our support to become more economically self-sufficient and resilient in the face of pressures for land and economic interests.
• The current situation in the Amazon is urgent. There has never been so much interest in opening up the Amazon to irresponsible development in the name of economic growth. Roads and resettlement of farmers drive people into the depths of the Amazon rainforest. Fires complete the land's conversion for agricultural use. Many indigenous communities struggle to protect their lands (many of which are now at the edge of the “civilized” world) against illegal logging and agricultural pressure. Last summer about 20,000 hectares (1) of the Surui’ indigenous territory was burned.
• A native forest garden which is based on conservation, as well as collective and communal values, is a starkly different approach to common agriculture. Our conventional agriculture is about destroying the forest at the expenses of profitable economic activities supposedly of higher value which benefit a few but jeopardise the way of life of many. Such a project can play an important role in fostering healthier interactions between people and trees, by showcasing a different agricultural system that benefits people, soil, and Nature. With its healthier soils, a native forest garden produces nutritious fruits and nuts for both non-indigenous locals and indigenous people. It also helps stabilise water supplies, and reduces sediment run-off (from soil erosion and inland pollution) pouring into the rivers, which will, in turn, positively impacts aquatic life and the people who eat them.

Benki Piyako of the Ashaninka

Benki Piyãko was born in 1974 of an indigenous father (also community chief) and a non-indigenous mother whose family arrived during the rubber boom. Benki has been fighting for the preservation of Nature and Ashaninka cultural heritage since he was a child. He was designated and trained from a very young age to become a community shaman - someone who holds and transfers the Ashaninka ancient knowledge, traditions, and traditional medicinal practices. 

In 1992, at the age of 20, Benki created the Apwitxa Association, named after the village where he grew up. It aims to preserve the Ashaninka’s integrity and local biodiversity. Projects include forest restoration and the creation of agroforestry systems for greater food and economic self-sufficiency. Apiwtxa projects have planted about 2,000,000 trees to date.

Project details

Through the Yorenka Tasorentsi  Reforestation program, TreeSisters will establish a forest garden across 10 hectares of deforested land located on the edge of Marechal Thaumaturgo. The goal is to plant 50,000 native fruit producing trees of ten species from 2020 to 2022. There is a possibility that we could plant more trees with them after 2022 if the Ashaninka succeed in acquiring more land. This would be needed to keep up with their plan to plant 10 million agroforestry trees over the next 10 years.

This project is being implemented by the Yorenka Tasorentsi community (comprised of Ashaninka, indigenous and non-indigenous peoples), (2)  whilst Aquaverde is responsible for communication (including translation) and reporting. Aquaverde has a long history with indigenous people. Since 2005, they have supported the Surui tribe to replant 7% of their degraded forest lands with over 250, 000 trees. Aquaverde has engaged with the Ashaninka since October 2017, at the  invitation of Chief Raoni (Gayapo People).

The forest garden aims to: (a) generate fruits and nuts, providing sustainable nutritious food to the non-indigenous locals in the town of Marechal Thaumaturgo and to the people involved with or visiting the project; (b) facilitate other indigenous people to reclaim their values and traditions, by changing the perception of project visitors about Nature, agriculture, and about indigenous people.

Beneficiaries

• About 25 paid employees will earn a regular income, 20 of whom are planting and teaching experts. 6 of whom are assigned to project administration and coordination, including Benki Piyãko - 3 of whom are female employees. Benki sets the example: his savings are for the benefit of the community. He financially helps the whole community by donating to individuals, or Apiwtxa projects, or by organising the Ashaninka’s festivals.
• 1,000 Ashaninka (the entire community at “Kampa do Rio Amônia”) and members of the Yorenka Tasorentsi community will indirectly benefit through revenues generated by the agroforestry work and from selling products through a future cooperative in Marechal Thaumaturgo. Generated benefits will be partly reinvested into community services/welfare. 
• Over 1,000 people including other indigenous Amazon people, (non-indigenous) locals living in Marechal Thaumaturgo, as well as other Brazilians, and foreigners, will benefit through knowledge and experience sharing through free awareness workshops.
  

Environmental benefits

• The project preserves the Amazon’s biodiversity by changing a degraded landscape invaded by African grass and non-native trees, into a native forest garden. 
• The project is likely to increase floral, faunal, and soil microbial diversity, as proven by a study which evaluated biodiversity within agroforestry plots, monocropping,  crop alleys and even some forests. (3)
• Increased soil fertility and more productive farming systems, means less need for space for farming at the expense of natural forests, in comparison with before with monocropping/conventional farming.
• People living near the forest will lower economic and/or subsistence dependency on natural forests. Local people will now be able to derive income from tree produce, making them less likely to cut down trees and sell timber to survive, as well as less reliant on cattle systems.
• This project has the potential to moderate climate change through carbon sequestration in tree biomass and soil, and indirectly through reduced deforestation.
• Whist trees are planted, natural forest regeneration can occur too. A study based on satellite imagery in the State of Rondonia in Brazil showed that farmers engaged in Agroforestry farming tend to have more secondary succession and/or primary forest in and around their land. (4)
• The Ashaninka’s vision to share their agroforestry knowledge, forest management practices and wisdom to outsiders will have a ripple effect on the entire Amazon, and of course, reduce global carbon emissions and global warming.

 Footnotes:

1. From Thomas Pizer, President of Aquaverde from his conversation with Chief Almir Surui.
2. Portuguese name is ‘Associação de Jovens Guerreiros Guardiões da Floresta’.
3. ResearchGate. “(PDF) Agroforestry and Biodiversity.” Accessed October 31, 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333255638_Agroforestry_and_Biodiversity.
4. Blinn, Christine E., John O. Browder, Marcos A. Pedlowski, and Randolph H. Wynne. “Rebuilding the Brazilian Rainforest: Agroforestry Strategies for Secondary Forest Succession.” Applied Geography 43 (September 1, 2013): 171–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2013.06.013.