In response to the recent Amazon forest fires affecting our partners at the Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute in Acre, Brazil, TreeSisters is supporting a fire resilience strategy in partnership with the Boa Foundation.
Despite the community doing their best to contain the fires, even carrying buckets of water into the forest to douse the flames, the fires lasted for days and destroyed a large forest area.
"They hacked a path with machetes into the forest and carried buckets one by one, often up to 1/2 km into the forest. With the new equipment and a new strategy, they will be able to optimise the manpower and also provide support to neighbours who have no equipment or knowledge of how to combat fires." Rudy Randa, the Boa Foundation
Only after several days did the local Fire Department, soldiers from the forest brigade, and members of the local town's environment department join the efforts and were able to control the blaze. However, unfortunately, due to extreme drought conditions in the Amazon, further fires started in the following days. Thankfully, the rainy season has begun, and the fires have been extinguished for now.
TreeSisters immediately reached out to see what the Yorenka Tasorentsi community needed and how we could help. They let us know that fire equipment was desperately needed so that they were prepared to protect the forest and their people from future fires.
The BOA Foundation, of which Benki Piyãko, an Ashaninka Leader, is the Indigenous Director, has already started fundraising for this. They critically need a water truck and fire hoses, and TreeSisters is collaborating with the Boa Foundation to support and channel funds into purchasing this forest-saving fire equipment.
This is a perfect example of the importance of being adaptable in our funding approach. Due to the climatic situation in the Amazon of ongoing drought and higher temperatures in the dry season, forest fires are becoming increasingly common. This equipment will support forest restoration in the longer term by increasing protections for new and old-growth forests. The truck will also allow water to be transported to seedlings in the dry season, supporting their healthy growth.