Choose Earth is currently partnered with 64 indigenous leaders, supporting 35 communities in 18 of the 26 states in Brazil.
As a result of the money we raised together, we are delighted to share some of the activities that have been supported by these funds.
With your support we funded:
- The construction and running costs of community centres
- Ceremonial houses to continue traditional spaces
- Indigenous security and protection guard training of leaders & chiefs
- Health strategies across indigenous groups during the pandemic, leading to the creation and distribution of 840 handmade masks
- Food packages and other food security items
- Boats for escaping attacks
- Rent for land and homes for displaced people
- Seed collection, replanting and ecosystem restoration
- Advocacy initiatives, media content creation, journalism, digital access
“We leaders spend many sleepless nights thinking about our children and grandchildren and what can happen to them if they don’t have a land to live in the future. But the support [from the Choose
Earth Campaign helps us stay in the fight”. Voo da Vespa, recipient of Choose Earth funds.
The Indigenous leaders – or Cosmic Butterflies as they are known – have reflected that the small amounts of money provided to individual activists have been profound, acting as a glue for the movement.
Jair Bolsonaro’s government has introduced major modifications to indigenous land policy, facilitating the takeover of unregistered ancestral indigenous lands, permitting use by loggers, cattle ranchers and soy growers.
At COP26 Choose Earth called on world leaders to listen and include indigenous communities, sharing the message across Glasgow on billboards. A highlight of COP26 was being able to bring Célia and Sônia to the billboards in person.
Choose Earth is a public-facing campaign in partnership with Earthrise Studio. It is a collaboration between indigenous and non-indigenous activists and communicators, using multimedia storytelling to support Brazilian indigenous communities’ fight for social and environmental justice. By resourcing a network of frontline defenders who put themselves at risk to preserve life for all, we are ensuring our own survival. The funds raised are shared through The Indigenous-led Fund for Activists – called Voo da Vespa (Flight of the Wasp) which was launched in August 2020 in partnership with The Roddick Foundation.
These issues direct financial assistance to individual indigenous and allied activists in Brazil who have been nominated by their peers, to financially support their activism, so they can continue to campaign without financial fear.
Why Choose Earth Exists:
Brazil’s Indigenous peoples need grassroots support in fighting for social justice and defending the natural systems on which we all depend.
With traditional conservation approaches dismissing the depth of ancestral knowledge of the Brazilian indigeneous communities, current strategies fail to achieve what is necessary in order to protect Brazil’s many biomes: Cerrado, Pantanal, Pampa, Caatinga, Mata Atlântica, Amazonía. As such, there is a critical need to collectively rethink and be directed by indigenous intelligence and strategy, well beyond the Amazon.
Indigenous communities across Brazil face political attacks, corporate pressure, territorial invasion, and the impacts of COVID-19 on a daily basis. Having reached this critical point in 2021, the stakes have never been higher.
Choose Earth has partnered with 64 indigenous leaders to assist in their collective resistance. These leaders are guardians of their communities, ecosystems, and territories; tied to their homes by ancient beliefs and ancestral knowledge. Their land is their life.
Find out more about this group of 64 strong community leaders here.
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