AmazoniAlerta

AmazoniAlerta is an NGO that works with traditional peoples and communities in Brazil to advance the legal defense of their rights, lands and the Amazon Rainforest. AmazoniAlerta is led by Indigenous rights lawyers Carol Santana and Kari Guajajara. It is globally recognised that Indigenous peoples, with their historically sustainable cultures, are the best guardians of their forests. Empowering traditional Amazonian communities to legally defend their lands and rights is one of the most effective tactics in mitigating the illegal deforestation of the rainforest. A significant number (though not enough) of Indigenous lands in Brazil are ‘Terra Indígena’ (TI) meaning the indigenous people who have traditionally occupied them have exclusive right to their use and occupation, a right enshrined in the Brazilian Constitution. In Brazil, over the last 30 years, deforestation of Indigenous lands accounts for just 1.6% of total forest loss, in contrast to 68% for private land. However many Indigenous territories and communities are being decimated by myriad small-scale land grabs and infractions by illegal loggers, miners, poachers and farmers whose collective and cumulative actions are destroying the rainforest.