The Yanomami, an indigenous people in the northern Amazon rainforest, were attacked by illegal gold miners several times in recent weeks, leaving several people wounded and two young children dead. With tens of thousands of miners still illegally occupying their land, the threat of continued violence remains.
Gold mining brings prospectors, disease, and destruction to indigenous lands in Brazil. But indigenous communities are fighting back.
A new variant of COVID-19 is putting indigenous peoples across the Amazon at heightened risk–yet again. Reports from the ground come from Peru and Brazil.
A summary of the highlights of Rainforest Foundation US’s impact to protect the peoples and the rainforests of Central and South America in 2020.
An unprecedented report details the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, suggesting that one in three individuals may have already been infected by the new coronavirus.
The Shaman’s Message is inspired by Yanomami shaman and leader, Davi Kopenawa, whose work “holds up the sky,” protecting the forest, biodiversity and climate stability.
Rainforest Foundation US analyzes Amazon fire data from 2019 and 2020. Indigenous peoples’ traditional land management practices lower the risk of extreme forest fires.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has called on Brazil to address the COVID-19 pandemic in the Yanomami Territory.
The Amazon Emergency Fund (AEF) received a $2 million donation from the French Government to deliver COVID-19 relief to indigenous communities.
The murders reinforce the need for the Brazilian government to immediately expel the more than 20,000 miners illegally operating on Yanomami land.
On June 21st, major international artists will join in solidarity with indigenous peoples for a livestream concert to raise awareness and support for indigenous forest guardians under extreme threat from the coronavirus.
Indigenous leaders demand the urgent removal of 20,000 illegal gold miners from their lands to prevent the spread of COVID-19
Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
gro.y1675744606nffr@1675744606sreve1675744606dd1675744606
Didier has been coordinating the USAID-funded B’atz project since joining Rainforest Foundation US in April 2022. He holds a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor’s in Geography. Before joining the organization, Didier worked for 12 years in Central and South America on issues of transparency, legality, governance, and managing stakeholders’ processes in the environmental sector. Prior to that he worked on similar issues in Central Africa. He speaks French, Spanish, and English, and is based in Guatemala.
