BRAZIL - GUAJAJARA
WOMEN FOR FORESTS
Indigenous Women Restoring and Protecting Brazil’s Amazon and the Heart of the People
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Guajajara women project participants transplant tree saplings as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in the Araribóia Territory, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
The “WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection Program: Indigenous Women Restoring and Protecting Brazil’s Amazon and the Heart of the People: Tembé and Guajajara Territories” project addresses critical environmental and social challenges Indigenous communities face in the eastern Amazon region. Through the leadership and knowledge of Indigenous women from the Tembé and Guajajara communities, this reforestation initiative will restore the degraded lands of the Alto Rio Guamá and Arariboia territories in Brazil. By improving soil quality and planting native trees, the project will restore biodiversity and strengthen both community and climate resilience.
The two Indigenous territories, Alto Rio Guamá and Arariboia, located on the eastern side of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, are at a critical juncture where scientists are indicating that the Amazon is already crossing a tipping point that, once surpassed, would transition from a tropical forest into a degraded savanna (Kimbrough, 2022). Facing 30-40% deforestation in some regions of the eastern Amazon, these areas are critical for either climate mitigation or climate crisis intensification. Due to the climate patterns originating from the Atlantic Ocean and traveling across the Amazon Basin from east to west, the warm and dry air resulting from the lack of trees on the eastern edge impacts the entire inner Amazon basin, exacerbating the climate crisis and pushing the inner Amazon region closer to its tipping point. Consequently, the Alto Rio Guamá and Arariboia territories act as vital barriers, protecting the inner Amazon from further degradation. Over time, deforestation due to extractive industries and climate change has severely degraded the soil, posing significant challenges for initial restoration efforts. Thus, soil remediation is one of the first focal points of this project.
Women's critical role in environmental protection and defense is central to the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) Women for Forests program. In this context, Indigenous women are essential leaders in reforestation and forest protection, drawing from their Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Their efforts not only combat deforestation and ecosystem degradation but also enhance community resilience. Within this WECAN project, the Indigenous women of the Tembé and the Guajajara communities play a crucial role in leading the restoration of their territories, the Alto Rio Guamá and Arariboia, which extractive industries and large-scale agribusiness have significantly degraded. As guardians of their ancestral lands and community, the Tembé and Guajajara women are vital to preserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and ensuring a livable future for the Amazon and us all.
This project represents a holistic approach to reforestation and forest protection founded on the leadership and knowledge of Indigenous women and the WECAN Women for Forests program analysis, practices, and methodologies. By addressing environmental degradation, economic challenges, and social issues, we aim to build a resilient future for Indigenous communities, the plant and animal life in the Amazon, and people worldwide who depend on a thriving Amazon rainforest.
Guajajara Community in the Araribóia Territory
Guajajara women project participants gather to make fertilizer for the tree nurseries as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in the Araribóia Territory, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
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The “WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection Program: Indigenous Women Restoring and Protecting Brazil’s Amazon and the Heart of the People: Tembé and Guajajara Territories” project is working between two communities and their territories within the Brazilian Amazon, the Tembé of the Alto Rio Guamá territory and the Guajajara of the Arariboia territory. Each project is uniquely curated to address the specific needs of each community and their homelands.
WECAN is working with a dedicated team of women from the Guajajara community as this project aims to restore degraded lands from outside exploitation and climate disasters within the Araribóia Indigenous Territory. The Araribóia lands cover an area of 413,000 hectares of the Amazon Rainforest and is located within the state of Maranhão, Brazil. The project is led by Lídia Guajajara, the WECAN Guajajara Coordinator for Brazil.
Our vision for this program is to:
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Reforest degraded areas with an emphasis on land near rivers, springs, and previously burned sites to restore vital ecosystems and restore climate resiliency
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Uplift women’s leadership in the Guajajara community
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Support soil remediation
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Defend cultures of both Guajajara and the voluntarily isolated Awá Guajá
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Support natural forest regeneration with Traditional Ecological Knowledge
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Promote forest protection by supporting Indigenous land defenders
Guajajara project participant sorting tree seeds as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in the Araribóia Territory, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
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Guajajara women project participants transplant tree saplings as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in the Araribóia Territory, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
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Through the WECAN Guajajara Project, we are working to restore the Araribóia Amazon Rainforest by uplifting Guajajara women’s leadership, remediating degraded soil, reforesting with native trees, defending the cultures of both the Guajajara and the Awá Guajá, and contributing to the protection of the remaining forests within the Maranhão state.
As part of the WECAN Women for Forests Program, this project does not participate in any market-based mechanisms, including carbon offsets, carbon credits, biodiversity offsets, biodiversity credits, or nature-based solution schemes. The team of Guajajara women is reforesting their territory with culturally significant trees that support natural forest regeneration, specifically near rivers, springs, and in previously burned areas, to restore vital ecosystems that have faced exacerbated harm from land grabbing and climate disasters.
The act of reforesting their lands is not a new concept to the team of Guajajara women, who have been doing this work as part of their day-to-day lives to protect their forest; however, this project reinforces this work and asserts the recognition of women as leaders in land defense. Considering Indigenous women land defenders are both physically and spiritually tied to their lands, as environmental attacks escalate, so too do attacks on women in this region, which can be seen in the materialization of increased femicides within Brazil. By uplifting women’s leadership and advocating for women’s rights, this project affirms that the Guajajara women are both unwavering stewards of their land and cultural transmission, as well as warriors for change.
Through the work of reforestation and forest protection, the Guajajara project is committed to safeguarding the Amazon Rainforest, women’s and Indigenous rights, and Guajajara's cultural heritage. Please learn more about the project in this document with more information:
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Lídia Guajajara
WECAN Guajarara Coordinator in Brazil
Lídia Guajajara is an Indigenous woman leader from the Tentehar/Guajajara people of Araribóia, Brazil. Lídia advocates for the rights of women, voluntarily isolated and non-isolated Indigenous peoples, climate justice, and the rights to protect their forest homelands. As the WECAN Guajajara Coordinator for Brazil, Lídia leads reforestation and forest protection efforts in the Araribóia Territory. This includes recovering biodiversity by collecting and planting native tree species, building plant nurseries, implementing agroforestry systems, and increasing Guajajara women’s leadership to safeguard the Brazilian Amazon.
History of the Araribóia Territory
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One of the reforestation zones located in the Araribóia Territory, Brazil, for the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project. Photo Credit: WECAN
The Araribóia Indigenous Territory within the Brazilian state of Maranhão, is the state’s second largest Indigenous territory and a vital ecological and cultural area that provides sanctuary to a diverse array of species, including many that are threatened and endangered. The Araribóia territory remains one of the most critical areas for jaguar conservation in the Brazilian Amazon. Indigenous reserves like this one are home to a significant proportion of the Amazon’s jaguar population, with nearly 63% of the total estimated number of jaguars left living within protected areas across the region.
Indigenous territories, such as the Araribóia, also safeguard a portion of Maranhão state’s remaining forests. This is proving crucial as the state’s forests are experiencing the second-highest level of forest fragmentation in Brazil. Where old-growth forests used to cover roughly 33% of the state’s land, in 2017, a study found that over 77% of the original forest has been deforested. Despite this, around 70% of the remaining forest in Maranhão is found within the bounds of protected areas of Indigenous territories and conservation units. The Guajajara, who call the Araribóia territory home, are vital protectors of the state’s remaining forests from further degradation and exploitation.
Unfortunately, the Araribóia territory is under severe threat due to extractive industries, such as illegal logging and agricultural expansion. As a result, the land faces increased deforestation, fires, freshwater pollution, and biodiversity loss. The rise in cattle ranching around Araribóia is a leading factor in water contamination that is devastating local ecosystems due to agrochemicals used for pasture maintenance and cattle waste seeping into rivers. The Buriticupu River, a crucial water source for the Guajajara people’s livelihoods, has suffered from reduced water levels and a decrease in fish due to the destruction of its headwaters by the surrounding farmers. The resulting contamination has led to widespread health problems among the Guajajara community, highlighting the issue that as these lands are under threat, so too are the Indigenous communities that live here.
With rising deforestation, forest-based communities of Araribóia, such as the Indigenous Guajajara people and the voluntarily isolated Indigenous Awá Guajá people, become increasingly vulnerable as they rely on the forest for food, medicine, shelter, and cultural identity. To protect their territories and people, as well as their voluntarily isolated neighbors, the Guajajara established the "Guardians of the Forest" network in 2012. As dedicated forest protectors and land defenders, the Guajajara people face heightened risks of targeted attacks, including arsenal retaliation, which was the suspected cause of the 2015 fires that devastated over 45% of the Araribóia territory. The damage from the illegal fires is acutely felt by the Indigenous peoples of Brazil. Not only are their food and medicine stocks being destroyed and their lungs being poisoned from air pollution, but the fires are exacerbated by climate change and drought.Despite the dangers the Guajajara face, their goal remains clear– fighting for the justice of their people and their lands.
Tree saplings prepared for transplanting in reforestation zones as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in the Araribóia Territory, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
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Guajajara women leaders meeting to discuss project plans for the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in the Araribóia Territory of the Brazilian Amazon. Photo Credit: WECAN
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