BRAZIL - TEMBE
WOMEN FOR FORESTS
Indigenous Women Restoring and Protecting the Brazilian Amazon: Tembé Territory
Tembé project participants preparing seedling bags with soil as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in Alto Rio Guamá, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
The WECAN Indigenous Women Restoring and Protecting the Brazilian Amazon: Tembé Territory 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 community, this reforestation initiative will restore the degraded lands of the Alto Rio Guamá territory in Brazil. By improving soil quality and planting native trees, the project will restore biodiversity and strengthen both community and climate resilience.
The Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous territory is located on the eastern side of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, which is 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 territory is a vital barrier, 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. Indigenous women are essential leaders in reforestation and forest protection . These efforts not only combat deforestation and ecosystem degradation but also enhance community resilience. The Indigenous women of the Tembé community play a crucial role in leading the restoration of their territory, the Alto Rio Guamá, which extractive industries and large-scale agribusiness have significantly degraded. As guardians of their ancestral lands and community, the Tembé women are vital to preserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and ensuring a livable future for the Amazon and us all.
Our 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 envision a resilient future for Indigenous communities, the plant and animal life in the Amazon, and people worldwide who depend on a thriving Amazon rainforest.
Tembé Community in the Alto Rio Guamá Territory
Tembé project participants building the tree nurseries as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in Alto Rio Guamá, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
Tembé project participants monitoring the tree nurseries as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in Alto Rio Guamá, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
The Indigenous Women Restoring and Protecting the Brazilian Amazon: Tembé Territory project is conducted by Indigenous women of the Amazon as part of the WECAN Women for Forest Program. Nimuy Tembé and Yara Tembé are the WECAN Tembé Coordinators for Brazil. The program includes reforestation to restore damaged lands, and supports long-term forest protection of Alto Rio Guamá through advocacy for women land defender rights, forest monitoring, training sessions and workshops, uplifting women’s leadership, advocacy to stop deforestation by governments and corporations, and highlighting forest solution narratives. 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 REDD+ schemes.
Central to the project is reforesting and protecting lands that have been degraded from outside exploitation and worsening climate disasters within the Alto Rio Guamá territory. The project is working to restore and protect the Alto Rio Guamá, which covers an area of 280,000 hectares within the state of Pará, Brazil in the eastern Amazon.
The Indigenous Women Restoring and Protecting the Brazilian Amazon: Tembé Territory has been in the planning stage throughout 2025 and has officially started on the ground in autumn of 2025.
Our vision for the project is to:
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Reforest degraded landscapes and ecosystems within the Alto Rio Guamá to increase biodiversity with culturally significant trees
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Promote soil remediation in deforested areas and climate resiliency of the Amazon Rainforest
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Strengthen women’s autonomy and leadership within the Tembé community
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Support cultural revitalization of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and ancestral practices
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Contribute to a circular economy
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Foster long-term forest protection by advocating for Indigenous land defenders’ rights
Tembé project participants growing Açaí trees as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in Alto Rio Guamá, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
Alto Rio Guamá faces extreme threats as Pará state experiences some of the highest rates of annual forest loss within the Amazon region. One study found that deforestation in Pará made up nearly 35% of a cumulative 497 thousand square kilometers of deforested area in the Brazilian Amazon from 1988 to 2024, making up the highest portion of forest loss in Brazil. A dominant driver of this deforestation is industrial agricultural expansion , illegal logging, and the wildfires that are intensifying as the climate crisis worsens.
The WECAN Tembé Project is working to reforest degraded areas and safeguard the remaining intact forests in Alto Rio Guamá through hands-on soil remediation and collecting and growing native tree species for climate mitigation and biodiversity protection. Reforesting and protecting the Alto Rio Guamá Tembé territory is crucial as it is one of the last standing forests in Pará state. The Alto Rio Guamá has been a prime target for deforestation as illegal logging has increased, putting both the land and the Tembé people in danger. Deeply connected to the forest, the Tembé people risk their lives to protect it. Known as “Forest Guardians”, a team from the Tembé community patrol the forest to protect their land and drive out the illegal loggers and miners.
Land defenders, such as the Tembé Forest Guardians, are at increased risk as Pará has the highest national rates of violence against human rights defenders with 94% of targeted people being land defenders fighting to preserve the Amazon. Central to the WECAN Tembé Project and critical for achieving long-term forest protection is advocating for Indigenous women land defenders. Through workshops, participation in international forums, and advocating for the implementation of international agreements like the Escazú Agreement, the WECAN Tembé Project is working toward forest protection and the protection of women land defenders.
Upcoming WECAN Trainings for this project:
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The Impact of Women Leading Regional Climate Solutions Training
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Escazú Agreement: Knowing Your Rights
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Media Training: The Importance of Narrative in Environmental Advocacy
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False Solutions in Forest Protection and Climate Advocacy
Tembé project participants gather in the tree nurseries for a workshop as part of the WECAN Reforestation and Forest Protection project in Alto Rio Guamá, Brazil. Photo Credit: WECAN
Through reforestation and forest protection, the Tembé Project is committed to safeguarding the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, women’s and Indigenous rights, and Tembé’s cultural heritage. Please learn more about the project in this document with more information:
Nimuy Tembé
WECAN Tembé Coordinator in Brazil
Bio coming soon!
Yara Tembé
WECAN Tembé Coordinator in Brazil
Yara Tembé is an Indigenous woman leader from the Tembé people of Alto Rio Guamá, Brazil. She was born and raised in the main village in the upper Guamá River territory. As the WECAN Tembé Coordinator in Brazil, Yara leads reforestation and forest protection efforts in the Tembé Territory in the Amazon Rainforest. This includes recovering biodiversity and culturally significant trees, building tree nurseries, and increasing Tembé women’s leadership to safeguard the Brazilian Amazon.
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