The values that permeate all our work are summarized in one:

Living Amazon

Indigenous peoples and local communities play a fundamental role in the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity and Amazonian ecosystems. More than 3,000 Indigenous lands and territories have been recognized throughout the Amazon under various tenure systems that, when added to the formally recognized protected areas, represent approximately 45% of the region and protect almost half of the remaining forests (RAISG 2020; FAO 2021).

• Local non-Indigenous Amazonian communities, including small collective groups such as Afro-descendant communities (cimarrones, quilombolas) and extractivist communities of mixed ancestry (mestizos, caboclos, riberiños), have been historically dispossessed and are often overlooked in scientific research, in the recognition of rights and in social and environmental policies.

• Recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities to their territories and resources is fundamental for the maintenance of Amazonian forests and other terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, carbon reserves and biocultural diversity, including agrobiodiversity and genetic resources, as well as food security throughout the Amazon.

The Amazon is home to diverse systems of experiential knowledge and cultures resulting from the interconnection between people and nature, which must be valued, recognized and protected.