Life Projects
To continue conserving our territory and our ancestral culture, we are in the process of weaving a tapestry of resistance with many threads, using our ancestral wisdom and modern tools.
We have developed a number of projects to improve our food sovereignty, conserve the biodiversity of our territory, transform the education in our community, diversify our sources of sustainable income, and preserve the knowledge and traditions of our ancestors.
Sëra Foundation
In 2016, the Sëra Foundation was founded by six young people in our community. We began with a project to safeguard ancestral shamanic knowledge in video format, then branched out into environmental education workshops with Siekopai elders and youth. We are now working to build a medicinal plants laboratory in our community, among other projects. More information. More Information
Keñao
The Keñao Association of Productive Women is the community women's organization. Keñao works to strengthen our community and family economy through the production of natural products, ceramics and handicrafts. It also works in the areas of cultural identity, conservation and education. More information.
Plant Laboratory
Thanks to the fundraising efforts of our amazing allies at Big Canopy Campout, we have our own distillation equipment to extract essential oils from medicinal plants and are in the process of building a plant laboratory. We are working with expert herbalists to create a range of natural products to diversify our sustainable sources of income. More information.
Ecotourism
Our eco-tourism project provides an authentic and affordable experience of life in a traditional Siekopai community deep in the Amazon rainforest. It’s a magical experience falling asleep to the chorus of cicadas and frogs, then waking up to the calls of monkeys and birds! We love to welcome visitors, to share our way of life and the story of our resistance. We hope you will visit us! More information.
Education
We see education as fundamental to the defence of the Amazon Forest and our ancestral culture. We are working to implement a curriculum that combines ancient Siekopai wisdom with aspects of modern knowledge. The goal is to train young people who are respectful of Mother Nature and the Siekopai worldview, while being capable of creating innovative and sustainable solutions for the 21st century. More information.
Conservation
As a community, we have declared ourselves conservationists. With help from our allies at the Yakum Foundation, we are reforesting parts of our territory with medicinal plants and fruit trees. This provides food for birds and animals, as well as for us! We have stopped hunting nearly all animal species and are already seeing wildlife return, including monkeys, sloths, and toucans!
Ne’e Aña Tree Climbers
Our allies at Big Canopy Campout have trained eight members of our community in tree climbing techniques and have donated professional equipment, so that we can harvest morete fruit without risking our lives or felling the palms, which can reach 35 metres! We will also use these skills to harvest ayahuasca, and kopal for our ceramics. Our group is named after the snake that lives in the morete trees.
Territorial Monitoring
Our territorial monitoring team patrols our forest to prevent outsiders from illegally hunting and logging. This is dangerous work, as the invaders are often armed. Tragically, we recently discovered a poacher who had killed a puma, which we confiscated. We set camera traps to gather evidence of outsiders damaging our territory and keep in touch via radio.
Pisciculture
We are working to develop a fish farming project that will provide a sustainable source of income and allow our 53 families to eat uncontaminated fish as part of our daily diet. The farm will specialise in native Amazon fish species, especially paiche, which are in high demand within the national and international markets.
