Project
Ashaninka: Planters of Forests
The Ashaninka combine traditional customs with the ideals of sustainability, such as the...
This story excerpt was translated from Portuguese. To read the original story in full, visit TV Cultura. You may also view the original story on the Rainforest Journalism Fund website. Our website is available in English, Spanish, bahasa Indonesia, French, and Portuguese.
In the Serra do Divisor, on the border between Brazil and Peru, we learn about the culture of the Ashaninka people, who are responsible for protecting the forest in one of the greatest biodiverse zones on the planet.
Long before the world was concerned about climate change, the Ashaninka people were already living along the curves of the Amônia River, which rises on the Peruvian side of the border and flows into the Juruá, sowing and planting the forests that today are a barrier against global warming. There are 87,000 hectares of lush forest, where before there were only bare pastures. There, the Ashaninka people planted and sowed 200,000 trees and 300,000 açaí trees 30 years ago.
Home to a multitude of species, such as the Samaúma—a giant tree that stands sentinel over rivers—the Ashaninka land is home to a people who resisted the arrival of the Spanish in Peru and the expansion of the rubber harvest in the Amazon. Today, the original people struggle against roads, agricultural and mining projects, illegal loggers, and drug trafficking, activities that jeopardize their survival as a people and culture.
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