Project
Ka’apor: The Art of Survival
The devastation of the Amazon advances in Maranhão, Brazil. What native vegetation remains is in...
This story excerpt was translated from Portuguese. To watch the original story in full, visit Jornalismo TV Cultura. You may also view the original story on the Rainforest Journalism Fund website here. Our website is available in English, Spanish, bahasa Indonesia, French, and Portuguese.
The series "Ka'apor—People of the Forest", produced by TV Cultura in partnership with the Amazon Rainforest Journalism Fund and the Pulitzer Center, shows how this ethnic group developed a special way to ensure their own survival in the state of Maranhão, in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest.
The fifth and last report in the series shows the beauty, care and delicacy of the Ka'apor's feather art. Pieces so well worked that they have jewel status and have already appeared in museums.
Two thousand Indians are divided into 26 villages on the limits of the demarcated lands. Spread out in nuclei, they are able to patrol, watch over, and, to a certain extent, prevent environmental crimes, such as land grabbing, deforestation, illegal fishing, and hunting.
The strategy has paid off: it is possible to clearly see the green of the inhabited villages in contrast to the devastated forest outside the indigenous territory. The Ka'apor's action is a hope for the survival of both the Amazon Rainforest and countless species of endangered animals.
Reporter Lais Duarte, from TV Cultura's journalism department, spent 10 days with the Ka'apor and tells, in five chapters, the saga of this people. Journalist Jorge Valente is the editor.