Indigenous communities restore lands across Brazil
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Across Brazil, Indigenous peoples are actively recovering lands previously converted to pasture, damaged by mining, or used as dumps, and working to revitalize the vegetation and living conditions.
Instead of simply defending what remains of their territories, communities are now working to reclaim what was lost, blending traditional knowledge with new technologies.
The Tikmũ’ũn/Maxakali people of Minas Gerais state began the Hãmhi project in 2023, training and paying Indigenous agents to restore Atlantic Forest areas and plant agroforestry gardens, aiming to combat hunger and preserve their cultural and religious practices tied to the forest. In Santa Catarina, the Laklãnõ/Xokleng people are restoring sacred araucária trees, vital to their identity, having already produced over 140,000 seedlings and reforested around 1,000 hectares after decades of territorial confinement. Other communities are taking similar action.
The Akroá Gamella people in Maranhão expelled illegal land grabbers and shut down municipal dumps within their territory, restoring the land with agroecological practices. In Tocantins, thirteen Krahô women formed a surveillance group to protect their 303,000-hectare territory from loggers and farmers. The Kapinawá people of Pernambuco are recovering the Caatinga ecosystem while also navigating conflicts with a newly established national park.
The Yanomami are using drones to monitor their Amazonian territory, reducing illegal gold mining by 91% after a major invasion in 2019. These initiatives demonstrate a powerful shift toward proactive land restoration and self-determination.
