Amazon’s Ashaninka Tribe Reclaims Land: Now Sets Sights on Transforming the Region!

In the remote village of Apiwtxa in Brazil, the early dawn was alive with the sounds of the Ashaninka people, who were clad in long, robe-like garments, singing ancestral melodies and playing rhythmic beats on drums and other instruments. This music filled the air as the community welcomed visitors from various Indigenous groups from both Brazil and neighboring Peru, some of whom had journeyed for three days. With the sunrise, the crowd gathered under a massive mango tree.

The celebration, which stretched from dusk till dawn, signaled the close of their annual festival, which honors the Ashaninka’s claim over the lands surrounding the serpentine Amonia River in the western Amazon. The festivities, lasting several days and nights, featured the ceremonial consumption of ayahuasca, a revered psychedelic concoction, archery contests, climbing of tall acai palm trees, and facial painting using a red pigment.

What began as a simple community gathering has transformed into a display of the village’s achievements in self-reliance through agriculture and forest conservation. Today, Apiwtxa serves as a blueprint for a bold initiative aimed at supporting 12 Indigenous territories across the western Amazon, which collectively span 640,000 hectares (about 1.6 million acres)—roughly equivalent to the size of the U.S. state of Delaware.

In November, the Organization of Indigenous People of the Jurua River (OPIRJ) successfully obtained $6.8 million in funding from the Amazon Fund, the largest global effort to prevent rainforest deforestation. Using Apiwtxa as a prototype, this funding aims to enhance Indigenous land stewardship with a focus on agriculture, cultural preservation, and forest monitoring.

“We’re replicating what we’ve achieved here in Apiwtxa across an entire region,” explained Francisco Piyãko, an Ashaninka leader and head of OPIRJ, from his home in Apiwtxa. “This project is more than its implementation—it’s about a fundamental cultural shift critical for safeguarding life, our lands, and its people.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This feature is part of a series exploring how tribes and Indigenous communities are addressing and mitigating climate change.

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Indigenous groups have consistently argued that they are the most effective stewards of forests, having managed these lands successfully for millennia. As the global climate crisis intensifies, the role of Indigenous land management has become increasingly prominent in policy discussions at international climate negotiations, especially as other forest conservation strategies like carbon credit schemes have largely failed.

In Brazil, Indigenous territories make up 23% of the Amazon basin, an area comparable in size to South Africa, covered predominantly by ancient rainforests that sequester significant amounts of carbon dioxide. This gas contributes to global warming when released into the atmosphere. In 2022, only 2% of the Amazon’s deforestation occurred within these Indigenous lands, predominantly due to illegal encroachments by non-Indigenous settlers. In the Ashaninka’s Amonia region, the deforestation rate today stands at a mere 0.03%, highlighting their effective forest management.

Thirty-two years prior, the Brazilian government acknowledged the Ashaninka’s territorial rights. At that time, the area where Apiwtxa is now located was predominantly a sprawling cattle ranch operated by non-Indigenous settlers. The land had been heavily logged, stripping it of mahogany and other valuable hardwoods. Indigenous families, dispersed and living in fear, were left with little choice but to work under oppressive conditions for these settlers.

The official demarcation of their land forced these outsiders out, paving the way for reforestation and cultural revival. The Ashaninka relocated their main village, Apiwtxa, to a deserted pasture strategically chosen for easier surveillance. Over the subsequent years, under the leadership of Francisco Piyãko’s father, Antônio, and his siblings, a governance structure was established focusing on collective welfare and self-reliance, as noted by anthropologist Carolina Comandulli and the Apiwtxa Association.

In present-day Apiwtxa, each of the 80 families is responsible for a section of forest that includes fruit-bearing and medicinal plants. Surrounding the village are plots cultivated with cassava, potatoes, bananas, and other crops. The Ashaninka have also replanted trees, including mahogany.

The village’s large, traditional dwellings are encircled by fishponds and land that integrates crop cultivation with forest areas, supplying food for their school, cotton for clothing, vines for producing the sacred Ayahuasca brew, urucum trees for dye, palm leaves for thatching, and embauba trees used in bowstring making.

Comandulli, the anthropologist, pointed out that these land management practices support various aspects of the Ashaninka’s daily existence. “Their autonomy is highly valued,” she explained. “They aim for food sovereignty, control over their housing construction, medical care, and participate in economic activities like handicraft sales, which provide them with a source of income.”

Equally important, the Ashaninka have devised strategies for fostering relationships with neighboring communities, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to form a protective buffer zone, as well as to connect with external institutions.

Wewito Piyãko, president of the Apiwtxa Association and brother to Francisco, noted that effective management, including preventing incursions by outsiders such as loggers or miners, involves both internal and external collaboration. “That’s why we’ve developed this policy of working with surrounding areas, so they understand that what we do benefits not just us but them as well,” he said.

Since 2007, the Ashaninka have extended their efforts beyond their lands, establishing the Yorenka Atame, or Knowledge of the Forest Center, near the town of Marechal Thaumaturgo, a three-hour boat ride from Apiwtxa. Here, they’ve initiated a project that merges crop cultivation with forest conservation, a small processing plant for fruits, and a venue for events involving non-Indigenous allies.

In 2015, the Amazon Fund awarded the Apiwxta Association, led by the Piyãko family, $2.2 million to enhance agroforestry within their territory and to expand these practices to other Indigenous and riverine communities. This marked the first instance of the fund, primarily supported by Norway but also by the U.S. and other nations, financing an Indigenous organization.

The following year, Isaac Piyãko, another brother of Wewito and Francisco Piyãko, was elected mayor of Marechal Thaumaturgo, a town of 17,000 residents, mostly non-Indigenous, historically dominated by business interests linked to rubber tapping and families connected to logging and cattle ranching. This election marked the first and, to date, only instance of an Indigenous leader serving as mayor in any of Acre state’s 22 municipalities. He was reelected in 2020.

Francisco explained that the Ashaninka leader’s political campaign was rooted in the same principles as OPIRJ’s project: to disseminate their experiences across the entire region, including non-Indigenous areas. One of Apiwtxa’s initiatives that became a municipal policy under Isaac’s administration involved sourcing school meals locally from small-scale farmers, thereby reducing the reliance on industrialized products like canned sardines imported from thousands of kilometers away.

Despite these achievements, climate change continues to pose significant challenges to local production. Last year, during a record drought in the Amazon, the Amonia River’s waters became so warm that the Ashaninka ceased bathing in it, and thousands of fish perished. This year, Amazonian communities are once again grappling with severe drought conditions.

“Those responsible for this live far from here,” stated Francisco, referring to climate change, which has been predominantly caused by historically industrialized nations. “But pointing fingers wastes energy and solves nothing. Instead, we’re focusing on adaptation. We’re identifying the best locations for building homes and cultivating crops, improving water access, and managing fire risks.”

The OPIRJ project also benefits the Apolima-Arara territory, situated along a section of the Amonia River between Apiwtxa and Marechal Thaumaturgo. It is one of Brazil’s most recently recognized Indigenous lands, officially designated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in April 2023 after a two-decade-long struggle for recognition.

The Apolima-Arara, who joined the Ashaninka’s celebrations along with the Yawanawa, Huni Kuin, and other tribes, face challenges similar to those their neighbors encountered years ago. Portions of their land have been deforested by non-Indigenous settlers, and they are striving to enhance their agricultural output. The main village, Nordestino, has largely replaced surrounding pastures with newly planted trees.

Thus far, the OPIRJ project has supplied the Apolima-Arara with agricultural tools and a boat for patrolling their territory.

“Apiwtxa serves as a model for us. No Indigenous community has reclaimed their territory without struggle,” shared José Angelo Macedo Avelino, a leader of the Apolima-Arara, from within the village’s communal hut, surrounded by fellow tribe members. “Apiwtxa endured hardships just like us, and now their land is restored. We plan to achieve the same.”

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