Why socioenvironmental is written and practiced together
Since 1994 we have been working alongside indigenous, quilombola and extractivist communities, our historical partners, to develop solutions that protect their territories, strengthen their culture and traditional knowledge, raise their political profile and develop sustainable economies.
“It is urgent to adopt a socioenvironmental perspective to look at the planet.”
Beto Ricardo, founding partner of ISA
Since 2001, ISA is an Oscip – Civil Society Organization of Public Interest. We have teams and permanent offices in São Paulo, the Federal District and four Amazonian states, in addition to long-term commitments with partners in the Vale do Ribeira, Xingu and Rio Negro regions.
How we act:
Our mission is to defend Brazilian socio-environmental diversity, whether in the corridors of Brasília or on the forest floor.
Where we operate:
Headquartered in São Paulo (SP), ISA has sub-headquarters in Brasília (DF), Manaus (AM), Boa Vista (RR), São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), Canarana (MT), Eldorado (SP) and Altamira (PA).
GET TO KNOW US
Strategic Management Council - CGE
Meet those responsible for defining ISA guidelines, strategies and guidelines
Adriana ramos
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Botafogo has lived in Brasília since 1994. A communicator, Adriana is a specialist in environmental policies and coordinates ISA's Social and Environmental Policy and Law Program. She is part of the coordination of the Climate Observatory and the board of several organizations. She was part of the Executive Board of the Brazilian Association of NGOs (ABONG) and a representative of civil society in the National Council for the Environment (CONAMA) and in the Guiding Committee of the Amazon Fund (COFA).
André Junqueira Ayres Villas-Boas
Bahian by birth and heart, São Paulo by birth, father of three children and grandfather of four granddaughters. Indigenist, 42 years working with indigenous and traditional populations. Founding partner of ISA and Imaflora, he founded and coordinated ISA's Xingu program for 20 years and served as ISA's executive secretary for 9 years, until 2020. Xingu+ network.
Servant Lion
Journalist, PhD in Communications and Semiotics from PUC-SP, Leão was a collaborator of the Indigenous Peoples program of the former CEDI and of the Pró-Índio Commission at the time of the campaign against the Emancipation of Indigenous Peoples, in 1979. He worked in several newsrooms and, He is currently Director of Journalism at TV Cultura. He has participated since the 1980s in journalistic coverage of issues related to indigenous peoples and, since 2018, he has been a member of the ISA Board of Directors.
Fabio Massami Endo
Fabio was born in São Paulo in 1981 and holds a degree in Accounting from FEA-USP. He joined ISA as an intern in June 2003 and, since then, he graduated, got married, had two children (Fernando and Larissa, who received ISA diapers) and became the organization's Administration coordinator. He likes baseball, video games, logic puzzles and worksheets. He says that every day he learns something new from the people at ISA.
Marcos Wesley de Oliveira
An indigenist, Marcos has had his life connected to the Yanomami for over 20 years. With them, he has learned that a life on this planet is possible that considers nature as something greater. Coordinator of ISA's Rio Negro Program, he also works alongside the 23 ethnic groups in the region to promote an economy of the forest and the countryside, community-based indigenous tourism, recognition of the socio-environmental services provided by indigenous peoples and their territories, and the valorization of their traditional knowledge.
Marina da Silva Kahn
Born and raised in the interior of São Paulo, graduated in Social Sciences in the capital, she worked in Solimões and Alto Xingu for six years, where she was a teacher in indigenous schools. Founder of ISA, she was editorial assistant and coordinator of the advisory program for indigenous organizations in the Rio Negro and Xingu, worked as assistant to the executive secretary between 1996 and 1998. Now, in maturity, she (per)follows the new generation of heads from ISA from the comfortable position of counselor
Rodrigo Gravina Prates Junqueira
Father of Luisa and Maria Vitória, agronomist and master in Environmental Science, Rodrigo has supported third sector organizations throughout Brazil for 25 years. He contributed to the Y Ikatu Xingu Campaign, to recover the springs and forests on the banks of the Xingu river, in Mato Grosso. By planting seeds, muvuca helped to sow a new way to restore relationships and ecosystems. Since the end of 2020, he has been at the head of the ISA Executive Secretariat.
Milene Maia Oberlaender
Bachelor of Laws from the Superior Center of the Extreme South of Bahia (CESESB), from the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences (FACISA) and coordinator of the Socio-environmental Policy and Law Program at the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA)
Moreno Saraiva Martins
Anthropologist, graduated from the Federal University of Santa Catarina in 2007. He has worked at ISA since 2009 (Monitoring Program) and with the Yanomami (Rio Negro Program) since 2010.
Roberto Santos Almeida
Journalist, with a master's degree in anthropology, since 2009 he has worked on human rights, indigenous peoples and traditional communities. When he arrived at ISA, in 2017, he started to contribute to communication on socio-biodiversity economics and food security in campaigns that connect people, life and territory. He is currently the coordinator of ISA's communication.
Marcio Santilli
Márcio Santilli is a philosopher, founding partner of ISA. Author of the book Subverting grammar and other socio-environmental chronicles. Federal Deputy for the PMDB (1983-1987) and President of Funai from 1995 to 1996.
Frederico Viegas de Freitas Silva
Anthropologist, he has worked at ISA since 2010 (Monitoring Program) and with the quilombolas in Vale do Ribeira since 2014 (Programa Vale do Ribeira). He works to develop the forest economy and territorial management with quilombolas in Vale do Ribeira, with emphasis on topics such as formalization of arrangements, agrobiodiversity marketing strategies and public food policies. He is currently coordinator of the Vale do Ribeira Program.
Who does the ISA
Discover the dreams, thoughts and words of those who work in our teams
Our history
Browse the timeline and discover important milestones in our trajectory
2023
Carbon: what you need to know
The series 'Carbono: what you need to know' is launched. Produced in partnership with Rede Xingu+, the series of animations provides, in four episodes, information so that indigenous peoples and traditional communities understand a carbon project and its impacts.
Pulse, Xingu!
Animation presents the Piracemas Hydrogram, proposed by Juruna researchers, academics and riverside dwellers to revive the Volta Grande do Xingu after Belo Monte.
2022
Casa Floresta Podcast
Casa Floresta is a series of podcasts produced by Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and its partners, indigenous people, riverside dwellers and quilombolas who live in the basins of the Negro, Xingu and Ribeira de Iguape rivers. The team took guests and special guests to get to know the communities and their initiatives. There were 17 days of recording in four states (São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Pará), which resulted in deep and transformative dives into the black and indigenous roots of Brazil.
2021
The movie "Forest Makers" is released
ISA and Rede de Sementes do Xingu launch the virtual reality film "Fazedores de Floresta", which presents, with narration by seed collector Milene Alves (bottom left), how the union of indigenous peoples, traditional communities and local communities made it possible to an innovative movement for forest restoration in the Xingu, Teles Pires and Araguaia river basins, in Mato Grosso.
2020
The #ForaGarimpoForaCovid campaign is born
ISA participates in a large mobilization of indigenous organizations and organizations for the protection of the environment and human rights to support the Forum of Yanomami and Ye'kwana Leadership in the campaign Fora Garimpo, Fora Covid The indigenous people demanded that the federal government expel invaders, the main vectors for the entry of Covid-19 into the Indigenous Land. The petition, demanded by indigenous people from a meeting in 2019, gathered almost 439 thousand signatures and had the intense participation of artists and digital influencers.
Emergency actions in the Covid-19 pandemic
ISA redirects its field activities and, promoting an alliance between government and civil society, focuses on emergency actions during the Covid-19 pandemic to support indigenous, riverine, extractive and quilombola local partners. The project won the 2020 European Union Human Rights Award.
2020
2019
ISA celebrates 25 years
The celebration included the screening of films by indigenous filmmakers and the launch of the book Cercos e Resistências: Povos Indígenas Isolados, with the presence of indigenous leaders such as Davi Kopenawa and Olímpio Guajajara.
DOWNLOAD THE BOOK2020
2018
The #TáNaHoraDaRoça campaign is launched, by the quilombolas of Vale do Ribeira
The traditional swidden is essential for the quilombolas of Vale do Ribeira, but they depend on authorization from the Government of São Paulo to prepare their plantations. To pressure the government of the state of São Paulo for the valorization of quilombola gardens and the release of authorizations for the opening of gardens, the quilombolas, with the support of ISA, mobilized more than 7,5 signatures in the campaign.
KNOW THE CAMPAIGN2019
2017
The campaign goes live #LessPrejudiceMaisIndio
To draw society's attention to the indigenous issue and the diversity and culture of these populations, ISA invited Brazil to look at native peoples with more generosity, respect and without prejudice.
KNOW THE CAMPAIGN2018
forest fire
Directed by Tadeu Jungle and narrated by actress Fernanda Torres, the film is made up of 360-degree scenes that take the viewer into the daily life of the indigenous community and presents a threat that looms over the Waurá and all the people of the Amazon: fire out of control.
2017
2014
Canoe Bye Bye Xingu crosses a stretch of river that would be barred by Belo Monte
The approximately 120 members of the first edition of the Canoada Bye Bye Xingu, promoted by ISA, covered more than 100km in the section called Volta Grande do Rio Xingu, in Pará, which was blocked at the end of 2015 by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant. There were five annual editions until 2018.
2017
The Origins Brazil Seal is born
In partnership with Imaflora and local associations of indigenous peoples, riverside dwellers, extractivists and quilombolas, the Origins Brasil Network is launched to value forest products. The objective is to provide more transparency to forest product chains, ensuring their origin and helping consumers to identify companies that value and respect the importance of keeping the forest standing.
2017
2013
ISA publishes "Quilombola Cultural Inventory of the Ribeira Valley"
The publication is the result of a detailed survey of the cultural references of 16 quilombos in Vale do Ribeira. In addition to the publication, a video was also released.
DOWNLOAD THE PUBLICATION2014
2011
Sites of Conservation Units and Indigenous Lands are created
The website on Conservation Units (UCs) in the Brazilian Amazon gathers information about each one of them regarding management, environmental characterization (watershed, phytophysiognomy, speleological heritage, among others), location, overlap with Indigenous Lands and legal documents, among others.
2013
The Indigenous Lands website has the largest updated database on 724 lands - in identification, identified, demarcated, homologated and reserved - throughout Brazil, including location, population and related news.
2013
Xingu+50 Indigenous Park event debates sustainability
About 600 indigenous leaders of different ethnicities, indigenists, anthropologists, doctors, photographers, plastic artists and businessmen participated in the exhibition celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Xingu Indigenous Park (PIX) at Cinemateca in São Paulo. During the event, the Socio-Environmental Almanac of the Xingu Indigenous Park was launched.
2013
2009
CCPY becomes part of ISA
Founded in 1999 with the mission of defending the territorial, cultural and civil rights of the Yanomami people, the Pro-Yanomami Commission, which operates in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, becomes part of the ISA, which establishes a sub-headquarters in Boa Vista (RR).
2011
2008
ISA promotes the 1st Traditional Seeds Fair of Vale do Ribeira
The fair, considered an action to safeguard the traditional quilombola agricultural system, emerged to rescue and preserve the agricultural varieties of the quilombolas in the region. In more than a decade of the fair, more than 200 seed varieties were shared, many of them considered lost by the communities. Every year, the participation of the quilombola communities of Vale do Ribeira in the fair increases.
2009
2007
The Xingu Seed Network is born
The objective is to collect, process and sell seeds from trees and other plants native to the Xingu, Araguaia and Teles Pires regions, promoting local knowledge on the use and recovery of forests in Mato Grosso. The seeds began to be used to plant forests. The plantings are made using an innovative technique: a mixture of native seeds, the “muvuca”, through direct sowing.
GET TO KNOW THE NETWORK2008
2004
The Y Ikatu Xingu - Save the Good Water of the Xingu Campaign is launched
Created during the 1st Nascentes do Rio Xingu Meeting, held in Canarana (MT), in 2004, the mobilization was a unique effort by different actors working in the region for the recovery of the headwaters and riparian forests of the Xingu River. In 2006, the campaign gained the support of Gisele Bundchen, a model and socio-environmental activist recognized worldwide.
2005
ISA celebrates 10 years with the first edition of the Almanaque Brasil Socioambiental
The publication, which took a new look at Brazil, seeks to understand the country based on its diversity of people and environments. It presents an innovative view on the interdependent relationships between social, economic and environmental factors inside and outside Brazil. The second edition was released in late 2007.
ALMANAC IN INTEGRA2005
2003
Sustainable BR-163 Meeting proposes to the government to review territorial planning policies
The paving of a stretch of highway BR-163 (Cuiabá-Santarém) gave rise to the meeting promoted by ISA in Sinop (MT), which brought together more than 200 participants. This resulted in proposals for the Mato Grosso axis of the road, delivered to the then ministers, Marina Silva, of the Environment, Ciro Gomes, of National Integration and the governor of Mato Grosso, Blairo Maggi.
2007
2002
Expeditions to Terra do Meio (PA) result in a proposal for an ecological mosaic of the Xingu
At the request of the Ministry of the Environment, ISA prepared a socio-economic and environmental diagnosis of Terra do Meio, in the south of Pará, to present alternatives for the region. He suggested the creation of a mosaic of Conservation Units, due to the enormous diversity that the region harbors and the threats that land grabbing represents. Among the proposals was the creation of the Riozinho do Anfrísio, Iriri and Xingu extractive reserves, which began to be created in 2005.
2003
1999
Macapá Seminar points out priority areas for conservation in the Amazon
Organized by ISA, the seminar was part of the project Evaluation and Identification of Priority Actions for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Sharing of the Benefits of Biodiversity in the Brazilian Amazon. It gathered around 200 people in Macapá (AP), including scientists, researchers and representatives of different bodies of the Ministry of the Environment, state and local governments, universities, research institutes, social movements and NGOs.
2002
1996
The comeback of the giant Indians: the Panará people get their land back
After 20 years of exile in the Xingu Indigenous Park, the justice system declares permanent possession by the Panará of part of their former lands. In 2000 they achieved an unprecedented feat: they won an indemnity suit against the Federal Government and Funai for material and moral damages caused by the contact. ISA acted directly in the process of recognition of the Panará Indigenous Land and in the defense of these rights.
GET TO KNOW the epic journey of the Panará
1999
The Amazon Network of Georeferenced Information (Raisg) is founded
Conceived and created by ISA, the Network encourages and enables cooperation between institutions that work with socio-environmental information systems georeferenced in the Amazon, through the exchange, production and dissemination of information. Today, Raisg is coordinated by ISA and is made up of organizations from 6 Amazonian countries (Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru). In 2002, after the first meeting, construction began on the Atlas of pressures and threats to indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon, launched in 2012. The last version of the Atlas was published in 2020.
www.amazoniasocioambiental.org
1999
New edition of the book Indigenous Peoples in Brazil is launched
The series was started in 1980 by the Ecumenical Center for Documentation and Information (Cedi) and continued from the foundation of ISA. A reference on the subject, the book presents, every five years, an updated portrait of the situation of indigenous peoples in Brazil. Discover the editions in the ISA Collection.
In 1997, to expand access to information, the Indigenous Peoples in Brazil website, created by ISA and numerous partners and with the participation of numerous partners, to gather up-to-date information and analysis entries from all indigenous peoples. In 2009, ISA launches the website and the book Povos Indígenas no Brasil Mirim, aimed at children and young people.
1999
1994
With the motto "socio-environmental is written together", ISA is founded
Result of the merger with the Nucleus of Indigenous Rights (NDI), with the Indigenous Peoples/Cedi and some people coming from SOS Mata Atlântica, ISA starts its activities. Its mission: to seek alternatives for the territorial management of Indigenous Lands and traditional populations, reconciling income generation, preservation of territorial integrity, conservation of biodiversity and respect for cultural diversity.
1996
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