Where We Work

ISA works side by side with indigenous, quilombola and extractivist communities in the Vale do Ribeira, in São Paulo, Rio Negro (AM and RR) and Xingu (MT and PA) basins, with a presence in four states of the Brazilian Amazon. Our work in these territories is long-term, including multidisciplinary teams with permanent action in line with our institutional mission and in accordance with the priorities presented by local partners. 

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Select a territory and learn more about our work

Rio Negro

Rio Negro

Rio Negro

The Rio Negro Basin extends through the states of Amazonas and Roraima, in Brazil, and also advances through the neighboring territories of Colombia, Venezuela and Guyana. In its portion in the Amazon, the basin is one of the most preserved regions of the entire Amazon biome, with incalculable biodiversity. On the other hand, the part of the basin located in Roraima has been suffering great environmental degradation caused by illegal gold mining, deforestation and land theft, or "land grabbing".

Approximately 68% of the Rio Negro Basin in Brazil is formally protected by a set of legally recognized conservation units and indigenous lands. The cultural diversity of the region is enormous: 45 indigenous peoples live there and two cultural heritage sites of Brazil are located – the Cachoeira de Iauaretê and the Traditional Agricultural System of the Rio Negro – in addition to the highest point in Brazil, Pico da Neblina, a sacred place of the Yanomami people.

In Rio Negro, ISA maintains long-term work and institutional partnership - which fills us with pride - with indigenous associations and their leaders, including the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro (Foirn), the Hutukara Associação Yanomami (HAY) and the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR).

We maintain an office and team in the city of São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), considered the most indigenous municipality in Brazil, located in the Alto Rio Negro. From São Gabriel, we also went down with the waters of the Negro to support indigenous communities and associations in the municipalities of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro and Barcelos, both in the Amazon. In 2009, ISA incorporated the Pró-Yanomami Commission (CCPY) organization, its team and legacy, opening an office in Boa Vista (RR) and starting to work directly with the Yanomami people and other peoples of Roraima.

Currently, ISA works in the Rio Negro Basin with the promotion of training processes, articulating partnerships for the protection of indigenous territories, appreciation of socio-environmental diversity, food security for communities, development of value chains for the forest economy to generate income and production of intercultural research that gives visibility to the traditional knowledge and ways of life of the populations that, for many years, have kept the region's forests preserved.

Xingu

Xingu

Xingu

The Xingu River Basin is a region between the states of Mato Grosso and Pará that symbolizes Brazilian socio-environmental diversity. A diversity of peoples, forests and rivers that are born in the Cerrado and flow into the Amazon forest, in the center of the national territory. 

This socio-environmental diversity of the Xingu is largely sheltered within a "corridor" of protected areas (indigenous lands and conservation units) that represents 50% of the area of ​​the Xingu Basin. These protected areas and their forests, connected to each other, shelter one of the richest biodiversity on the planet and 26 indigenous peoples and riverine populations, who resist and insist on existing as part of the present - and the future - of Brazil. 

Today, the Xingu is the scene of conflict between these ways of life and an economic model based on predatory activities that involve deforestation, fires, intensive use of pesticides, mining, illegal logging, land grabbing, construction of hydroelectric plants, railways and roads. . 

The forests, rivers and peoples of the Xingu are the shield against the devastation that advances in Brazil. In the basin are located the municipalities and indigenous lands with the highest deforestation rates in the last 10 years in the Legal Amazon. The sources of the Xingu River have already lost more than 40% of their forest cover. Despite this, the socio-environmental diversity and the incredible resilience of the Xingu peoples represent a concrete opportunity to agree on a new model of development and relationship with the forest and your people. 

That's what we at ISA have been working for almost three decades with our feet on the ground, with teams and offices in the cities of Canarana (MT) and Altamira (PA), together with our local partners, in three main lines of work: economy of forest, forest restoration and territorial protection. 

Ribeira Valley

Ribeira Valley

Ribeira Valley

The Ribeira Valley, between São Paulo and Paraná, is a region of Atlantic Forest, with a strong presence of indigenous peoples, quilombola communities, caboclas and caiçaras. It is these traditional populations that, with their cultures and ways of life, keep the region's forests standing, resisting predatory activities and the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources. The quilombola, indigenous, cabocla and caiçara presence makes Vale do Ribeira a socio-environmental heritage in Brazil and a fundamental region for climate balance, biodiversity protection and rain production between two large metropolises in the country: Curitiba and São Paulo. 

ISA has been working in Vale do Ribeira since the late 1990s in partnership with associations and local civil society organizations to guarantee the territorial rights of quilombola communities, as well as the protection of forests, rivers, estuaries and other ecosystems in the region. We are grateful for the learning of struggle that communities and their leaders have passed on for so many centuries and teach new generations. 

ISA's work in the Ribeira Valley currently follows three strategic lines: political articulation for the defense of rights, strengthening of resource management in quilombola territories, with emphasis on the structuring of the Vale do Ribeira Seed Network and valorization of the Traditional Quilombola Agricultural System Ribeira Valley, and promotion of forest products, with emphasis on support for the production and marketing, by communities, of organic production from local agrobiodiversity for income generation. 

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

The Amazon (or "Pan-Amazon", to look at the biome as a whole, beyond Brazilian borders) is an integral socio-ecological system, shared by eight countries and a French province in South America, which benefits all the inhabitants of the planet. Its enormous socio-environmental diversity is a strategic asset both for the tropical environment of South America and for the balance of the Earth's climate. forests, such as quilombola and riverside communities.  

We at ISA believe that in order to strengthen an integral vision of the Pan-Amazon, look at the biome as a whole, it is necessary to overcome fragmented approaches and promote initiatives with territorial synergy, considering regional, national and international geographic scales to, in the end, strengthen the territories indigenous peoples and protected areas throughout the Pan-Amazon, which means increasing forest protection. To move in this direction, in 2007 ISA helped create the Amazon Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information (Raisg), a network formed by civil society organizations from Amazonian countries with extensive experience of working in the Amazon and with its peoples. 

In these 14 years, Raisg has produced and disseminated maps, statistical data and socio-environmental information on the Pan-Amazon, which contribute to the monitoring of 3,8 million hectares of indigenous lands and protected areas in 6 of the 9 "Amazonian countries" (Brazil , Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). O Atlas Amazon Under Pressure 2020 brings together the most recent versions of many of these maps. 

 As Information produced by the network of South American organizations also generates evidence on the value of the Pan-Amazon to face the climate crisis and can help in decision-making in sustainable development processes at different planning levels (municipal, state, national and international ) to prevent and mitigate environmental degradation in the region. Since 2017, Raisg has partnered with the MapBiomas Brasil initiative to map land use cover in the Amazon region. The products and cartographic data produced by the network are available for download on its platform: www.amazoniasocioambiental.org.

In time: at ISA we also operate regionally in the Brazilian "Amazon", in two of its large hydrographic basins, the Xingu River and the Rio Negro.

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images of Rio Negro

ISA headquarters in São Gabriel da Cachoeira, AM @Giorgio Palmera Aerial view of the Maturacá Community with Serra do Opota in the background, Yanomami Indigenous Land (AM) @Rogério Assis / ISA
Bathers on the upper Rio Negro, in São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM) @Carol Quintanilha / ISA Expedition Serras de Tapuruquara - Maniaka Route. Aerial view of the Tapuruquara Mountains @Rogério Assis / ISA Rio Negro Region, Amazonas @Giorgio Palmera
Baniwa community of Tucumã-rupitá, Rio Içana, TI Alto Rio Negro @André Albuquerque Community of Tunuí Cachoeira dos Baniwa, Içana river @Antônio Milena / Agência Brasil Baniwa Community of Tucumã-Rupitã, Alto Rio Içana @Beto Ricardo / ISA
Serra do Curicuriari in São Gabriel da Cachoeira @Marcos Amend Image captured with a drone for the #MenosPreconceitoMaisÍndio campaign by Instituto Socioambiental @Daniel Klajmic / Prodigo Pedras da Cachoeira da Onça, Cultural Heritage of Brazil and sacred place for the indigenous peoples of the Uaupés and Papuri rivers @Vincent Carelli / Video in the Villages
Petroglyph, Iauaretê, Alto Uaupés, Amazonas @Sônia Lorenz / ISA Taperera Community @Beto Ricardo / ISA Rio Negro in São Gabriel da Cachoeira @Roberto Linsker / ISA
Rio Negro Region, Amazonas @Giorgio Palmera Rio Negro Region, Amazonas @Giorgio Palmera Rio Negro Region, Amazonas @Giorgio Palmera

people of Rio Negro

From dir. to left: José Pedrosa (Tukano), Arlindo Moura (Tukano), José Campos (Desana), Rosivaldo Miranda (Pira-tapuya) and Vilmar Azevedo (Tukano), AIMAs and interested parties training in the use of tablet during the beginning of the research to monitor the climate and environment @Edilson Ovo Villegas Ramos / Rio Negro Indigenous Communicators Network Claudia Baniwa making beiju in Alto Rio Içana @Pedro Martinelli / ISA Buriti collection at the head of the açaí stream @Edilson Ovo Villegas Ramos / Rio Negro Indigenous Communicators Network
Territory mapping exercises during the Territorial and Environmental Management Plan (PGTA) workshop for the Middle and Upper Rio Negro TIs. During the workshop, indigenous peoples on the border between Brazil and Colombia discuss protection of the territory, lack of public services and management of biodiversity @file:///home/alex/Downloads/Rio%20Negro/RS13700_1181_6_20180410-scr.JPG Fisherman on the upper Rio Negro, in São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM) @Carol Quintanilha / ISA Behind, Mrs Nazária Trindade Monte Negro and ahead, Mrs Nazária Mandú Lopes pick peppers in the countryside, close to the Canada community, on the Ayari River, Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Land (AM) @Carol Quintanilha / ISA
A Baniwa child plays with his dog in the Canadá community, in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Land (AM), near the Ayari River @Carol Quintanilha / ISA A Baniwa girl carries dishes in the Canadá community, near the Ayari River, in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Land (AM) @Carol Quintanilha / ISA Moisés Brazão, master of Japurutu, participates in a dance during the inauguration of the water supply system powered by hydraulic ram, in the Santa Isabel community, located in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Land (AM), close to the Ayari River @Carol Quintanilha / ISA
Working group on territorial governance and intercultural research during the XNUMXst General Meeting of Indigenous Environmental Management Agents (Aimas) of the Rio Negro basin. @Plínio Marcos / PMAC

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images of Xingu

Children playing football. Photo taken during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Yarang Women's Movement (MMY). MMY produces and collects native seeds for reforestation of springs and riparian forests in the Xingu River basin around TIX, Aldeia Moygu, Mato Grosso @Carol Quintanilha / ISA Football game in the village. Photo taken during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Yarang Women's Movement (MMY). MMY produces and collects native seeds for reforestation of springs and riparian forests in the Xingu River basin around TIX, Aldeia Moygu, Mato Grosso @Carol Quintanilha / ISA Aerial view of the village in celebration, Aldeia Moygu, Xingu Indigenous Park. Scene from the movie "They will never walk alone", in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Yarang Women's Movement (MMY), which produces and collects native seeds for the reforestation of springs and riparian forests in the Xingu River basin around the TIX. Directed by Fernanda Ligabue/ISA and carried out by the Yarang Women's Movement, Xingu Seeds Network Association and Moygu Indigenous Association Ikpeng Community @file:///home/alex/Desktop/Xingu
Group performs during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the demarcation of TI Wawi in the Khinkatxi village @Christian Braga / ISA Tuba Tuba village of the Yudjá people (Juruna), Xingu River, Mato Grosso @Guaíra Maia / ISA Aerial view of Piyulaga Village, Xingu Indigenous Park. Photo produced during the training workshop for professionals to install and maintain solar panels. For five days, students from 10 ethnic groups received classes from engineers from the Institute of Energy and Environment (IEE/USP) as part of the Clean Energy project in the Xingu, which aims to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 75% at the poles of the Xingu Indigenous Park. @Todd Southgate
Starry sky in the Piyulaga Village, of the Wauja, Xingu Indigenous Park. Photo produced during the training workshop for professionals to install and maintain solar panels. For five days, students from 10 ethnic groups received classes from engineers from the Institute of Energy and Environment (IEE/USP) as part of the Clean Energy project in the Xingu, which aims to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 75% at the poles of the Xingu Indigenous Park. @Todd Southgate Sunset at the Piyulaga Village, of the Wauja, Xingu Indigenous Park. Photo produced during the training workshop for professionals to install and maintain solar panels. For five days, students from 10 ethnic groups received classes from engineers from the Institute of Energy and Environment (IEE/USP) as part of the Clean Energy project in the Xingu, which aims to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 75% at the poles of the Xingu Indigenous Park. @Todd Southgate Aldeia Kamaú and the Curuá River, where the meeting to discuss and approve the Consultation Protocol took place, a document that details how indigenous and traditional peoples should be consulted before any public decision (legislative or administrative) that may affect Your rights. @Giovanni Bello / Xingu Network +
Reforested area in Santa Cruz do Xingu. In Mato Grosso, the state that leads the production of soy and corn in Brazil, experiences with new technologies of forest restoration have generated good results in the generation of carbon credits, in the promotion of a productive chain that generates income for local communities and in the change of paradigms, in which producers see the benefits and opportunities of restoration. @Ricardo Abad / ISA

people of Xingu

Huka Huka, end of the Kuarup in the Aiha village of the Kalapalo people. The ritual is considered the great emblem of the Upper Xingu. It is a funeral ceremony, which involves myths of creation of humanity, the hierarchical classification in groups, the initiation of young women and the relationships between the villages @Beto Ricardo / ISA Yarang woman in the Moygu village of the Ikpeng people, Casa de Sementes Project - Xingu Seed Network @Rogério Assis / ISA Kisêdjê dancing at a party @Rogério Assis / ISA
Kisêdjê playing football @Rogério Assis / ISA Lagoon of the Aiha village of the Kalapalo people @Beto Ricardo / ISA Yudja child in the Mïratu village, located in the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land (PA). The village was part of the route of the 5th Canoada Xingu held from September 3 to 8, 2018, which covered more than 100 km of the Volta Grande of the Xingu River. Since its inception Canoada has sought to draw attention to the problems that the peoples and communities of the region face with the installation of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant and seek allies of the Xingu peoples in the fight for their rights and their territories @Marcelo Soubhia / ISA
Araweté with the aray, a rattle used by adult men for small cures, nocturnal chants and shamanic rituals usually accompanied by the "tobacco eaters" cigar, Araweté Indigenous Land/Igarapé Ipixuna, Pará @Eduardo Viveiros de Castro Araweté Group at the village port, on the way back from the hunt, Araweté Indigenous Land/Igarapé Ipixuna, Pará @Eduardo Viveiros de Castro Araweté weaving cotton for spinning, Araweté Indigenous Land/Igarapé Ipixuna, Pará @Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
Girls fishing in the Ipixuna lajeiro, Araweté Indigenous Land/Igarapé Ipixuna, Pará @Eduardo Viveiros de Castro

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images of Ribeira Valley

Crafts in the mud house, Quilombo de Ivaporunduva @Loiro Cunha / ISA Edmilson Prado’s house, in Jureia in the Rio Verde region – declared a Natural Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve by Unesco –, in the heart of the Juréia-Itatins Ecological Station, between the mouth of the Una River and the Jureia Massif Ribeira River, Quilombo de Ivaporunduva, in the Ribeira Valley (SP) @Loiro Cunha / ISA
A wattle and daub house, Quilombo de Ivaporunduva @Loiro Cunha / ISA Cotia, in Bombas de Cima, where the school with elementary education from 1st to 4th grade is located, Iporanga, in Vale do Ribeira (SP) @Kjersti Thorkildsen River RIbeira de Iguape, border of the quilombola community of Porto Velho, in Iporanga, Vale do Ribeira (SP) @Felipe Leal / ISA
Quilombo de Ivaporunduva and the river Ribeira de Iguape @Loiro Cunha / ISA Varadouro, stretch of the Ribeira de Iguape river where the PCH Itaóca project is located @Junior Petar Wooden house in Quilombo de Ivaporunduva @Loiro Cunha / ISA
Fog, Quilombo de Ivaporunduva @Loiro Cunha / ISA

people of Ribeira Valley

Zeni Florindo, Quilombo of Ivaporunduva @Loiro Cunha / ISA Cacilda Marinho collecting vines, Quilombo de Ivaporunduva @Loiro Cunha / ISA Children playing football, Quilombo São Pedro. Capture of content for the campaign "It's time for the roça", in defense of quilombola roças. The campaign aimed to pressure the state government to issue licenses for the opening of new swiddens, highlighting the importance of the traditional way of planting and the right of quilombolas to their own territory @Agê Barros / ISA
Leide Maria Miranda Jorge, from Quilombo Pedro Cubas, walking through the quilombo during the capture of content for the campaign "It's time for the roça", in defense of quilombola gardens. The campaign aimed to pressure the state government to issue licenses for the opening of new swiddens, highlighting the importance of the traditional way of planting and the right of quilombolas to their own territory @Agê Barros / ISA Edvina Silva (Dona Diva), from Quilombo Pedro Cubas de Cima, during the capture of content for the campaign "It's time for the roça", in defense of quilombola gardens. The campaign aimed to pressure the state government to issue licenses for the opening of new swiddens, highlighting the importance of the traditional way of planting and the right of quilombolas to their own territory @Agê Barros / ISA Edvina Silva (Dona Diva), from Quilombo Pedro Cubas de Cima, harvesting lemons during the collection of content for the campaign "It's time for the roça", in defense of quilombola gardens. The campaign aimed to pressure the state government to issue licenses for the opening of new swiddens, highlighting the importance of the traditional way of planting and the right of quilombolas to their own territory @Agê Barros / ISA
Neire Alves da Silva, from Quilombo Ivaporunduva, with her daughter Ana Julia Alves Pupo in her arms, in the campaign "It's time for the roça", which aimed to pressure the government of São Paulo to issue licenses for traditional quilombola gardens. The launch of the campaign took place during the 11th Seeds and Seedlings Exchange Fair of the Quilombola Communities of Vale do Ribeira, Eldorado @Claudio Tavares / ISA Heloisa de França Dias with her daughter Crislaine Gabrielle de França e Silva, from Quilombo São Pedro, in the campaign "It's time for the roça", which aimed to pressure the government of São Paulo to issue licenses for traditional quilombola gardens. The launch of the campaign took place during the 11th Seeds and Seedlings Exchange Fair of the Quilombola Communities of Vale do Ribeira, Eldorado @Claudio Tavares / ISA Vanilda Donato dos Santos and Vandir dos Santos with their daughters (from left to right) Ana Paula Donato dos Santos, Ana Beatriz Donato dos Santos and Ana Laura Donato dos Santos, from Quilombo Porto Velho, in the campaign "It's time for the countryside", which aimed to pressure the government of São Paulo to issue licenses for traditional quilombola swiddens @Clau
From left to right: Jean Mikon Ramos de Lima, Kaique Benedito da Silva Dantas, Esequiel Gonçalves de Ponte, David Felipe Monteiro Maciel and Fernando Gonçalves da Silva, from Quilombo Cangume, in the campaign "It's time for the countryside", which aimed to pressure the government of São Paulo to issue licenses for traditional quilombola gardens, 11th Seeds and Seedlings Exchange Fair for the Quilombola Communities of Vale do Ribeira, Eldorado @Claudio Tavares / ISA

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images of Amazon

Serra do Imeri seen from Aldeia Ariabu, in the region of Maturacá @Marcos Amend Terreiro at Volta da Escada @Pedro Martinelli / ISA Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest on the upper Rio Catrimani, on the border of the states of Roraima and Amazonas. The largest indigenous reserve on Earth with just over 10 million hectares @Edson Sato
Expedition Serras de Tapuruquara - Maniaka Route. Aerial view of the canoe on the Rio Negro beach in the Aruti community @Rogério Assis / ISA Sunrise on the Iriri River (PA) @Lilo Clareto / ISA Rain in the forest, Mucajaí region, Yanomami Indigenous Land (RR) @Lucas Lima / ISA
Dragonfly @Estêvão Benfica Senra / ISA Parrot's beak snake, Resex do Riozinho do Anfrísio @Marcelo Salazar / ISA Maturacá Region @Marcos Amend
Landscape in the Middle Land @Rogério Assis / ISA

people of Amazon

Yanomami women and bird at Yanomami TI, Ye'kwana community, Waikás @Rogério Assis / ISA Ronaldo Ye'kwana, from the Waikás community, being followed by a baby tapir, TI Yanomami @Rogério Assis / ISA Adê, a riverside dweller on Ilha da Fazenda, rows in an area flooded by the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, during the 5th Canoada Xingu, held from September 3 to 8, 2018, covering more than 100 km of the Volta Grande do Rio Xingu (PA) ). Since its inception, Canoada has sought to draw attention to the problems that the peoples and communities of the region face with the installation of the dam and seek allies of the Xingu peoples in the fight for their rights and their territory @Marcelo Soubhia / ISA
Ilha da Fazenda, a riverside community whose area is directly threatened by Belo Sun, where the mining company intends to settle. @Marcelo Soubhia / ISA On the left, Dona Graça cleans duck inside the Xingu River in the Mïratu village, located in the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land (PA) @Marcelo Soubhia / ISA Route for the forest survey of rowan (Couma utilis), used as raw material in the production of Kumurõ, the Tukano bank. @Marcus Vinicius Chamon Schmidt / ISA
Fishing during the Yaõkwá, a 7-month ritual held annually by the Enawenê Nawê and registered as a cultural heritage of Brazil by Iphan (Institute of National Historic and Artistic Heritage). Fishing, an important part of the ritual, is threatened by plans to build hydroelectric dams on the Juruena River, jeopardizing the physical and cultural survival of this people. Enawenê Nawê Indigenous Land, Mato Grosso @Vincent Carelli / Video in the Villages Young yudja in the Mïratu village, located in the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land (PA). @Marcelo Soubhia / ISA Tiwawi-no fishing, Araweté Indigenous Land/Igarapé Ipixuna, Pará @Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
Mokaiahipe Community, Xitei region, Yanomami Indigenous Land @Lucas Lima / ISA
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