Background to the study

CCPY (Comissão Pró-Yanomami) is a non-profit non-governmental Brazilian organisation established in 1978 and legally constituted in 1984, supporting the Yanomami Indians in the defence of their environment and the autonomous sustainable use of their traditional lands.  CCPY, based in Brasília, runs an ongoing bilingual education project in several areas in the Yanomami territory including Homoxi.  Its daughter organisation URIHI runs an ongoing health project in nine sectors of the Yanomami territory (5,400 people), also including Homoxi.

 

Figure 1: Jeremias (left) and Baiano Formiga (right) in 1989

In June 2000 the Nature Conservancy commissioned a visit to Homoxi by the anthropologist Janet Chernela.  The object of the visit was to make a preliminary evaluation of the need for an environmental restoration and management project in the region, and to identify the potential nature of such an enterprise.  Chernela’s conclusions argued strongly for the establishment of such a project, emphasising the need for community involvement, capacity building, appropriate technology and livelihood benefits.  Her report recommended that an initial survey should be undertaken by a small group of specialists, including “assessments of 1) degree of degradation; 2) natural regeneration of degraded areas; and 3) local, intact biotic systems in order to determine precise methodologies for restoration based upon the characteristics of the local forest.”