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.
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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.”