Indigenous leadership, knowledge, and traditional wisdom will contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in approximately 6.4 million hectares spread across 15 Brazilian Indigenous Lands. This is the main focus of the Biodiversity Conservation in Indigenous Lands project, approved on Thursday, June 20, in Washington, DC, during the meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council. The initiative will receive nearly USD 10 million from the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), created in 2023 to support the implementation of the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, under GEF management.

“Indigenous peoples play a vital role as guardians of vast forest areas and other biomes, conserving threatened biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services such as fresh water. We recognize their crucial contribution to conservation and are committed to supporting their efforts,” says Carlos Manoel Rodríguez, CEO of the GEF.

The project will be implemented by the GEF Agency FUNBIO, executed by the International Institute of Education of Brazil (IEB), and coordinated by the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.

“It is very important to value Indigenous knowledge in environmental preservation. We need to learn from Indigenous peoples to have a more respectful relationship with nature, aiming for a transformation in people’s consciousness to change consumption patterns and relationships with biodiversity,” said Sônia Guajajara, Brazil’s Minister of Indigenous Peoples.

The initiative will benefit 61,000 Indigenous people, with 50% of them being women, across five biomes (Amazon, Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga, and Atlantic Forest). A key feature of the project is that the Indigenous communities themselves will be the main executors of the project.

The project will focus on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in approximately 6.4 million hectares inhabited by nine Indigenous peoples (Kayapó, Munduruku, Kadiwéu, Terena, Kinikinau, Guarani Kaiowá, Pataxó, Pankararu, and Tremembé), located in 15 Indigenous Lands through the implementation of Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTAs, the acronym in Portuguese).

“The entire design of this project was conceived to be by the Indigenous peoples and for them. FUNBIO has a history of more than 25 years of working in biodiversity conservation with multiple partners, and our work with Indigenous peoples is fundamental to achieving a more sustainable present and future,” says Fábio Leite, Manager of the GEF Agency FUNBIO.

Support will be provided over five years through four pillars: Consolidation of ILs, Sustainable production for economic, social, and environmental benefits, Territorial governance, and Project management and knowledge management.

These pillars are aligned with the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI, the acronym in Portuguese), and the Biodiversity Conservation in Indigenous Lands project will use the PGTAs as the main planning tool. The PGTAs are like the Indigenous peoples’ life plans, and through collective construction, they are created to guide actions and their use within their ILs.

The initial activities will focus on consulting and engaging Indigenous communities to identify priority areas within their lands and to determine which activities outlined in the PGTAs should be implemented. Indigenous leadership is a key differentiator, as it will leave a lasting legacy by ensuring that, after the project, these communities remain empowered and equipped to undertake further actions to protect biodiversity and sustain their territories.

The project will also report directly to the PNGATI steering committee, ensuring that its actions are known to all Indigenous organizations in Brazil, while also enabling broad dissemination of the lessons learned. At the local level, the project will empower territorial management by ensuring that the committees have a consultative role throughout the project’s duration. This design not only involves Indigenous peoples at all levels of project coordination but also acknowledges their expertise and contributions.

In addition to the Indigenous peoples themselves, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples is one of the main entities responsible for the project, playing a broader coordination role by linking the project’s actions and objectives to national policies governed by various governmental bodies. FUNAI will also play a key role in monitoring the project’s actions within the territories through its decentralized units.

Another project approved at the GEF Council meeting was the Caatinga Protected Areas project (ARCA, the acronym in Portuguese), a unique conservation initiative in the biome, which will also receive funding from the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF). Learn more here