The threats to the ecosystems of the Amazonia have found responses in the activism of its native inhabitants. A journalistic project tells their stories.
The independent global journalism platform Open Democracy and the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Journalism Fund (RJF) have teamed up to tell the stories of these people, members of the Amazonia’s native communities in Brazil and Ecuador.
The Pulitzer RJF was launched in September 2018 to support some 200 environmental and climate journalism projects over the next five years. They aim to train local, regional and international journalists.
The Open Democracy project is called the Rainforest Defenders. The first five chapters focus on leaders in Brazil and the next three focus on leaders in Ecuador.
“These are the voices that are not afraid to defend their territory and the environment, even when the country’s most powerful pose a serious threat to their safety,” the presentation of the project states.
Francesc Badia i Dalmases is the author of this stories, which El País also published. Pablo Albarenga made the photos and videos.
The first chapter of the series tells the story of Ednei, 20, of the Arapiun community in Cachoeira do Maró, coordinator of the Tapajós-Arapinus Indigenous Council, which comprises 45 villages in 13 indigenous communities. He is a vigilant leader of the forest to protect it from loggers and poachers.
The second chapter focuses on Dani, who, in addition to being a leading environmental advocate, is an LGBT+ rights activist. She is 21 years old. Besides accepting and acknowledging her homosexuality, she decided to express it freely before her family in Prainha 2, on the banks of the Tapajós River, and also before her community and the mostly evangelical churches. In doing so, she has inspired others like her.
The protagonist of the third chapter is Drica, a teacher from the Trombetas River Reserve and the first woman chosen to represent the territory’s association, made up of six communities of African descent. “A barrier has now been broken with my election as coordinator. I hope it helps other women to come up front and do the same.”
The fourth chapter in the series is about Joane, an environmental activist. Since she was a child, she has naturally recycled plastic, by turning it into jewelry or flower pots. Now, in her twenties, she is working to raise awareness among members of her community in Suruacá, in the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractivist Reserve, about the damage caused by single-use plastic and the burning of waste. She insists on changing the habits of her neighbors.
Tupi’s story is in the fifth chapter. As an indigenous activist in the village of San Francisco, also in Tapajós-Arapiuns she leads a women’s empowerment movement, which began for herself by reconciling with her roots to overcome a history of sexual, physical and psychological violence by her partner.
From the sixth chapter on, the Defenders of the Forest is dedicated to the Ecuadorian Amazonia. In this chapter, they tell the story of Julián, an indigenous man from the community of Wishui, who is active against the impact of a new road that attracts loggers and extractive and mining operators, and damages the land of the Achuars.
Veronica, the protagonist of the seventh chapter of the series, is also an Achuar woman. She is a midwife who assists the women of the Sharamentsa community, although in their ancient traditions, childbirth was a solitary event for women, inside the jungle, without anyone seeing them. She grows her own medicinal plants.
The eighth chapter is about Nantu, also a 31-year-old Achuar, who proposes, as a response to the construction of the road, a project in solar-powered boats that are used as collective transport for the residents of his Sharamentsa community, on the Pastaza River bank.