Gaia Amazonas

The Mission

Thriving Amazon ecosystems with thriving Indigenous communities.

How It Works

Gaia pioneered a concept called “accompaniment” — it's basically a long-term partnership with indigenous communities to systematically help meet their needs and protect forest ecosystems. Gaia helps communities secure tenure, strengthen governance systems, and develop ‘Life Plans’ to guide livelihoods and land management. Gaia then helps these indigenous governments obtain official recognition from the national government, enabling access to public finance.

The Dream

Indigenous governments are recognized and funded by the national government—like municipalities—so they can sustain their people and their land.

Why We're In

They’ve been extraordinarily successful. Indigenous Territories accompanied by Gaia maintain deforestation rates that are 3x lower than similar areas, and Gaia accompanies 13 Indigenous Territories that cover 10.4M hectares of the Amazon. They now have multiple replication sites in partnership with like-minded NGOs across other parts of the Amazon Basin. Gaia is working on getting indigenous territories officially recognized as local municipalities, which allows full self-governance and the ability to receive direct government funding—a game-changer for indigenous communities in the Amazon.