This project has also included the establishment of a new nhô rõny kangõ nhõ kikre ( babaçu oil processing house) and a small oil extraction machine. The oil is sold at fair prices and routed directly to consumers or stores in urban centers, cutting out the middle man and adding significant economic value to an activity of cultural and environmental importance. The project centers on strengthening the Menire’s capacity to manage the production and commercialization of the babaçu for use within the villages and for external commercialization. One project that has expanded and is now being implemented in several Xikrin villages is babaçu oil production (a type of coconut). Many of these projects continue on today.
These women-led projects-including dress-making, dye creation for body paint, flour production and vegetable cultivation-all support the sustainable harvest of non-timber forest products, in turn leaving the forest standing strong.
The women began this journey 5 years ago, with a diverse portfolio of sustainable resource management and production projects in partnership with the Brazilian government's National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (FUNAI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Plan for Regional Sustainable Development in Xingu (PDRS Xingu) and traditional ribeirinho communities in Rio Novo. With many of their roles and interests centered on sustainable natural resource management, supporting the Menire’s vision and leadership is a natural and long-term solution to improve environmental and human well-being. Their goal was to organize themselves and engage supportive partners, to grow their knowledge and skills and increase their visibility within their communities and in the world of the kuben (white people). Observing that their responsibilities were often seen both inside and outside the village as secondary roles, the Xikrin Menire set out to gain stronger recognition of their roles as natural resource managers, as well as opportunities to lead other types of projects in their communities. But despite their critical role in natural resource management, women are often marginalized from decision-making processes, and their work goes unacknowledged. A 2016 systematic review of the science literature suggests that including women in natural resource management leads to better governance and conservation. Indigenous women’s knowledge and leadership is particularly important for achieving positive outcomes for people and nature. The message is clear: strengthening indigenous institutions is not only a human rights issue-it’s also crucial for achieving global climate and biodiversity goals. In fact, the newly released IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land notes the importance of indigenous knowledge for developing strategies to improve agricultural practices and mitigate land-based climate emissions. Indigenous communities manage approximately 25 percent of the world’s lands, and these areas house an outsize share of the world’s biodiversity and natural carbon stores. Indigenous peoples’ wisdom and understanding of the ecosystem and natural resource management is key to ensuring resilience in the face of immense pressures-and not just in Brazil.
A massive natural carbon sink and haven for biodiversity, the Amazon is undoubtedly one of the most important ecosystems in the world-and indigenous lands are the foundation stone to its protection, comprising over 27 percent of the land area in the Amazon Basin and holding 33 percent of its carbon reserves.įrom 2000 to 2012, deforestation in indigenous lands in Brazil was less than 1 percent, compared with 7 percent deforestation and 27 times more carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation outside them. The Xikrin Indigenous People of Bacajá, numbering 1,067 people, live in 15 villages in the Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous Land, a territory spanning 1.65 million hectares in Brazil's Pará state in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. These women ( Menire, in Xikrin) are the heart of their community-and important stewards of its natural resources. The women respond to the call, flocking to the ngàb, the main house, to discuss their roles and daily activities together, with children, dogs and chickens in tow. The voices of hundreds of Xikrin women echo through the indigenous land on the edge of the mighty Bacajá River.
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