GBFF In Focus: Brazil - Biodiversity conservation in Indigenous lands

In less than one year, the GEF’s Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has moved from launch to full-speed operation, with four projects already reviewed, approved, and funded, and dozens more in the pipeline. GBFF In Focus is a series showcasing how the new biodiversity fund is changing the game for how countries can invest in nature, starting with four projects in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico. These projects moved from concept approval to implementation in just six months, and stand out for their inclusive, integrated approach to building a more nature-positive future.  

Humans first settled in what is now known as Brazil more than 30,000 years ago. Today, Brazil’s nearly 900,000 Indigenous persons and their ancestral lands are critical havens for nature in one of the world’s most biodiverse nations. Roughly 106 million hectares – or 13 percent of Brazil’s land mass – lies within territory recognized as Indigenous.

This is why one of the first projects to receive funding from the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund was Biodiversity Conservation in Indigenous Lands, an initiative designed to support efforts by Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples to manage the land under their care more sustainably.

The five-year project will be managed by the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO), in partnership with the International Institute of Education of Brazil (IEB) and Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. Its primary objective is to bring 6.4 million hectares under more sustainable management. 

Activities will be mainly directed toward helping Indigenous leaders deploy their Territorial and Environmental Management Plans: territory-specific roadmaps crafted under Brazil’s National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands. The policy, launched in 2012, was informed by extensive consultations with Indigenous communities, civil society organizations, and public sector agencies, with support from the GEF project Catalyzing the Contribution of Indigenous Lands to the Conservation of Brazil's Forest.

Indigenous Peoples will be involved at all levels of the project, which focuses on territories within five of Brazil’s six terrestrial biomes: Amazonia, Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga, and Atlantic forest. These target areas are inhabited by nine different ethnicities – Kayapó, Munduruku, Kadiwéu, Terena, Kinikinau, Guarani Kaiowá, Pataxó, Pankararu, and Tremembé – and some 61,000 Indigenous people will benefit directly. To promote greater leadership diversity in the target territories, women and young people in the communities will also receive training in leadership and conservation. 

Project activities will support four key goals: the consolidation of Indigenous lands; instituting more sustainable production; strengthening territorial governance; and enhancing project and knowledge management in the target regions.

As a first step, teams will work to identify priority ecosystems and to pinpoint which steps in their territorial management plans should proceed. And since the economic health of all communities is a key consideration, work will go into bolstering the sustainability of local agriculture, improving access to markets, and implementing more effective production of natural products such as açaí palms, Brazil nuts, and cumaru.

The project is expected to yield local, national, and global benefits. Locally, it will help curb deforestation and habitat degradation, contribute to the conservation of threatened species, and help to maintain water cycles, which are vital for the availability of fresh water for people, plants, and animals. Importantly, putting these plans on a sound footing will also help communities to cope with the effects of climate change. 

For Brazil as a whole, the project will offer important lessons in how to deploy territorial management plans and will help lay the foundations for others to follow. Achievements, innovations, and lessons learned in their execution will be shared with both Brazil’s Ministry for Indigenous Peoples and the steering committee of the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands. These bodies will then share this knowledge throughout the country.

Anticipated global benefits include the conservation of key ecosystems, including some of Brazil’s ancient forest lands that are critical to climate change mitigation as well as the preservation of traditional wisdom about science, medicine, and ecology.

“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,” said Global Environment Facility CEO Carlos Manuel Rodríguez. 

“This is an excellent project to get the GBFF portfolio started, given its emphasis on partnership and working together to ensure the world’s land, fresh water, and marine ecosystems can come under sustainable management this decade.”