Sustainable Livelihoods
We support Indigenous communities in advancing sustainable livelihoods rooted in cultural identity, ecological stewardship, and community leadership.
Our work centers on community-led efforts that strengthen resilience, sustainable resource management, and the long-term well-being of communities and forest ecosystems.
By supporting regenerative livelihoods, revitalizing ancestral knowledge and agroforestry practices, promoting biodiversity conservation and wildlife monitoring, and expanding opportunities for community education and local capacity-building, we help communities reinforce food security, cultural continuity, ecological resilience, and sustainable futures.
Aguaje Palm Fruit
The aguaje (Mauritia flexuosa) is a bioculturally vital palm species across the Amazon. Its fruits provide an important source of nutrition and income for communities, while also sustaining a wide range of wildlife, making the aguaje palm a keystone species in flooded forest ecosystems.
We support community-led management strategies that allow households to benefit economically while protecting long-term forest resilience. Together, we are advancing techniques such as tree-climbing harvest methods and cultivation of aguaje palms in agricultural fields and home gardens, reducing pressure on wild populations.
Stingless Beekeeping
Stingless Beekeeping promotes sustainable livelihoods and forest stewardship through education in stingless beekeeping, community enterprise development, and ecological management.
Through training in hive management, local capacity-building, and regenerative production methods, the project supports economic resilience, environmental stewardship, and community self-determination. It promotes the revitalization of ancestral knowledge and cultural traditions, strengthens connections between families and the forest, and expands locally led economic opportunities rooted in cultural and ecological sustainability.
By integrating Indigenous knowledge, conservation, and community-based enterprise, stingless beekeeping becomes a tool for cultural continuity, ecological resilience, and sustainable development.
Ecotourism
Photo: Brian Griffiths
We support community-led development of education-based ecotourism that supports conservation, cultural exchange, and sustainable livelihoods. Through hands-on learning experiences centered on ancestral knowledge and environmental stewardship, visitors engage in projects such as stingless beekeeping, wildlife conservation, sustainable palm harvesting, and traditional crafts.
These initiatives generate local income, strengthen cultural continuity, and foster meaningful cross-cultural learning, in collaboration with Amazon Explorama Lodges, The Morpho Institute, and George Mason University.
Handicrafts
Photo: Wilfredo Martinez
Indigenous artisans continue to sustain vibrant weaving traditions rooted ancestral knowledge of the chambira palm (Astrocaryum chambira). We support community-driven artisan enterprises by strengthening market access and collaborative partnerships.
Working alongside Maijuna artisans, Amazon Explorama Lodges, and the Center for Amazon Community Ecology, we support cross-border markets that advance cultural continuity and economic resilience.