The Kayapó Fund as an innovative financial conservation mechanism

Snapshot Solution
A red breasted toucan in Brazil © IUCN Imène Meliane

The Kayapó Fund, developed by Conservation International, is the first trust fund to focus on long-term financing for conservation of the Amazon by indigenous people, the Kayapó peoples of the southeastern Amazon region of Brazil. The Fund launched in 20111, with at least US$8 mio to provide in grants. Grants support monitoring and protection of Kayapó land, development of sustainable economic activities and capacity-building of Kayapó organization.

Last update: 17 Jul 2019
4944 Views
Context
Challenges addressed
Land and Forest degradation
Lack of access to long-term funding
Lack of technical capacity
Poor monitoring and enforcement
Unemployment / poverty
Scale of implementation
Local
Ecosystems
Tropical deciduous forest
Tropical evergreen forest
Theme
Habitat fragmentation and degradation
Sustainable livelihoods
Indigenous people
Protected and conserved areas management planning
Location
Amazon Rainforest, Codajás - State of Amazonas, Brazil
South America
Impacts

With the initiative’s early success, the Kayapó Fund can serve as a model for financially supporting other indigenous communities — in Brazil and elsewhere — and their efforts to sustainably manage large areas of land. The Trust Fund benefits approximately 7,000 people in five Indigenous territories. The grants have helped conserve an area of 10.6 million hectares, which is about 3 percent of the Amazon, and constitutes the largest block of tropical forest protected by a single Indigenous group and is encircled by increasing deforestation.

Connect with contributors