There are moments in time where the world feels very big and very small at the same time. The current crisis due to the pandemic has provided us with the opportunity to experience first hand the impacts of globalization – how global travel has brought us so close together that we are indeed all one big community when it comes to our vulnerability to the impacts of this virus on our health, well-being, and economic sustainability.
As members of a global community that are passionate about psychoactive plant practices, there are threads that tie us together. Yet, within this crisis, we are physically grounded in one geographical space, unable to travel to connect with communities in the Amazon or other places who have become important to us. The question of how to offer help to indigenous and other Amazonian communities who don’t have access to medical and economic supports that may be available to those in North America and Europe is answered by two words: solidarity and generosity.
We’ve compiled this list of organizations and groups that are seeking resources to fund support initiatives for Amazonian communities. If you have a campaign that you’d like to see listed here, please email us.
DISCLAIMER: Please note that the intention of this post is to create a list that will help our international community to identify ways to directly offer support to Amazonian communities and retreat centers during this time of crisis. As with any donation you make, please do your own research to ensure the legitimacy of organizations and initiatives and whether they align with your values as a contributor. ICEERS is not responsible for ensuring the fiscal management of the initiatives listed here.
Share: Statement of Solidarity Calling for a Moratorium on Extractive Industries
Statement in Solidarity with Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Facing the Novel Coronavirus: A growing coalition of international NGOs in partnership with indigenous organizations are calling for an Amazon-wide moratorium amidst the pandemic. The moratorium is on any activity that includes the entering of foreign persons into indigenous territories. This includes all extractive industries and their activities, industrial agriculture, religious organizations, and increased militarization of indigenous territories. Please share this through your networks to raise awareness about the need for this moratorium.
Donate: to support Amazonian indigenous communities during the pandemic
Huni Kuin Forestry Project, Brazil: Aldeia Pinuya, Huni Kuin village located in Acre, Brazil would like to build a tree nursery to plant seedlings to reforest their land. The villages original tree nursery was destroyed in a storm a number of years ago and due to lack of funds has never been able to be re-built.
Ashaninka Fundraiser for the People of the Forest, Brazil: The Ashaninka are raising funds for the purchase of support kits for indigenous and non-indigenous families who live in the forest, to help them in this moment of the pandemic.The kits bring food, equipment, and essential products for the forest dwellers both for daily consumption and to strengthen their local production.
Peru Solidarity Map: This website allows you to offer help in various ways and choose families to directly support during the crisis.
Amazon Emergency Fund, Amazon-wide (GOAL REACHED): This fund was established by a broad coalition acting in solidarity with Amazon forest guardians. The fund will provide rapid respond grants for urgent prevention and care, and support food and medical supplies, emergency communications and evacuations, protection and security for forest guardians, and promote food sovereignty and community resilience.
Amazon Emergency Fund, Ecuador: Show your solidarity with Ecuadorian indigenous peoples on the frontlines of climate change and the pandemic by making a contribution to this fund, hosted by Amazon Frontlines. Indigenous populations are extremely vulnerable to the disease due to persistent inequality, exclusion and discrimination in general access to public services, as well as their geographic isolation. Basic medical supplies and testing equipment are virtually non-existent.
Support UMIYAC’s Elders and Healers, Colombia: The Union of Indigenous Yagé Medics of the Colombian Amazon is an indigenous organization and a network of spiritual authorities in the Putumayo region of Colombia, representing five ethnic groups. The organization is launching a contingency program to support elders and healers within indigenous communities to respond to this crisis and donations can be made via their website donation page.
Secoya Coronavirus Isolation Fund, Ecuador (GOAL REACHED) : The Secoya (Siekopai) are an indigenous community living deep in the eastern Ecuadorian Amazon. Indigenous communities are some of the most vulnerable populations when it comes to the spread of viral diseases. This campaign is raising funds to help Siekopai communities get the necessary supplies from towns they need in order to avoid contact with larger, potentially infectious populations.
Support the Shipibo-Konibo Community of Santa Clara, Peru: Alianza Arkana is urgently calling on the global community, those who are passionate about supporting the Amazon rainforest and the Shipibo-Konibo, to unite efforts and raise funds to support the community of Santa Clara with food supplies.
Support the Kichwa community in Tena, Ecuador: An indigenous Kichwa community is in fund for basic cleaning supplies, food, making their own traditional medicine, and other necessities. This crowdfunding campaign is being conducted by a friend of the community on their behalf. The goal of the Kichwa family from the Tamia Yura community is to protect nature, as well as the hereditary traditions and customs of their people. They are exploring traditional medicines as a way to treat viruses.
Supporting Shipibo-Konibo Healers, Peru: The organization Coshikox is working in collaboration with the Shipibo Conibo Center, NY. They are requesting for funds to provide self-sufficiency in food as well as supplies of soap, disinfectants and protective masks to Shipibo-Konibo communities in Peru.
Huni Kuin People Relief Fund, Brazil & Peru: The Huni Kuin are an indigenous ethnicity present in the state of Acre, Brazil, and Peru, who fight to preserve their own culture, customs, values and language. They are raising funds to provide support to community members during the pandemic, including assisting with basic food security and travel.
Kofan Community Support, Ecuador: The people of the ancestral Kofan settlement, AVIE, seek solidarity and support across the globe to help protect our most vulnerable Kofan communities who are the elders. They need assistance with funds for basic supplies to be able to fully isolate, to build cohesion among communities, and to support elders.
Land of Origins Project, Sibundoy, Colombia: This project seeks to improve the resilience of the indigenous people of Sibundoy in the Putumayo region of Colombia. One element of this initiative focuses on improving community food security and access to ancestral foods is crucial during this time of pandemic and food shortages. Your donation will help Sibundoy’s tribal leadership deliver a supply of viable seeds to every indigenous household to ensure that each family can harvest food crops this season.
Supporting Refugio Altiplano Families, Peru: The Refugio Altiplano Healing Center in Peru is fundraising to provide emergency support for the families in and around the center. Food shortages are being experienced and funds from initiative will be used to purchase and deliver food and other supplies to these communities.
Iquitos Relief Fund, Peru: As a global epicentre of ayahuasca shamanism and jungle tourism, one of the major impacts of the pandemic in the Iquitos region has been the shutdown of the tourism industry, a large part of which is shamanic and ayahuasca related trade. This fundraiser seeks to raise funds to provide food and essential goods to up to 100 families in the area.
Amazon Watch Amazon Defenders Fund: Amazon Watch is providing direct rapid-response grants to meet the pressing needs of indigenous communities defending themselves from the pandemic via their Amazon Defenders Fund. Indigenous peoples in the Amazon have historically been decimated by infectious diseases, and this pandemic puts their lives in even more danger.
Emergency aid for Awajún and Wampis peoples, Peru: The Awajún and Wampis are two indigenous groups from the Jíbara tribe who live in northern Peru. They are seeking international support to address the vulnerable situation of indigenous people stranded in several cities and for supporting the response within their territories, which lack sanitation infrastructure and where they are very vulnerable to the epidemic. Your donation will help provide emergency food, medical and shelter assistance. To contribute, email Iñigo at imaneiro26@gmail.com.
Support for Displaced Families from the Tubù Hummurimasa Nation, Colombia (GOAL REACHED): More than 25 Tubù families are in a situation or urgent need in this time of emergency. Having been displaced for various reasons from their home territory in the Amazon, these families currently reside in Bogota where they have been unable to get full recognition or government support as an indigenous nation. In a gesture of reciprocity, the Tubù Hummürimassà Nation will accompany with online Mambeaderos (sharing of words), offering ancestral wisdom and stories that contribute to the building of a healthy and conscious society. Dates on website as well as information on how to contribute.
Help Shipibo Artisans, Peru (GOAL REACHED): Shipibo Artists and Artisans of the Community of Cantagallo are struggling to provide food and medication to their loved ones. This community has 238 families however they have seen an influx of 300-400 additional Shipibo community members from other parts of the country who have been unable to pay their rents and have come back for refuge. Funds will be used to provide food and medical supplies to the community.
Emergency Support for Amazon Communities, Amazon-wide: A group of allies to Amazonian communities have organized a campaign to raise funds for the efforts of Amazon Watch’s Amazon Defenders Fund, APIB (the Coalition of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), and the Chaikuni Institute (Peru). They are calling on the international community to align ourselves with the indigenous principles of sacred reciprocity to help protect indigenous communities and their ancestral land, the Amazon.
Urgent Support Needed for Shipibo Women: Four of the remaining women Shipibo ceramic artists are fighting for their lives after falling ill with the virus. They need funds to access oxygen, medication, and food. These women represent living cultural patrimony. To support, transfer funds to: Banco de Crédito del Perú – BCO, Juan Augustín Ramos (husband). Transfer number for BCP accounts: 480-98530576-0-96. Transfer number from other banks: 00248019853057609620. Foreign transfer: Western Union to Oliver Agustín Valera – Peru. Phone number for Agustina: +51 926228832
Help for Families in Iquitos, Peru: Local initiative to raise funds for indigenous families in an around Iquitos. Funds will support basic needs such as food and medicine.
Matsés Emergency Food & Lodging, Peru (GOAL REACHED): One hundred and eighty Matsés are stranded in the Amazon gateway city of Iquitos, without food, medicine, and in some cases lodging. The healthcare system in Iquitos has collapsed and services for those trapped here are non-existent. Unable to return to their rainforest homes due to the strict curfew these Matsés have been left to fend for themselves in the city.
Iquitos Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Food Support, Peru: Most who work in Iquitos only make enough money to eat for the day. The government has tried to help the people, but the food and cash payouts have fallen FAR short of what is needed. People are being forced to stay in their homes due to the quarantine, but many desperate people are breaking the curfew to look for work or food which is difficult to find. This fundraiser is seeking to support the people of the Tupac Amaru neighbourhood.
Yanomami Relief Fund, Brazil: The city of Manaus has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. The international organization Le Ciel has organized to raise funds to provide information, educational materials, and essential supplies such as soap, alcohol gel, fuel, fishing kits, and non-perishable food so that the Yanomami can stay safe and not leave their communities. As well as providing health and safety equipment and building an emergency support house for the discharge of Yanomami patients in Boa Vista.
Helping the indigenous peoples of Alto Solimões (GOAL REACHED): The indigenous peoples of the Alto Solimões border area need help to cope with the pandemic. There are about 25,000 indigenous people living in the municipalities of Tabatinga and Benjamin Constant. Many families are without income and therefore without food. The aim is to raise money to buy basic food baskets for families in emergency situations.
Donate: Support Amazonian retreat and permaculture initiatives
Takiwasi Retreat Centre, Peru: Takiwasi, founded in 1992, is dedicated to preserving traditional Amazonian knowledge and combining it with modern health science, working primarily in the area of addictions treatment and research. They have made a call-out to their community to support them to stay afloat during this time when all programs have been suspended.
Chaikuni Ayni Regenerative Food Forest, Peru: The pandemic is profoundly affecting the work of the Chaikuni Institute. Due to strict travel restrictions, their sister organization and primary donor, the Temple of the Way of Light, has temporarily suspended operations. After seven years of consistent financial support, now for the first time, the Temple cannot provide critical monthly donations to cover our operational costs. Chaikuni is asking the community for support so that they can plant food forests and long term ecological and food security in the region for local indigenous communities.