Brazil’s Newton Prize 2018 awarded to CAoS project

Announced on November 13th 2018 in Brasília, the £200,000 Newton Prize for projects demonstrating the best science and innovation to address global challenges through partnerships was awarded to the project ‘Improving Guarani lives by restoring the Atlantic Forest’. UCL’s Centre for the Anthropology of Sustainability (CAoS) partnered with Centro de Trabalho Indigenista (CTI), Yvyrupa Guarani Commission (CGY) and Apwitxa (Ashaninka Association of Rio Amonia) to support the Guarani to restore the Atlantic Forest in their territories. Drawing on Guarani ancestral agricultural knowledge and established agroforestry techniques the project demonstrated the importance of indigenous peoples and their knowledge for environmental conservation.

The Atlantic Forest in Brazil is one of the world’s richest biomes, home to a large number of species unique to that area. It is fundamental to the physical and cultural survival of the indigenous Guarani people, and to the quality of life of more than 70 percent of the Brazilian population who depend on it to supply them with water. Despite this, nearly 90 percent of the forest has been destroyed to make way for pastures, croplands and urban developments, severely affecting the Guarani people and threatening many species with extinction.

The project has already benefited more than 3,000 Guarani people. Seed exchanges have helped rescue agrobiodiversity from collapse on Guarani territory and collective plantations were established to restore degraded land and improve Guarani food security. The team has produced territorial and environmental management plans and ethnomaps representing how Guarani organise their territory, and helped to establish agreements that recognise their rights and protect the land. The Newton Prize will be used to further the results achieved in this project by supporting further indigenous knowledge-sharing networks and meetings that will promote the wellbeing of Guarani and help further restore the Atlantic Forest.

By partnering with non-governmental actors and indigenous peoples, CAoS seeks to facilitate the manifestation and flourishing of other ways of being on the planet. Diversity is the key to achieving a sustainable future, and this project illustrates the positive results of bringing together different institutions to foster diversity and generate innovative solutions to major contemporary problems.

Head image by CTI.