Please support Chief Dadá and the forest guardians by donating to Forest Forces

To ensure we can make even more impact the Forest Forces Foundation merged with The Sinchi Foundation this year. The Sinchi Foundation has ANBI status and is CBF accredited, which means it is held to the highest standards of ethics and integrity. Your donation goes directly to those working on the ground. With your help, we can protect the virgin rainforest by empowering its Indigenous peoples.

“We used to fight with the bow and arrow. Now, the camera is our weapon.”

Cacique Dadá Borarí

Photocredit: Fabio Quireli

Cacique (Chief) Dadá Borari is the Indigenous leader of the Maro Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon. Together with the teams of forest guardians, they have been on the frontlines of the resistance to defend the forest and all life within.

FOREST FORCES WAS FOUNDED BY TIM BOEKHOUT VAN SOLINGE; CRIMINOLOGIST, UN CONSULTANT, AND RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY, ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM. SINCE 2014, TIM HAS DEDICATED HIMSELF TO PRESERVING THE TROPICAL RAINFOREST AND WORKED IN COLLABORATION WITH CHIEF DADÁ.

Forest Forces provides training and equipment to Indigenous Forest Guardians, who are then able to document illegal deforestation activity in the area. By sharing this evidence with federal and environmental police, they can stop illegal activity and prevent further destruction of the forest. This project shows how communities, even in remote areas without electricity and telephone, can carry out effective forest crime prevention inexpensively.

Currently, we have three forest guardian teams safeguarding over 710 square kilometers of primary rainforest. We plan to create six new teams this year. But we need your help! Without equipment and protective gear, the forest guardians cannot do their work. And a small amount can go a long way!

For

20

EUROS

We can supply a pair of waterproof boots for a guardian.

For

80

EUROS

We can supply a small solar charger, which means longer and more effective expeditions.

With

500

EUROS

We can supply a GPS Camera, allowing the guardians to alert the authorities of illegal activity.

Photocredit: Fabio Quireli

CURUPIRA

The Mother of the Forest ~ Curupira ~ is the story of an Amazonian goddess told through the voices of the Borarí people.

She is the all powerful guardian of all living beings in the forest. And while she is generous and benevolent in her gift… Beware! if you disrespect her home. Her punishments are weird and merciless!

Her warnings are more relevant than ever in a contemporary reality where the forces of agri-business, logging and mining are decimating the forest faster than we can protect it. Her story reminds us that it is time to listen, respect and rekindle a more balanced relation to nature if we wish to protect our common home.

"As I listened to the Borarí's stories about Curupira, the goddess of the amazonian forest. It became clear that we have forgotten how to respect nature as societies... Whereas they never did. Maybe it is time for us to remember..."

Lea Hejn, Director of Curupira

Photocredit: Cosmo Roncon Jr.