Special Projects

Posted in News

January 2, 2015

In Peru, in the rural communities of Raqchi and Queromarca, ACT supported the seventh annual Watunakuy Gathering, which seeks to help preserve the ancestral natural knowledge of area indigenous and small farmer communities with an emphasis on promoting the diversity and variety of traditional seeds. 850 pilgrims attended from communities of Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.
Abra Malagá Thastayoc is a rural community in the high Andean-Amazonian transitional area of the Cusco region of Peru. The Quechua-speaking inhabitants practice self-sufficient agriculture, pastoralism and traditional indigenous weaving techniques. They also manage a private conservation area that protects endangered tree and bird species and preserves local watersheds. ACT has supported efforts to provide electricity to this community by investing in innovative smallscale hydroelectric generators, household solar panel systems, and LED headlamps for local schoolchildren. The project has been coordinated by ACT staff in partnership with ECOAN Peru, a locally-based conservation NGO, and student engineers.
The Waurá indigenous people have inhabited the Xingu region of central Brazil for at least a thousand years. ACT’s relationship with the Waurá dates from 2003, when ACT and 14 tribes of the Xingu began collaborative land use mapping of their reserve. Following the completion of mapping, ACT provided material support to enable the Waurá and other Xingu tribes to mobilize against planned hydroelectric dams on their lands. In 2012, ACT helped a subgroup of the Waurá construct a new village, Ulupuene, to enable them to better protect the reserve’s southwest border. ACT is partnering with a Brazilian NGO, SynbioBrasil, to support the Waurá going forward.