March 3rd: World Wildlife day
The 2021 World Wildlife day theme is "Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet". The goal is to highlight forests - which cover almost a third of the globe - and the livelihoods of the communities that depend on them and their traditional knowledge.
Brazil is known as a socio biodiversity hub, and is home to the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon. Over 300 indigenous peoples, traditional communities like riverines, indigenous and quilombolas live in Brazil and have accumulated a vast knowledge of the value of the country’s biodiversity.
USAID’s Partnership for the Conservation of Amazon Biodiversity (PCAB) has worked with civil society organizations, private sector, traditional community cooperatives and associations, research institutions and government partners to implement projects to protect biodiversity and generate income for those communities.
PCAB aims to ensure the integrity and conservation of the Brazilian Amazon ecosystem as well as improve the well-being and socioeconomic status of rural and traditional communities living in the Amazon region. Read some of these stories:
- With the support of value chain projects, riverine, quilombola and indigenous women are achieving financial independence and freedom to use their own resources. Women have been more involved in running community associations. Read more here.
- Young people take part in capacity building projects from local associations that help promote traditional knowledge in Amazon communities. They have also helped strengthen sustainable value chains that create income.
- Monitoring projects developed by partners have trained and supported local communities so they can help protect biodiversity. The result has helped save turtle species in the Trombetas River and at Médio Juruá.