The nine countries – home to the Latin Amazon – Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana have been threatened by commercial logging, mining and illegal exploitation for decades. People may not know or choose to ignore its history, but these countries have been vowing to safeguard the Amazon for decades even pledging to reverse forestation by 2030 but deforestation prevails. 

However, many tribes have always understood the need to respect their environment without non-native or foreign people present, for humanity’s wellbeing and healing. The Amazon has over 400 tribes each with its own language, culture, and territory. We believe the stigma towards Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) exists because of misleading narratives by oppressive groups. This narrative must also be reversed in order to stop deforestation, not the other way around.

RFM’s BIPOC Amazon Project expands on this fundamental understanding and seeks to directly address the historical gaps in building a true and sustainable solidarity for natives.

This approach is the only promising way forward, if Black Indigenous People of Color and local communities keep being burdened, overpromised, and consulted in the environmental regulation process by leaders who are often shortsighted and merely checking a box, we will not find a solution to the climate crisis. The BIPOC communities should hold power, be compensated, admired, celebrated and their rights and way of life must be respected.  Our approach will make that possible.