Xavante Tree Nursery Pilot Project

Emily Burridge has an association with a Xavante community in the Mato Grosso, Brazil which commenced in 1994 when she was invited to visit a Xavante village. As a result of this visit she founded the registered charity "Indigenous People's Cultural Support Trust " no 1050461and during the next four years worked in close collaboration with the Xavante community and local Brazilians to implement a solar powered health centre and medicinal garden project deep within the reserve.

The project was awarded match funding from the English Governmental organisation the ODA, and the remaining support came in the way of small grants and charitable donations from individuals.

The health centre was inaugurated in 1998 and a medicinal garden project was established. Emily having organised and accompanied one of the Xavante, the nurse for the community, to study with Professor Matos with the “Living Medicinal Gardens” course at the Federal university in Fortaleza. He successfully completed the course and returned to the village and created a medicinal garden adjacent to the health centre.

In 2006 Emily visited the project and was acutely aware of the impact of the mono culture of the soya, evident both physically in the natural environment and psychologically with the indigenous community.

The soya has created pressure on the natural habitat with wild animals and birds numbers falling dramatically and so too the Xavante ability to feed themselves with their traditional hunting.

A view of the reserve through using the internet facility Google Earth makes one aware of the need to help the Xavante community preserve species of the Cerrado and offer a positive initiative to the impact of the soya cultivation. The Tree Nursery project holds the potential to do this and with Carbon Offsetting initiatives could help the community to become self sufficient.

The project: Xavante Tree Nursery Project

An initiative to combat climate change through a tree nursery project and educational program with an indigenous community in the cultivation and preservation of native species within their reservation.

Location: Mato Grosso, Brazil.

At this time the escalation of the mono culture of soya has had a devastating effect on the Cerrado of the Mato Grosso Brazil. The reservations where the indigenous people live are now  the only areas which are intact with native species of trees and plants. However the Indigenous people and their environment have become increasingly under pressure isolated on an island of vegetation in this sea of soya. Species of plant and trees within the reservation have become depleted.

a) what we will be doing:

In collaboration with the community the infrastructure for a tree nursery will be funded and implemented.

We will employ persons knowledgeable in the field to work together with the indigenous community and establish an educational program in the cultivation and preservation of native species of the Cerrado. The educational programme will include “weekend” workshops at three monthly intervals for the community and the training of Xavante tribes people selected by the community to maintain and develop the Tree Nursery.

b) How is the project connected to climate change:

By offering to individuals and businesses the chance to select Cerrado trees for planting by the Indigenous community to contribute to off setting CO2 emissions. The Carbon offsetting and income generated would be managed by the Trust in the UK.

c) What we hope to achieve:

Through aiding the Xavante establish a Tree Nursery we aim to initiate the regeneration of species within the reservation. In being a success other tree nurseries can be established with other Xavante villages on the reservation. Once the plants are ready encourage the Xavante to transplant species from the nursery and rejuvenate areas within and outside of the reservation.

Carbon offsetting offers a means whereby the tree nursery project will be sustainable and offers the potential of aiding the community to become self-sufficient.

e) Details of partners:

There is a motivated group of Brazilians based relatively close in Chapada dos Guimaraes running an NGO called ARCA. There they have established a small tree nursery and have been actively campaigning for the preservation of the Cerrado in the Chapada region for the last twenty years. One of them has already lived with the Xavante and is a trusted friend and accepted by the tribal group. He will be initially responsible for the educational program with close monitoring and support from Mario Friedlander who originally founded Arca.

d) Timeline:

Proposed timeline for establishing the tree nursery project is three years. Initial setting up of the area for the tree nursery to commence in 2009 with Mario Friedlander. He will be monitoring the development of the project through the educational program which will be assessed after a year. At this time the development of the project will be appraised with a view to continuing the education program on the reserve for a further two years. 

Short summary budget :

1) Implementing the infrastructure of the tree nursery:   £2000.00

2)Tools for maintaining the tree nursery: £500.00

3)Travel expenses and daily wage to person/persons in locality who will be responsible for the educational program and helping members of the Xavante community maintain the tree nursery (time line one year with project assessment): Awaiting confirmation

4) Project co-ordination (includes international flight, internal flight and bus travel and general living exspenses): £4000.00

5) Capital Purchase: Flat back transit vehicle for transportation of plants and trees: £5000.00

Funding received as of July 2008: The project is 45% funded through a "Seed" grant from the organisation "Ape" Artists Protect Earth" and kind donations from indiviiduals.

If you would like to support the Xavante Tree Nursery Project you can do so by making a donation with Paypal / Credit card on the "Support" page of the Trust web site: http://www.ipcst.org/support.htm#xavante Alternatively please send a cheque made payable to: Indigenous People's Cultural Support Trust (Xavante Tree Nursery Project) and mail to: PO Box 4086, Reading. RG8 8ZQ. UK.

Gift Aid increases the value of your donation. Please click here to print a copy of the Gift Aid form: http://ipcst.org/images/HoBDonationForm.pdf