Project Yawanawa: Indigenous-Led Food Sovereignty & Forest Restoration
People of the Forest is an impact organization centered in Indigenous food sovereignty and forest restoration in the Brazilian Amazon. In collaboration with the Yawanawá People of Aldeia Mutum (Mutum Village, Acre), we help regenerate degraded land through agroforestry while strengthening food sovereignty, ecological leadership, knowledge sharing, seed-saving, and community resilience. Our work is grounded in the ethos that the Forest and Its People are One Living System, and follows a biocultural Cycle of Resilience: Thriving Forests support Food Sovereignty, which builds Healthy Communities, which in turn brings Active Stewardship, resulting in Thriving Forests. We prioritize Indigenous governance and consent through council process with chiefs and community leadership, on-the-ground work alongside stewards and families, and a train-the-trainers model designed for adaptation across other Indigenous communities and bioregions.
Inquiring Systems Inc. (ISI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit fiscal sponsor focused on regenerative system change. ISI provides full-service fiscal sponsorship services, including the 501(c)(3) legal status necessary to accept tax-exempt donations and grant funding, as well as providing the regulatory and administrative services associated with running a nonprofit organization. The organization's fiscally sponsored nonprofit projects all have progressive system change at their heart in the arenas of environment, agriculture, social constructs including economics, end-of-life, animal welfare and social justice. ISI currently sponsors 100+ nonprofit organizations, bringing over 47 years of organizational and business experience to the table.
Project story
Project Yawanawa is an Indigenous-led food sovereignty and forest restoration initiative in Mutum Village (Aldeia Mutum), Acre, within the Brazilian Amazon. The Yawanawá People collectively steward approximately 500,000 acres across 17 villages, and in Mutum we are collaborating to regenerate degraded lands impacted by logging, mining, ranching, rubber tapping, and extractive farming practices while strengthening daily food security.
People of the Forest works directly in council with Yawanawá chiefs, community leaders, and village members to co-design a community-led hybrid model grounded in the ethos that the Forest and its People are One Living System. Our project has three integrated goals: regenerative food systems (agroforestry and aquaculture), native plant reforestation, and education, with education embedded in every step of design and implementation.
To date, we established and expanded a 10,000 sq ft agroforestry demonstration plot, planting thousands of ancestral seeds and 600+ tree species, and training 20+ Yawanawá community members who receive monthly stipends for ongoing maintenance, learning, and stewardship. We support continuity through an in-country agroforestry partner that visits every three months for training, data collection, and maintenance, while our team conducts two annual field visits for major implementation pushes.
Next, we will expand agroforestry into wider community areas and household kitchen gardens, build propagation nurseries for native species, and begin the community-led design of aquaculture fish ponds to further strengthen food sovereignty. Education remains central through a train-the-trainers approach, scholarships for emerging Indigenous leaders to learn at established agroforestry schools in Brazil, and workshops/webinars to share learning across bioregions. We also document progress through film and Indigenous filmmaking mentorship so the Yawanawá can share their story through their own lens—supporting transparency, culture, and outreach.
Project updates
Team
Project Yawanawa: Indigenous-Led Food Sovereignty & Forest Restoration
People of the Forest is an impact organization centered in Indigenous food sovereignty and forest restoration in the Brazilian Amazon. In collaboration with the Yawanawá People of Aldeia Mutum (Mutum Village, Acre), we help regenerate degraded land through agroforestry while strengthening food sovereignty, ecological leadership, knowledge sharing, seed-saving, and community resilience. Our work is grounded in the ethos that the Forest and Its People are One Living System, and follows a biocultural Cycle of Resilience: Thriving Forests support Food Sovereignty, which builds Healthy Communities, which in turn brings Active Stewardship, resulting in Thriving Forests. We prioritize Indigenous governance and consent through council process with chiefs and community leadership, on-the-ground work alongside stewards and families, and a train-the-trainers model designed for adaptation across other Indigenous communities and bioregions.
Inquiring Systems Inc. (ISI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit fiscal sponsor focused on regenerative system change. ISI provides full-service fiscal sponsorship services, including the 501(c)(3) legal status necessary to accept tax-exempt donations and grant funding, as well as providing the regulatory and administrative services associated with running a nonprofit organization. The organization's fiscally sponsored nonprofit projects all have progressive system change at their heart in the arenas of environment, agriculture, social constructs including economics, end-of-life, animal welfare and social justice. ISI currently sponsors 100+ nonprofit organizations, bringing over 47 years of organizational and business experience to the table.
Project story
Project Yawanawa is an Indigenous-led food sovereignty and forest restoration initiative in Mutum Village (Aldeia Mutum), Acre, within the Brazilian Amazon. The Yawanawá People collectively steward approximately 500,000 acres across 17 villages, and in Mutum we are collaborating to regenerate degraded lands impacted by logging, mining, ranching, rubber tapping, and extractive farming practices while strengthening daily food security.
People of the Forest works directly in council with Yawanawá chiefs, community leaders, and village members to co-design a community-led hybrid model grounded in the ethos that the Forest and its People are One Living System. Our project has three integrated goals: regenerative food systems (agroforestry and aquaculture), native plant reforestation, and education, with education embedded in every step of design and implementation.
To date, we established and expanded a 10,000 sq ft agroforestry demonstration plot, planting thousands of ancestral seeds and 600+ tree species, and training 20+ Yawanawá community members who receive monthly stipends for ongoing maintenance, learning, and stewardship. We support continuity through an in-country agroforestry partner that visits every three months for training, data collection, and maintenance, while our team conducts two annual field visits for major implementation pushes.
Next, we will expand agroforestry into wider community areas and household kitchen gardens, build propagation nurseries for native species, and begin the community-led design of aquaculture fish ponds to further strengthen food sovereignty. Education remains central through a train-the-trainers approach, scholarships for emerging Indigenous leaders to learn at established agroforestry schools in Brazil, and workshops/webinars to share learning across bioregions. We also document progress through film and Indigenous filmmaking mentorship so the Yawanawá can share their story through their own lens—supporting transparency, culture, and outreach.
Project updates
Team
Location
Brazil
Round 3
Jul 1-21, 2026
Supporting community-led nature projects around the world.
Matching funds provided by
