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Brazil: Ban Wildlife Works from the Ka’apor Rainforest

Co-sign before Aug 15, 2025

To: Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara; President of FUNAI, Joenia Wapichana; Coordinator of the 6th Chamber of the Attorney General's Office - Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For two years, the leaders of the Indigenous Ka'apor Council, Tuxa Ta Pame, have been complaining to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) and FUNAI about rights violations on their territory in Maranhão by the US company Wildlife Works. According to the lawsuits, the company intends to carry out a project to generate carbon credits on the Indigenous land of Alto Turiaçu in the Amazon region, violating national and international laws.

In January 2024, the Tuxa Ta Pame Council officially informed the company in a letter that it did not accept the presence of foreign individuals in connection with the carbon credit project on their land and demanded the immediate withdrawal and cessation of all activities.

Wildlife Works has not obtained free, prior, and informed consent for the project from all the Ka'apor, as required by Convention 169 of the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO), which Brazil has ratified, Tuxa Ta Pame Council complains.

Despite this, the company continues to hold meetings and gatherings in various villages in the area and disregards the decisions of the Indigenous leaders of the Tuxa Ta Pame Council. Wildlife Works' activities and promises also lead to conflict among the Ka'apor, making the area – which has suffered for decades from encroachment by loggers, poachers, and ranchers – even more vulnerable.

Wildlife Works began encroaching on the Ka'apor Indigenous land when the company was not even registered in Brazil – which the Tuxa Ta Pame Council considers illegal.

In light of the deteriorating situation, in October 2024, the Tuxa Ta Pame Council filed a lawsuit in federal court against Wildlife Works, the Indigenous authority Funai, and the federal government. It called for a halt to all of the company’s activities in Alto Turiaçu and for the federal government and Funai to carry out inspection and control actions in the Ka'apor territory, preventing the entry of national or foreign companies that promote carbon credit trading, especially since there are no standards for this in Brazil.

We ask Your Excellencies to take urgent measures to fulfill the demands of the Tuxa Ta Pame Council: Please prevent the company from entering Indigenous land and continuing to violate the rights of the Ka'apor people in their own territory.

Yours faithfully,

Co-signed by

  1. ABED Action pour la biodiversité environnement et développement durable, Democratic Republic of the Congo
  2. Ação Franciscana de Ecologia e Solidariedade, Brazil
  3. Accion Ecologica, Ecuador
  4. Aceh Wetland Forum, Indonesia
  5. Aldeia Rio Do Cahy pataxó comexatiba, Brazil
  6. Amigas da Terra Brasil, Brazil
  7. Apel Green Aceh, Indonesia
  8. APROMOVA, Brazil
  9. Articulação Agro é Fogo, Brazil
  10. Associação Agorecológica Tijupá, Brazil
  11. Associação Justiça nos Trilhos, Brazil
  12. AXIAL Naturaleza y Cultura, Paraguay
  13. Belantara Papua, Indonesia
  14. Bios Iguana A. C., Mexico
  15. CDAHL, Mexico
  16. Centre de Recherche pour la Gestion de la Biodiversité (CRGB), Benin
  17. Centre pour la Justice Environnementale, Togo
  18. Centro de Formação Saberes Ka’apor, Brazil
  19. Coletivo de mulheres trabalhadoras rurais do estado do maranhão, Brazil
  20. Comissão Pastoral da Terra de Minas Gerais, Brazil
  21. Comissão quilombola do super do norte, Brazil
  22. Conselho Indigenista Missionário Regional Maranhão, Brazil
  23. Conselho Pastoral dos Pescadores, Brazil
  24. Construyendo Paz Latinoamericana, Mexico
  25. CPT Santarém Pará, Brazil
  26. Ecodefender Earth Hour, Indonesia
  27. EcoNexus, United Kingdom
  28. Ecopaper, Switzerland
  29. Ecosystèmes et Développement, Cameroon
  30. Edu Sur: filosofía y humanidades, Mexico
  31. FASE/ES, Brazil
  32. FIAN Indonesia, Indonesia
  33. Fórum carajás, Brazil
  34. Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
  35. Fundaexpresión, Colombia
  36. Global Forest Coalition, Netherlands
  37. Global Forest Coalition, Bolivia
  38. Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria
  39. ICRA International, France
  40. ICRA Internationnal, France
  41. Indigenous Environmental Network, United States
  42. Instituto Amazônia Solidária (IAMAS), Brazil
  43. Instituto Preservar, Brazil
  44. Jaringan Advokasi Tambang Sulawesi Tengah, Indonesia
  45. Justiça Ambiental, Mozambique
  46. Kowaki Tanah Papua, Indonesia
  47. lbh Papua Merauke, Indonesia
  48. Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) Padang, Indonesia
  49. Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Papua Merauke, Indonesia
  50. Look Green Care Foundation, Nigeria
  51. Masyarakat Adat Mataloko, Indonesia
  52. Milieudefensie, Netherlands
  53. Missão Tabita, Mozambique
  54. Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB), Brazil
  55. Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre, Brazil
  56. NRAN - No REDD in Africa Network, Mozambique
  57. Observatorio Ukamau. Territorio y Dignidad, Mexico
  58. Ofraneh, Honduras
  59. Otros Mundos Chiapas, Mexico
  60. Plataforma Boliviana Frente al Cambio Climático, Bolivia
  61. Pro REGENWALD, Germany
  62. Pusaka, Indonesia
  63. Red Latina sin fronteras, Spain
  64. Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Sociales y Ambientales, Mexico
  65. Rede Alerta contra os Desertos Verdes, Brazil
  66. Rede de Agroecologia do Maranhão -RAMA, Brazil
  67. Réseau d’information et d’appui aux ONG en RDCongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo
  68. Rettet den Regenwald e.V., Germany
  69. Salva la Selva, Spain
  70. Salviamo la Foresta, Italy
  71. SOMO, Netherlands
  72. Sumatera Environmental Initiative, Indonesia
  73. SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
  74. Tasha Research Institute Africa (TASHA), Uganda
  75. Tasha research institute African, Uganda
  76. Teia dos Povos, Brazil
  77. Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarity (TPOLS), Indonesia
  78. UNIR-HAITÍ, Haiti
  79. Women’s Network Against Rural Plantations Injustice (WoNARPI), Sierra Leone
  80. World Rainforest Movement, Uruguay
  81. Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, Indonesia