THE FOREST SPEAKS.
WE LISTEN.
We protect the Amazon by amplifying the voices of those who know it best:
The Amazon Ecosystem
The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest, home to an extraordinary diversity of plant and animal species. It is one of the planet's most important ecosystems — and it is under threat.
Support those who protect it every day. Protecting the Amazon means protecting life our own and that of future generations.
Our Story:
O Instituto Vozes da Floresta was founded on July 23, 2024, but it is built on more than 40 years of experience working alongside the peoples of the forest.
Its founder, Paulo Roberto de Azevedo Junior, is an indigenist and former employee of FUNAI (Brazil's National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples). Over the past ten years, he has worked in partnership with non-governmental organizations, always supporting Indigenous communities in protecting their territories. We also worked for ten years in the Kayapó Indigenous Territory.
Our organization was born from listening, living alongside, and respecting Indigenous Peoples, riverine communities, and quilombola communities who have cared for the Amazon for generations.
We are a living alliance between nature and community. We work to protect Amazonian territories while strengthening the autonomy of Indigenous Peoples through projects that combine territorial monitoring, community education, and economic self-sufficiency.
We work to ensure that these voices are never silenced, but instead resonate with strength and leadership. The true guardians of the forest are those who protect it. We support their choices, their traditions, and their right to live with autonomy.
The Amazon is our shared responsibility: caring for it means caring for ourselves.
Our Mission, Vision & Values:
Mission:
To protect the Amazon, Indigenous territories, and strengthen the autonomy of forest peoples through active listening, logistical support, and the development of sustainable initiatives.
Vision:
To be a living, safe, and collaborative support network across traditional territories, enabling every Indigenous community to thrive with dignity, resilience, and freedom.
Values:
- Autonomy as true freedom
- Protection of Indigenous and traditional territories
- Conservation of the Amazon's biodiversity, including its flora and fauna
- Collaboration with Indigenous associations
- Compliance with applicable laws, while maintaining transparent communication with FUNAI (Brazil's National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples) regarding all planned activities
- Community education and economic self-sufficiency
- Gender equality and the empowerment of women
- Responsibility, active listening, and transparency
Projects:
Community-Based Territorial Protection:
We establish monitoring bases managed by Indigenous communities and supported by our team through logistical and strategic assistance. There are currently 16 active bases in the state of Pará, and every year the need grows for new bases to help protect Indigenous territories.
Unlike illegal activities, where resources benefit only a few, we promote income distribution among the communities participating in each project. Every Indigenous community selects the members who will take part in the initiative. Each monitoring base represents autonomy, resilience, and security.
Income Generation & Autonomy:
We co-create sustainable economic opportunities, including cassava flour production, cumaru harvesting, the collection of native tree seeds and seedlings, sport fishing, and environmental stewardship initiatives, generating income for the communities involved.
Indigenous Wildfire Response Brigades:
We support the creation and training of Indigenous brigades dedicated to the prevention and response to forest fires.
Reforestation:
We restore areas degraded by illegal mining and unlawful logging, helping preserve the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest for future generations.
Community Education & Capacity Building:
We provide training in territorial management, communication, monitoring, and sustainability while valuing and preserving traditional cultural knowledge.
Rights Advocacy:
We work alongside Indigenous associations to defend the rights guaranteed by the Brazilian Federal Constitution.
Where We Work
Our work is primarily focused in the Brazilian states of Pará and Mato Grosso, where we have established 16 monitoring bases. We currently work in the territories of the Kayapó people, and have also supported other Indigenous peoples, including the Yanomami, Apiterewa, Xavante, and others, always in partnership with their associations and FUNAI.
Figure 1: Map of the Kayapó Territory // Figure 2: Illegal Pressure on the Kayapó Territory
We are also launching a new initiative focused on carbon projects, which includes the collection and cultivation of native seeds and seedlings from valuable tree species to help restore degraded areas.
Implementing these carbon projects requires the territory to be continuously monitored through satellite imagery, aerial surveys, river and land patrols, and the use of drones to ensure safe access to remote areas. This initiative combines environmental restoration, income generation, and the preservation of the traditional knowledge of forest communities.• ambiental, geração de renda e valorização dos saberes tradicionais das comunidades da floresta.
Our primary goal is to uphold the rights guaranteed to Indigenous Peoples under the Brazilian Federal Constitution while preserving the Amazon's biodiversity by preventing environmental crimes and illegal activities within Indigenous territories, including illegal mining, unlawful logging, predatory fishing, and illegal pasture leasing.
*Illustrative image of the collaborative network protecting Indigenous territories.
The future depends on the decisions we make today, and the Amazon is calling for protection.
Support — Be Part of the Change
The Amazon is crying out for help. The communities that have protected the forest for generations need support to continue their work. Your donation helps establish new monitoring bases, fund community training, and provide the conditions for each Indigenous community to choose its own path.
We believe there is no true protection for the Amazon without the people who call it home. Supporting this cause means choosing the common good and listening to what nature has been telling us all along.
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Voices of the Forest
We believe that before any project can be carried out in a region, the area must first be secured, monitored, and protected.