Amazon Permaculture- Growing Food for Yawanawa w/ Water Now

Amazon Permaculture, is partnering with Water Now, Blooming Biodiversity and Big Island Permaculture to create a ongoing Permaculture Education Program, Food Forests, Farms and Medicinal Plant Gardens in Yawanawa Village.

Amazon Permaculture is partnering with Phase 2 Water is Life project this April with Water Now and Curawaka to do initial planning, development and farm/garden/food forest installation for Mutum Village. www.WaterNowUs.com

Blooming Biodiversity Permaculture Network works internationally in ecovillages, communities, education and retreat centers facilitating hands on gardening/farming/water filtration/renewable energy/natural building projects to actively create regenerative solutions, link communities and co-create culture. Big Island Permaculture teaches tropical Permaculture Design Certifications in Hawaii. We had the opportunity to bring Yawanawa Cheif Rasu, Tukuru and Mani Yawanawa to Big Island to share their music, culture and visit communities and farms summer of 2022. Check out or Permaculture Tours and international projects at www.bloomingbiodiversity.org

The vision is for Yawanawa tribe community and families to have the systems in place to grow their own food in the village.

Permaculture Food Sovereignty for Mutum Yawanawa Village

by Chief Rasu Yawanawá

Overview

Permaculture integrates lands, resources, people and the environment through mutually beneficial synergies - imitating the no waste, closed loop systems seen in diverse natural systems. This specific technique, if handled by the right people, could be a major change for the Amazon rainforest in fighting back and recovering from deforestation. Permaculture applies holistic solutions that can be used in rural or urban context at any scale. It is a multidisciplinary toolbox including agriculture, water harvesting and hydrology, energy, natural building, forestry, waste management, animal system, aquaculture, appropriate technology, economics and community development.

1. More than just producing food, permaculture is a collaboration between humans and nature that repairs soil, gives back to biodiversity, cares about the water and nurtures people's social existence.

When it comes to the globalized food production system, urbanization, industrialization and infrastructure construction are cited as major factors of soil degradation. Agricultural expansion is responsible for 90% of deforestation worldwide. Industrial agriculture is responsible for the degradation of a third of earth soil. However, soil is a necessary condition for life and a nonrenewable resource relative to human lifespan. Also, industrial

2. Agriculture is among the leading causes of water pollution, especially in most high-income countries and many emerging economies. On top of that, 62% of species are imperiled by agricultural activity.

The indigenous tribes are the ancestral people of the forest. Since the beginning, they respect and keep a sustainable relationship with the jungle - which is a significant part of their culture. Who is better to apply the permaculture technique than the people who always cared about the forest?

Since time immemorial the Yawanawás tribe lives in Brazil, on the head of the Gregório River, located in the state of Acre. It is one of the few tribes left that are still striving to survive along with keeping their culture and spirituality alive. Hunting and fishing are the most relevant economic activities for them. When the drought season comes, all the tribes come together and organize a food festival, which is considered an important social event. The Yawanawá people have a vast knowledge about poison, which is highly utilized in their way of living. For instance, they would use this method through fishing by poisoning the water, thus enabling them to capture fishes more easily. When the rain season comes, large animals leave traces in the mud, becoming a large source of food for them. Their agriculture is based on banana, cassava, corn, rice, sweet potato, papaya, pineapple and sugarcane. One of the things that they have noticed, is the fact that fishes and animals are in critical condition of disappearing, resulting in the depletion of their food supply. This

3. Being the case, the permaculture project would be a practical and beneficial undertaking for them. Another good reason for this endeavor, is that the Yawanawás have a century of experience when it comes to working with the western people and have been opening their doors for collaborative works. One of the pioneer projects of the Yawanawá people was the partnership with the North American cosmetic company called “Aveda”, to extract Urucum. It was a very important project to them, generating a source of income that was realistic and sustainable for the forest. This partnership has lasted more than two decades.

Goals

1. To create a permaculture system that allows the Yawanawás to have a sustainable food supply.

• - The Yawanawás already have a field measuring 21527.82 square feet suitable to use in a sustainable project in addressing their growing predicaments in regard to their food supply. The said vacant piece of ground is in Mutum village, one of the many villages that is inhabited by the Yawanawá people.
• - They already have a sustainable system to purify their water, which will be improved and integrated in the permaculture cycle.
• - A pond with harvesting purpose will be necessary to keep the wild fish in the forest. Serious studies will be conducted before creating the pond, such as calculating the size and the number of fishes that are allowed to live there without causing harm to the aquatic vertebrates. Additionally, the

2. Construction of the pond will have a natural approach, having a whole biodiversity life being generated around them.

• - To have a specific greenhouse for them to grow their medicinal plants, making it easy to harvest when needed and facilitating for them to teach for the next generations about their medicine.
• - To set up a storehouse for the seeds and plant seedling and keep it at full cycle, generating a food supply all year long if possible.
• - A chicken tractor that will be mobile, allowing them to fertilize each corner of the permaculture system, besides supplying food. It will be a 100% cruelty free and organic chicken tractor, giving the chicken a free life the whole cycle.
• - To create native bee hives that will help not only to pollinize the crops but also the surrounding environment. The honey will be used by the natives and can also be sold as a Indigenous organic honey to generate some income to

3. Help maintain the permaculture system. All the process would be 100% cruelty free and organic.

• - The Yawanawás already have a system to deal with the waste they produce, which will be improved and integrated in the permaculture system.
• - A large orchard with native fruit trees, perennial vegetables, nitrogen fixing plants and nectar-rich flowering plants will be created.
• - Animals have a fundamental aspect such as providing diversification of a system as well as accelerating the system towards its potential maturity. Besides the chicken tractor fertilizing the soil, goats can feed on weedy pest trees, cows can mow pasture and worms turn food scrap into worm juice and worm casting. Native animals will be used, as well animals that are not native but can live in harmony with the animals in the forest without harming them in the long term. Once again, those animals will be 100% cruelty free and organic.
• - It is important to note that the Yawanawás will not change their habits when it comes to the food that they are already consuming. Permaculture is targeted to be a tool in maintaining their cultural habits alive without harming nature. 2. Film all the stages of the permaculture project and have an archive to show and implement in the other Yawanawás tribes.

• - The Yawanawás already have a partnership with a production company located in Tokyo, Japan.
• - To use this partnership and fund a parallel project while filming and recording all the stages and steps involved in the operation.
• - A filming crew will be needed to create a professional documentary. The documentary will be designed to showcase the improved way of living of the

4. Yawanawás, aiming to impart newer sustainable practices in other tribes but moreso, the whole world on a large scale.

Milestones

1. Short Term. This initiative will provide a food supply from trees and vegetables that have a short time cycle. In this context, the chicken tractor also will provide short term food supply while fertilizing the soil. Fish from the pond and other animals will have a middle term effect, but also important for keeping the hunting and fishing not needed by the indigenous people. Water and waste management will also have a short term effect, which will significantly improve the life conditions for the Yawanawás.
2. Long Term. Significantly reduce the ambiental impact that hunting and fishing cause, besides providing a more balanced diet for the generations to come for the Yawanawás. More than just reducing the impact, motivating the young generation about this new form of life is vital for a change of mind about how urgent it is to preserve every aspect of the forest. As said before, this project will be done only in Mutum village - one of many tribes of the Yawanawá people. The other tribes will be able to replicate the project as well when they see the advantages that brings to the food supply and way of life.

Preserving Traditional Knowledge

The Yawanawá have a deep traditional knowledge of the forest, its plants, and healing properties. They have always passed this knowledge from one generation to the next through their oral tradition. The Yawanawá are at risk of losing their traditional knowledge due to the rapid deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. The impact of colonization, including being forbidden from teaching their language and culture, has created a generational gap in passing this knowledge from one generation to the next. The elders of the villages, the last keepers of their traditional knowledge, are dying before they can pass it onto the new generations.

The Nipei Garden Of Medicines

The Yawanawá people are strengthening their traditional knowledge and experience in maintaining the health of their people and their land. The Nipei Garden of Medicines is contributing to this effort. “Nipei” is the Yawanawá word for the Rainforest’s healing plants. The project gathers the traditional healing plants of the forest into one accessible garden. This garden provides a learning center where the few remaining elders work with the new generation of students, teaching about the healing plants and traditional treatments.

Permaculture Education: Design Certification Courses in Yawanawa Village

For Yawanawa Villagers, Volunteers and Allies

Each Course will be in Portuguese and English ( for each specific lanuage group)

Includes classroom and/or hands-on activities in the following areas:

• Permaculture principles and ethics
• Reading the landscape
• Pattern and pattern application
• Water harvesting
• Swale building
• Zone and sector analysis
• Climate and microclimate strategies
• Mapping
• Urban permaculture
• Land access
• Community building
• Plant guilds
• Soil Carbon Sequestration and Biochar

• Food forests and agroforestry
• The design process, principles, strategies, and techniques
• Bird language and nature awareness
• Soil building and sheet mulching
• Earthworks and natural building
• Grey water systems
• Bioremediation
• Renewable energy systems
• Forest management
• Watershed management
• Economy and Equity
• Group work on a conceptual design project

RASU YAWANAWA

Rasu is the grandson of the great medicine man and xinaya Tata Txanu Natasheini, who was one of the most respected elders and wise men of the Yawanawa people. When he was born, Rasu was chosen and raised by Tata to be his successor, and was one of his closest students until Tata passed away a few years back at 103 years old. Rasu speaks his native language fluently and was the youngest Yawanawa to complete the highest spiritual initiation of his people, at only 17 years old. He is currently one of the chiefs of Mutum village, leading the ceremonies and taking care of tribal affairs alongside Chief Matsini. Rasu carries his grandfather’s lineage in his powerful voice and prayers, and he is a very talented multiinstrumentalist musician and composer.

TUIKURU & KENEMANI YAWANAWA

Tuikuru and Kenemani are the son and daughter of Chief and spiritual leader Matsini Yawanawa. They come from a long line of leaders and were raised as such. Following their ancestor's footsteps and legacy in Mutum village, they have been in contact with the medicines, dietas and the spiritual studies of the Yawanawa since a very young age. Their dedication to their spiritual studies shows through in the strength of their prayers and they are an inspiration for the new generations in their community. They are both incredible musicians with strong, captivating voices and compose beautiful music on the guitar with the saitis, the sacred Yawanawa songs.

INSTAGRAM:

@AMAZONPERMACULTURE

WWW.AMAZONPERMACULTURE.COM