Tourism in Indigenous Lands

Indigenous people's lands are among the best preserved natural places. In the Amazon Basin, these vast tracts have lower rates of forest loss than national parks and are home to unique cultures, stunning scenery and high concentrations of biological diversity. But they are also beset by poverty and managed by native people looking for economic opportunities. CSF is working with the Suruí and Parintintin peoples to evaluate whether tourism could be one such opportunity for them. The project is a collaboration with the Suruí's Metareila Association, the Kanindé Ethno-environmental Association, the Amazon Conservation Team and the International Institute for Education in Brazil, who together form the Garah-Itxa Consortiun. The project is supported by the US Agency for International Development. The effort includes an exchange program, in which Surui and Parintintin people have received training at one of the Amazon's most iconic and successful ecotourism enterprises, the Mamirauá lodge and reserve. CSF is also leading inventories of tourism attractions and resources in the two territories and will produce business plans and feasibility studies to guide these two peoples on whether and how to pursue tourism as an engine for economic development.