XAVANTE TREE NURSERY

When the forests are gone, civilisation dies. We ignore the plight of the forests at our peril

The Indigenous People’s Cultural Support Trust (IPCST) was founded in 1995 by Emily Burridge to promote and conserve indigenous peoples’ culture and traditional knowledge and help regain a sustainable way of life.  Current projects include the Heart of Brazil Expedition and the solar powered Xavante Community Health centre with its medicinal garden.

When Emily visited the Xavante community in 2006 the impact of the monoculture of soya both physically in the natural environment and psychologically within the indigenous community was very apparent. Soya has put immense pressure on the natural habitat with animal and birds numbers falling dramatically and so too the Xavante ability to feed themselves with their traditional hunting.

The purpose of the project is to create a tree nursery and educational program with the Xavante community in the cultivation and preservation of native species of trees and plants. There will be workshops scheduled at three monthly intervals and trained individuals selected by the tribal group to be responsible for the maintenance of the nursery. It is a pilot project and in it being a success it will be replicated to encourage transplanting to areas outside the reservation area and hopefully provide the means for indigenous communities to recover their environment and regain their self sufficiency.