The Brazilian Amazon | Democracia

Brazil is the largest country in South America, so it’s no surprise that 60% of the Amazon Rainforest lies within its borders.

In fact, the Brazilian Amazon is home to more than 24 million people including almost 900,000 Indigenous Peoples, with over 270 languages spoken. The Brazilian Amazon is also home to at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered species such as jaguars, giant otters and golden lion tamarins.

Cool Earth’s first partnership: Democracia

In 2008, we began our first partnership with the community of Democracia on the northern bank of the Rio Madeira river to protect all 45,000 hectares of their forest.

Like many of our partners today, the Democracia community faced serious threats to their lands from external loggers after the government granted a concession, despite the community’s ownership of the land.

We had one collaborative goal; to cancel the concession.

Laying down the law

Cool Earth and the community of Democracia worked closely with a law firm, Tapajos and Tapajos LLP, based in the city of Manaus. The aim was to abolish the logging concession and officially establish the land as a communal reserve, cutting off the timber supply to any prospecting loggers.

Waiting for the win

While waiting for the verdict Cool Earth helped the community to invest in local Brazil nut production and construct a local primary school, resulting in a 64% rise in attendance.

The final outcome

After three years of lobbying and legal proceedings, the logging concession was overturned and land rights handed back to the community – the first win of its kind in the state of the Amazonas.

We no longer actively monitor this area of rainforest, however, our last update in 2018 found that the forest remained intact and also recognised by the state of Amazonas for the region’s unique biodiversity and has been placed under national protection.

Find out more about where we work today here.