News & Events
Successful BIOTRAILS Consultation Workshop in Rondônia, Brazil
We are happy to announce the successful completion of BIOTRAILS Indigenous Women consultation workshop, held on October 3rd and 4th in Ji-Paraná, Rondônia, Brazil!
This event brought together talented indigenous artisans from the Roosevelt, Sete de Setembro, and Igarapé Lourdes territories. The workshop provided a unique forum for indigenous producers to discuss the challenges and potential solutions to strengthen the artisanal socio-biodiversity value chain. We were honoured to have representatives from the Coopaiter, Tecê, Karo Paygap, and Wanzeej Pakup Pit communities participate.
The event highlighted the importance of preserving indigenous culture as a vital part of biodiversity conservation strategy. It emphasised the value of their crafts as expressions of identity, traditional knowledge, and heritage.
Key challenges discussed included:
- The impacts of climate change and deforestation, which threaten biodiversity and the availability of materials needed for their crafts. Also noted were the climate change issues that affect their wellbeing and daily lives such as dried-up rivers affecting fish availability as a food source, poor air quality from forest clearing fires, and more frequent and increased experience of heat waves.
- Other issues included difficulties in receiving fair prices for their cultural products, as distributors and consumers often undervalue the time and effort involved in creating them.
- The women also pointed out the challenges in bringing their products to the market and promoting their art, which is crucial for preserving cultural diversity.