The Foundation's first major initiative was to campaign globally for the protection of the lands of the Kayapo Indians in Brazilian Amazonia. This resulted in 1993 in the legal recognition and demarcation of an area of more than 17,000 square miles as the Menkragnoti Indigenous Area.

Below is a letter of appreciation we recently received from Davi Kopenawa Yanomami:

Dear friends at the Rainforest Foundation,
As traditional leader,
I Davi Kopenawa,
Am sending you my message, to thank you for your work and for so many years of struggle in defense of indigenous peoples. You are helping train a new generation of Yanomami leaders; I hope they learn to speak and read Portuguese, to defend the rights of the Yanomami people. I'm writing you this short note, so you can be pleased with our work, as I am with yours.

Today our organization, Hutukara, is working, and I'm happy to have friends who are important for my people, for our struggle. We trust you and know you care about us, about what we learn so that we can continue to take care of our forest resources far into the future. Thank you and a big hug to you all, my friends.

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami

October 2008
We just returned from the Xingu and had the pleasure to accompany one of the presentations of the Xingu campaigners to the Waura community. This presentation was led by Kumare Txicao (Ikpeng), Managu Ikpeng (Chief of the Ikpeng), Marcelo Kamayura (from the Morena Kamayura village) and YanahinWaura (photographed). After the presentation the Waura community gathered in the village center and they held a question and answer session on the dams. A number of elder women and men as well as people who had never left the village were able to voice their concerns about what is going on outside the Xingu Reserve.

This meeting around the open fire by the central maloca went on for many hours. Chief Atamai called for a general meeting of the chiefs of the Xingu which will take place early December.

The Xingu campaign team after having finished their visits in the middle and lower Xingu is now on its last stretch to visit the rest of the villages in the upper Xingu.

The campaign has been praised both inside and outside the Xingu (by the Xingu communities and other NGOs) for its innovative methodologies, its empowerment message and its strong emphasis on their own community organizing.

Thank you for making this a reality.
Vasco M. van Roosmalen
President ACT Brazil

June 2007
"The Xingu's guardposts continue to function today, even through the changes in how the XINGU views its own protection. These posts have become permanent fixtures in the vigilance of the XINGU"

"As an institution that works closely with the communities of the XINGU, we commend the Rainforest Foundation for the quality of its work and the vision it had so early on to create local capacity within the communities. It is this work, which has formed the strong foundation upon which present and future projects are building."

Vasco M. van Roosmalen
President ACT Brazil

The whole Rainforest Foundation family, our supporters from the beginning of this great adventure, all our staff and volunteers from the early days and from the present will be happy to know that it was and it is worth giving our time and efforts to help indigenous people defend and protect their environment.