Accomplishments

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Forest Economies Program

Fundación Pachamama’s Forest Economies Program was launched in 2019 and supports bio-entrepreneurship and regeneration projects in the South-Central Amazon region of Ecuador. These innovative projects generate income for communities who might otherwise look for income from the oil, mining, and logging industries trying to infiltrate the region. The program searches for solutions based on sustainable use of forest resources that are also financially viable for community development.

As part of this effort, the Chakra Project was launched at the beginning of 2022. This project supports entrepreneurship by encouraging rainforest communities to grow financially viable crops in their family food gardens, called chakras in Achuar. The project focuses on the cultivation of two crops: morete and vanilla.

Morete is a native palm tree fruit that has not yet been introduced to local markets. It contains more vitamin A than carrots, more vitamin E than avocado, and is rich in protein, fat and carbs. A deal has been made with a Peruvian beverage company to purchase 50 tons of morete fruit from Indigenous communities to include in a superfruit beverage. Part of the agreement is to leave half of the fruit on the trees so that local animals can continue to eat from the trees.

Vanilla is an orchid native to the Amazon and is still found growing wild in the rainforest. Fundación Pachamama has been exploring vanilla as a potential value chain for three years now. A pilot farm has been set up to experiment with different varieties of vanilla to see what would be the best variety to cultivate in Indigenous communities. Research is now focusing on how to process the vanilla beans in the rainforest and then how to work with the private sector to have the vanilla distributed.

Ikiama Nukuri

Over the past 10 years, the Ikiama Nukuri program, which provides maternal and infant health services and teaches safe birthing practices, has assisted nearly 3,000 pregnancies. To date, there are 69 trained Maternal Health Promoters (MHPs) serving 79 Indigenous communities. MHPs cover 100% of Achuar associations, a territory of about 5,000 people, and 50% of Shuar associations, a territory of about 8,000 people. The program completed its expansion into Achuar territory in 2021, and maintains its goal of expanding to 100% of Shuar associations in 2023.

The 69 MHPs received additional training in 2022, upgrading the qualifications of all of the women. Additionally, 550 safe birthing kits were provided to Achuar and Shuar women, strengthening the chances for a safe and healthy birth.

The Ministry of Health in Ecuador and the Pan American Health Organization have publicly endorsed the effectiveness of Ikiama Nukuri’s work with women and families and are interested in finding new ways to collaborate.

Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative

Climate Change and Forests

Fundación Pachamama initiated a project in the Achuar community of Sharamentsa for the conservation of primary forest and the sustainable management of forest resources and biodiversity in the face of threats from the exploitation of balsa wood in Achuar territory and pressure on the forest due to demographic expansion. 

A team of forest monitors has been trained and is now in charge of gathering and monitoring territorial forest information through the use of GPS equipment and drones.

Fundación Pachamama also initiated a reforestation project to plant 300,000 trees in Ecuador’s south-central Amazon region. The Provincial Government of Pastaza region and the Municipality of Arajuno have both committed to donate 100,000 trees and 50,000 trees, respectively, to this project.

Human Rights and Nature Rights

Fundación Pachamama’s legal team was active in at least 10 national and international cases for Indigenous peoples and nationalities, including the Mirador case regarding violation of Indigenous rights caused by a huge open-pit mining project in Ecuador. This case was declared admissible before the Interamerican Human Rights System. Another important international case is the Taromenane case. The Taromenane case is the first case in which the Inter-American Human Rights Court will analyze the human rights of Indigenous communities in isolation, who choose to avoid contact with the outside world. The standards that will be established with this case will set a worldwide precedent for the protection of these isolated Indigenous communities.

Inspiring the Future: Highlights from Around the World

Awakening the Dreamer

Pachamama Alliance's flagship program continued to inspire and motivate participants in 2022. 89% of reporting participants indicated the course increased their motivation to act on behalf of environmental sustainability and 95% reported an increase in their motivation to act on behalf of social justice.

Game Changer Intensive

The Game Changer Intensive—an 8-week online course that catalyzes the inner work of transformation and prepares people to engage in effective collective action—has reached over 8,200 people from 150 countries around the world. In 2022, the course included an increased focus on local community action and prepared participants to participate in Pachamama Alliance’s new Introduction to Community Climate Action Training.

Resilience and Possibility

We continued to offer the Resilience and Possibility in These Times series of online offerings to support us all in staying connected to one another, to a vision for the future, and to the spirit of life in these challenging times. In 2022, the program attracted over 5,700 people from across the world to explore climate justice, climate restoration, sacred drumming, spirit in action, and more. Participants describe their experience as "unforgettable", "inspirational", "earth-shatteringly true and beautiful", "deeply healing and profound", "stimulating and inspiring", "eye-opening", and "spirit-led."

Introduction to Community Climate Action Training

We successfully completed 2 iterations of Introduction to Community Climate Action Training—a 10-week training focusing on developing key skills for local community action and climate justice, grounded in a profound appreciation for the interconnectedness of all life. 60 people from around the world took part in the program, which was offered in English and Japanese. The community climate justice projects that have launched as a result of the program include: creation of ORCAH, an online hub sharing about events and organizations that support Oregonians to engage in climate action; blocking construction of a new fossil fuel infrastructure by offering an alternative vision of a sustainable future; successfully lobbying in a California county to allow green burials; creation of an Interfaith Climate Action group with 12 temples and churches in Florida, implementation and expansion of regenerative agriculture and permaculture practices in Ichikawa, Japan, andEcosystem restoration in Malawi.

The Game Changer Action Network

In 2022, we launched the Game Changer Action Network—a virtual global community that offers additional learning, support and connection and enhances Pachamama Alliance program participants' capacity to co-create Climate Justice with actionable steps and projects with measured outcomes in their local communities. 2022 was a fantastic year where the visionary participants that make up this community came together in Network Community spaces, and multiple workshops including topics such as Systems Thinking, Fundraising, and Planning for Climate Justice. An important aspect of the Network is to support emerging projects that weave in climate and justice solutions in local communities around the world. As such, the Network has paired 6 participants with such projects with expert coaches who can support their success. The projects include Healing Food Systems, a Permaculture Farm Demo in Kenya, Reforestation in Malawi, the first ever Online Climate Hub in Oregon, and more.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Legal Victory for Indigenous Land Rights

Fundación Pachamama’s legal team secured a major victory for traditional Indigneous land rights in November when it obtained a Protection Action from the court of the Province of Pataza, overturning an earlier action by the Ecuadorian government. The government had attempted a broad transfer of traditional Sápara land rights to specific communities that were friendly to government plans for oil development. The government action was rejected by the provincial court and the decision strengthens an already strong precedent for full and transparent consultation with Indigneous people regarding any aspect of traditional territorial land rights. 

Bio-Economy Project Success

Fundación Pachamama greatly expanded the diversity and scope of economic projects being developed in Indigenous communities in the Pastaza and Morona Santiago provinces in Ecuador. Vanilla production is showing great promise as a source of economic resilience for local communities. There are a number of projects that have developed involving the use of natural plants and formulas for cosmetic and medicinal use, both internally in the lndigneous communities and externally in the Ecuadorian market. As a validation of the potential for these projects, development agencies from Norway, Germany, and France are all now looking to develop partnerships with Fundación Pachamama on bio-economy projects.

One of the most important bio-economy projects in this region is eco-tourism, which was totally closed by COVID-19 for nearly 18 months. In mid 2021, Fundación Pachamama was able to successfully help get eco-tourism operating again in Achuar territory at Kapawi Eco-lodge and in Sápara territory at the NAKU project. 

Ikiama Nukuri

The Ikiama Nukuri program, which provides maternal and infant health services and teaches safe birthing practices, has assisted nearly 2500 pregnancies over the past 9 years. Ikiama Nukuri completed its expansion in Achuar territory this past year and began providing services in neighboring Shuar communities. Along with 72 Achuar communities, another 60 Shuar communities are now served by the project. 

The 84 trained women Community Health Workers received additional training this past year that now enable them to play leadership roles in a number of the community bio-economy projects. This past year, the first workshop dealing with family issues—and including men—was introduced. 

The Ministry of Health in Ecuador, as well as the Pan American Health Organization, have both publicly endorsed the effectiveness of Ikiama Nukuri’s work with women and families and are looking to find ways to collaborate.

Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative

A Bio-regional Plan, outlining a detailed 10-year development strategy for the Sacred Headwaters region was introduced to the public and to new governments in both Ecuador and Peru. Initial responses from both governments were very positive.

The Initiative and the Bio-Regional Plan were presented at COP26, the UN Climate meetings in Glasgow. The Initiative created significant interest as an innovative climate solution of a magnitude to match our current challenges. A number of new allies stepped forward with what should develop into significant financial support in 2022.

On the ground in Ecuador and Peru in 2021, a series of powerful and visionary meetings were conducted by the Indigenous communities to educate participants about the goals and strategies of the Bio-Regional Plan. The meetings created enthusiasm for the Plan and significantly increased Indigenous participation in the governance of the Sacred Headwaters Initiative. The number of Indigenous leaders participating on the Initiative’s main governing council increased from 8 to 20 members.

Inspiring the Future: Highlights from Around the World

Awakening the Dreamer

Pachamama Alliance’s flagship program reached over 4500 people in 2021. 91% of participants say that the course increased their motivation to act on behalf of environmental sustainability and 87% say that the course increased their motivation to act on behalf of social justice.

Game Changer Intensive

The Game Changer Intensive—an 8-week online course that catalyzes the inner work of transformation and prepares people to engage in effective collective action—has reached over 7,500 people from 80 countries around the world. In 2021, the course was updated to include an increased focus on climate justice and addressing racial inequality.

Resilience and Possibility

Pachamama Alliance continued to offer the Resilience and Possibility in These Times series of online offerings to support us all in staying connected to one another, to a vision for the future, and to the spirit of life in these challenging times. In 2021, the program attracted over 8,000 people from across the world to somatic workshops, sacred rituals, and dialogues encompassing biomimicry, Regeneration, anti-racism, and more.

Introduction to Community Climate Action Training 

The Pachamama Alliance Team successfully completed 2 pilot versions of the Introduction to Community Climate Action Training—a 10-week training which focuses on developing key skills for local community action and climate justice, grounded in a profound appreciation for the interconnectedness of all life. Nearly 200 people from around the world took part in the program, which was offered in English, Japanese, and Spanish. The community climate justice projects that have launched as a result of the program include: Engaging school boards and city officials to divest from fossil fuels, gathering deeds to return land to Native people, starting water and reforestation projects, and starting a project to support young women with their climate activism, engaging cities to declare climate emergency.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Sacred Headwaters of the Amazon Initiative

This year the primary focus of work of this Initiative has been the creation of a formal long-term development plan for the 85 million acres of the Sacred Headwaters bio-region.

COVID-19 has slowed down completion of the plan, but a top-notch team of scientists, economists and development planners is now completing a comprehensive and inspiring bio-regional plan that will be introduced at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

This will position the Plan well to influence debates taking place in presidential run-off elections expected in both Ecuador and Peru at that time.

Ikiama Nukuri

Community Maternal Health Promoters are serving more than 72 Achuar communities and 60 Shuar communities living in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Since 2013, the program has assisted more than 2,500 pregnancies.

This year, they distributed 503 Safe Birth Kits to Achuar and Shuar women. During the pandemic, the program served Indigneous communities in the Amazon by coordinating medical and humanitarian care brigades together with National and local representatives of the Ministry of Health and local authorities. A total of 2,000 emergency kits, 2,000 face masks, 200 food kits and basic supplies were delivered to the Achuar and Shuar communities. Together with the Pan-American Health Organization, Ikiama Nukuri co-organized workshops with updated information regarding COVID-19 to prevent the spread of the virus. PCR tests and rapid tests were also carried out.

Inspiring the Future: Highlights from Around the World

Pachamama Alliance Communities

Communities around the world leveraged and created new tools to identify and connect with their dream for the world, and to materialize it by working together. In the United States, Communities produced a large online climate crisis conference, won the legal recognition of a river in Florida, and hosted a civic learning conference on women's rights. In the Ibero American region, Communities created an 8-week online trilingual experience that connected hundreds of participants to begin the process of discovering their next step to bring forth their dreams for the world.

Awakening the Dreamer

Pachamama Alliance’s flagship program reached over 9000 people in 95 countries in 2020–both virtually and in-person. It has been translated into 16 languages and 80% of graduates report increased motivation to act on behalf of sustainability and social justice.

Drawdown Initiative

The Drawdown Initiative has reached over 15,000 people since its inception in 2018 in 13 countries, inviting people around the world to engage in the possibility of reversing global warming. The work has been translated into Japanese and Spanish and has been delivered in over 700 distinct events across the globe.

Game Changer Intensive

The Game Changer Intensive–an 8-week online course–reached over 3000 participants from across the globe this year. 2020 saw the highest engagement as it intersected the questions of who we need to be and what we need to do with the emergence of the COVID-19 crisis and the success of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Resilience and Possibility

In response to the disruption of our health, economic, and political systems by the spread of COVID-19, Pachamama Alliance created Resilience and Possibility in These Times, a series of online offerings to support us all in staying connected to one another, to a vision for the future, and to the spirit of life in these challenging times. More than 10,000 people participated in virtual webinars, workshops, rituals, and dialogues encompassing the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the U.S. elections, and more.

Global Commons

The Pachamama Alliance online community has grown to include more than 5,500 members from 100 countries, integrating online courses, events, discussions, and resources. A particular highlight this year were the discussion groups formed around Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility, which met over eight weeks exploring whiteness, race, and racism.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Sacred Headwaters of the Amazon Initiative

Indigenous organizations in Ecuador, joined in 2019 by their partners from Peru, continue to develop the Initiative to protect more than 60 million acres of Amazon rainforest. A “Commission” of international experts formed to be a resource to the Indigenous groups in developing an ecological development plan for the region. The Initiative was presented in September at the UN climate meetings in New York.

Ikiama Nukuri

The Community Maternal Health Promoters are serving more than 75 Achuar communities in Ecuador. This year, they distributed 341 safe birth kits, and co-organized a conference with the World Health Organization/Pan-American Health Organization with a focus on improving the quality of and access to health services. Since 2013, the program has assisted more than 1,500 pregnancies.

Inspiring the future: Highlights—Around the World

Awakening the Dreamer

Awakening the Dreamer—Pachamama Alliance’s flagship educational offering—has reached more than 100 countries with its online and in-person versions, with the in-person version translated into at least 16 languages. Over 80% of graduates report their motivation to act on behalf of sustainability and social justice increased because of the course. In 2019, we launched a Spanish version of the online course.

Game Changer Intensive

The Game Changer Intensive—an online course picking up where Awakening the Dreamer leaves off—has been taken by almost 13,000 participants since it launched in 2014. In 2019, the course was updated to have more focus and relevance to the climate crisis.

Drawdown Initiative

Drawdown Initiative workshops continue to expand and to inspire people at the community level, having reached over 8,300 people in 13 countries. This year, an online version of the Introduction to Drawdown was introduced, inviting people around the world to engage in the possibility of reversing global warming.

Global Commons

Pachamama Alliance’s online community linking supporters around the world, the Global Commons now has over 3,500 members from 80 countries, and inspired over 500 events this year related to our programs.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Sacred Headwaters of the Amazon Initiative

Key Indigenous organizations in Ecuador and Peru have adopted the Initiative to protect 60 million acres of Amazon rainforest, and are now playing lead organizing roles. The Initiative was introduced to global audiences in Miami, New York and at the Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.

Ecotourism and Economic Alternatives

One of the most viable and sustainable economic alternatives available in the Sacred Headwaters region is ecotourism. Pachamama Alliance worked closely with the Achuar to establish a network of tourism projects in their territory. The linchpin of that network is Kapawi Ecolodge which is undergoing a complete renovation with Pachamama Alliance support.

Ikiama Nukuri (Jungle Mamas)

Ikiama Nukuri’s 64 Community Maternal Health Promoters (CMHPs) continue to serve 77% of Achuar communities. In October, program leaders hosted the first ever Community Health Advocacy Training to build CMHPs’ capacity for creating coalitions and community organizing, to advocate for the kind of systemic change that will ensure healthier communities in Achuar territory.

Celebrating 10 Years of Rights of Nature in Ecuador

In 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to recognize and implement Rights of Nature into its national constitution. Pachamama Alliance played a key role in raising awareness around the Rights of Nature and encouraging its adoption in Ecuador. To commemorate and celebrate the 10th anniversary of that historic event, an international symposium took place in Ecuador in September.

Inspiring the future: 2018 Highlights—Around the World

Pachamama Alliance Communities

Communities in Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, and the U.S. leveraged new tools to bring our mission to all sectors of society, including public radio, statewide conferences, institutional partnerships, and hundreds of local events, including a Global Gathering that hosted 130 people from 12 countries.

Awakening the Dreamer

Awakening the Dreamer—Pachamama Alliance’s flagship educational offering—has reached more than 100 countries with its online and in-person versions, with the in-person version translated into at least 16 languages. In 2018, 10,000 people engaged in Awakening the Dreamer.

Game Changer Intensive

The Game Changer Intensive—an online course picking up where Awakening the Dreamer leaves off—has been taken by more than 11,000 participants since it launched four years ago. In 2018, enrollment peaked with over 3,000 people enrolling in facing the challenges of democracy and climate change.

Drawdown Initiative

Since its announcement last year, the Drawdown Initiative has been designed to include two powerful workshops— a 2-hour introduction and a 5-week course— that wakes people up to and engages them in solutions to reverse global warming. In 2018, the program reached 2,000 people in 9 countries.

Global Commons

The Global Commons, an online community founded in 2017 that links Pachamama Alliance supporters around the world, now has over 2,000 members from 58 countries, and gave rise to 350 events this year related to Drawdown, Awakening the Dreamer, and Communities.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Permanent Protection of the Sacred Headwaters

The Sacred Headwaters Initiative began to take shape in 2017, with the goal of placing 60+ million acres of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon into permanent protection. Working with our Indigenous partners and other allies, working groups were formed to research legal structures, funding mechanisms, regional and ecological planning, and communications strategies.

Ikiama Nukuri

Ikiama Nukuri trained a new group of Community Maternal Health Promoters and an advanced skills group to deliver direct prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care; community health workshops, and 350 birth kits to Achuar families. A Lead Community Health Promoter has just completed her first six months as a midwife's apprentice in a birth center in Mexico.

Pachamama Foundation Reinstated in Ecuador

After four years of closure by the Ecuadorian government, Pachamama Alliance’s sister organization in Ecuador, Fundación Pachamama, was granted permission to re-open as an official NGO (non-governmental organization) in Ecuador.

International Indigenous Rights Advocacy

Pachamama Alliance representatives from Ecuador, along with Indigenous organizations, presented testimony in Geneva to the 27th session of the Human Right Council’s Universal Periodic Review regarding the state of the rights of Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders in Ecuador. The May summit was attended by all 193 UN member states, 19 reviews were made regarding Indigenous issues, and nine countries participated in discussions around the legal right to prior consultation in Ecuador.

Strengthening Indigenous Collective Action and Litigation

Indigenous leaders and members of CONAIE and CONFENIAE (both led by Achuar representatives) took part in a series of five workshops on collective rights and the right to freedom of association. Additionally, lawyers representing Indigenous people undertook a course on “Strategic Litigation.” Both efforts are part of the process to strengthen Indigenous organizations and leaders as they entered into dialogue with the new national government.

Inspiring the future: 2017 Highlights—Around the World

Pachamama Alliance Communities

There are now 56 Pachamama Alliance Communities—local hubs where people work together to bring about a new future for life on Earth—in 25 countries. We launched the Pachamama Alliance Global Commons, a social network where people from all over the world can connect and work together towards creating a new future for humanity.

Awakening the Dreamer

Awakening the Dreamer—Pachamama Alliance’s flagship educational offering—has reached more than 100 countries through its online and in-person version, with the in-person version translated into 16 languages. In 2017, we trained nearly 500 new Facilitators, adding to the 5,000 trained Facilitators across the globe. More than 2,000 people took the online course.

Game Changer Intensive

The Game Changer Intensive—an online course that follows Awakening the Dreamer—has been taken by more than 7800 participants since it launched 3 years ago. In 2017, the course dove deeper into democracy and global warming, included more practice-based activities, and was translated into Spanish and Japanese.

Piloting a Course About Global Warming

We launched the pilot for a new course that shifts people’s relationship to global warming from one of hopelessness to one of possibility. Informed by Paul Hawken’s new book Drawdown, the course puts people into action around the top 100 solutions determined by scientists to reverse global warming.

2016 Highlights

2016 marked Pachamama Alliance’s 20th anniversary. We celebrated the occasion with a special dinner and celebration in November.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Pachamama Alliance works in partnership with Indigenous people to attain permanent protection of the tropical rainforests of the headwaters region of the Amazon basin in Ecuador and northern Peru. Containing some of the highest levels of biodiversity on the planet, this is an area of immense ecological importance to the world.

Support for Indigenous Federations

We provide ongoing financial, logistical, legal, and technical support to 8 Indigenous governing organizations in Ecuador. We fund and provide logistical and technical support for workshops, assemblies and gatherings for the Indigenous people to develop and implement plans for the protection of their lands and cultures. In 2016 we supported over 40 such events.

We successfully focused on supporting the Achuar nation, that had been split into opposing factions by the Ecuadorian government, to reunite and elect new leadership grounded in traditional values, including for the first time ever a woman as their vice-president.

Generating Self-sufficiency through Ecotourism

Ecotourism is one of the most sustainable activities for generating income sources that are alternatives to opening rainforest lands to oil development. We continue our work with the Achuar and Sápara people to enhance eco-tourism projects in their communities. In 2016 we completed major infrastructure upgrades of the Naku project in Sápara territory and Kapawi Ecolodge in Achuar territory. The Kapawi project included installation of a state-of-the-art solar energy system, and energy-efficient outboard motors for river transportation.

Improving Maternal and Child Health

The Ikiama Nukuri program has now expanded to provide coverage for nearly all of the Achuar’s 89 communities and nearly 750,000 acres of territory. The program held a 6-day intensive workshop for Community Maternal Health Promoters that deepened their training in healthy birthing practices and maternal and newborn care. The workshop, that was held in Achuar territory, included more advanced topics such as identifying and responding to complications that occur in pregnancy and delivery. This workshop was an important milestone as it was the first round of a new, advanced level of training for the Health Promoters.

Earthquake Relief in Ecuador

In April, a devastating earthquake hit Ecuador. Pachamama Alliance launched an earthquake relief campaign online and raised over $53,000. Our Ecuador Program director, Belén Paez, and other volunteers, worked directly with local groups on the ground on relief efforts.

Permanent Protection of the Sacred Headwaters

With our Indigenous partners and other non-governmental organizations, Pachamama Alliance launched a multi-year project in the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon: permanent protection of the Sacred Headwaters region, nearly 50 million acres of rainforest—the objective being Indigenous management of the key social, economic, and political aspects of the area and a complete ban on all industrial-level extractive activities.

Inspiring the future: 2016 Highlights—Around the World

With roots deep in the Amazon rainforest, our programs integrate Indigenous wisdom with modern knowledge to support personal and collective transformation aimed at bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet.

The Up to Us engagement pathway is a set of programs and activities designed to wake, inspire, and engage people to become “pro-activist” leaders—people actively taking responsibility for creating new futures in their communities.

Awakening the Dreamer

The Awakening the Dreamer program—Pachamama Alliance’s flagship educational offering offered both in person and online—now has over 5000 trained Facilitators across the globe, offering the in-person Symposium in at least 16 languages and in more than 80 countries. In 2016, we created an online version of the training for people who are interested in presenting Awakening the Dreamer Symposiums. We held 6 Online Facilitator Trainings, training 100 new Awakening the Dreamer Facilitators, and 17 in-person Facilitator Trainings, training more that 250 new Facilitators. The Awakening the Dreamer Online Course was taken by more than 3600 people.

Game Changer Intensive

The Game Changer Intensive—an online course that picks up where Awakening the Dreamer leaves off and catalyzes the inner work of transformation, inspiring and equipping people to enter in effective collective action—has now been taken by more than 4000 participants. Participants hail from all 50 U.S. states and over 80 countries. In 2016, the Game Changer Intensive was offered 5 times and taken by over 1000 people. We also successfully piloted the course in Spanish, at the request of our Spanish-speaking communities.

Communities

There are 61 Pachamama Alliance Communities—local hubs where people work together to bring about a new future for life on Earth—in 21 countries, including the U.S., Mexico, China, Japan, Romania, and New Zealand. In 2016, Community Days were brought to 7 Pachamama Alliance groups, including Lima, Peru; Rochester, New York; and Beijing, China; equipping and empowering them in their vision to build a new society. As a result of these Community Days, Communities are now developing game plans for local activities to change the dream of the modern world. These activities include hosting workshops on structural racism, organizing a coalition of 102 local environmental organizations, and holding monthly events to explore taking on the role of being caregivers of the planet.

Creating an Online Community

A new initiative this year focused on creating an online community where Pachamama Alliance participants, leaders, and supporters can connect to continue their engagement beyond the framework of any single program. We partnered with a development firm that is applying their experience building online community platforms to a new open source product. The online community will be launched in 2017 to integrate multiple offerings of the Up to Us engagement pathway and offer powerful new ways to connect, collaborate, and inspire.

Pachamama Journeys to the Amazon and New Mexico

More than 100 people experienced our work first-hand by participating in 8 Pachamama Journeys to the Ecuadorian Amazon at the invitation of our Indigenous partners. We also continued our Journeys to the North with an offering to the high desert of New Mexico.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Pachamama Alliance works in partnership with Indigenous people to attain permanent protected status of the sacred headwaters region of the Amazon basin in southern Ecuador and northern Peru. This is an area of pristine tropical rainforest recognized as containing the highest levels of biodiversity in the entire Amazon basin.

Protecting Indigenous Lands is Protecting the Source

We continued to provide ongoing monthly financial and logistical support to 8 Indigenous governing organizations in Ecuador. These organizations represent the interests of Indigenous communities working to protect 10 million acres of pristine rainforest in the face of strong governmental efforts to open it up for oil extraction.

We also funded and helped organize trainings, workshops, and special assemblies where Indigenous communities came together to learn their individual and collective rights under national and international law. These events are spaces where Indigenous people can develop a common vision and strategies for the protection of their territories.

Ecotourism Projects Reduce Dependence on Fossil Fuel Industry

Finding alternative income sources to provide local self-sufficiency is critical to saving the Amazon. We continue our work with the Achuar people and the Sápara people to maintain and enhance eco-tourism projects in their communities. This includes offering trainings to strengthen administrative, marketing, and customer service skills.

Ikiama Nukuri Works to Protect Future Generations

In 2015, the Ikiama Nukuri program trained the final group of Community Maternal Health Promoters—Indigenous women who will be providing training in healthy birthing practices and maternal and newborn care in nearly 100% of Achuar territory (1.8 million acres and over 70 communities). Additionally, the program is empowering women to take more active roles in community decision-making. These women are emerging as committed and powerful voices for the defense of Indigenous territory and culture.

Defending the Rights of Nature Is an Ongoing Issue

We continued to work closely with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, supporting it in spreading the idea of legal rights for nature, a concept that was enshrined in Ecuador’s Constitution in 2008. We are supporting the Global Alliance to hold tribunals and mock trials around the world to bring awareness to rights of nature in specific environmental legal cases. This includes support for a Rights of Nature Tribunal at the UN climate conference in Paris in December 2015 (COP 21)

Inspiring the future: 2015 Highlights—Around the World

With roots deep in the Amazon rainforest, our programs integrate Indigenous wisdom with modern knowledge to support personal and collective transformation aimed at bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet.

Up to Us Engagement Pathway Expands

The Up to Us engagement pathway is a set of programs and activities designed to wake, inspire, and engage people to become “pro-activist” leaders—people actively taking responsibility for creating new futures in their communities.

Awakening the Dreamer

The Awakening the Dreamer Symposium is a half-day transformative, educational, workshop. The Symposium has been presented in 81 countries, in 16 languages, by a team of close to 5000 trained volunteer Facilitators. In 2015 we released the Awakening the Dreamer Online Course— a self-guided course containing the videos and messages of the Symposium.

Game Changer Intensive

Nearly 3000 people enrolled in the Game Changer Intensive— an online course that picks up where Awakening the Dreamer leaves off and catalyzes the inner work of transformation, inspiring and equipping people to engage in effective collective action. In 2015, we enhanced the content and ramped up the frequency to every other month. Participants hail from all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries.

Communities

In 2015 we created new trainings and leadership models to support and strengthen Pachamama Alliance Communities around the world—local hubs where people work together to bring about a new future for life on Earth. As a result, a group of Latin American leaders is currently building local Communities in Brazil, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, in addition to the 7 other countries in the region. In the U.S., 8 new Communities were created and the 23 already in existence were supported in expanding their work.

Movement Partners

We continued to support key Game Changing Movements aimed at addressing the root causes of two of the most pressing issues facing us today: climate change and unrepresentative democracy. We partnered with organizations that are central players in building movements to tackle these issues, and we guided people to get involved at the grassroots level.

Life-Changing Trips to the Amazon and New Mexico

Over 165 people experienced our work first-hand by participating in 13 immersions to the Ecuadorian Amazon at the invitation of our Indigenous partners. We also continued our Journeys in the North with a powerful offering to the high desert of New Mexico.

Protecting the Source: Highlights from South America

Building International Solidarity through Dissolution of Fundación Pachamama

The forced closing of our sister organization in Ecuador, Fundación Pachamama, brought together an international outpouring of condemnation of efforts within Ecuador to repress civil liberties, for the good of all civil society organizations that are at risk in Ecuador. Our work to support Indigenous nationalities and defend the Amazon continues despite the loss of our legal entity on the ground.

Protecting Indigenous Lands is Protecting the Source

Supporting special assemblies where Indigenous nationalities come together to discuss their constitutional rights and define their work to defend their territories is a fundamental part of our work to protect the source—the most bio-diverse part of the entire Amazon basin. We provided such support to five Indigenous nationalities in Ecuador. We also began a thorough social and environmental baseline analysis of the two blocks of land currently leased by the government for oil exploration.

Naku Ecotourism Project Reduces Dependence on Fossil Fuel Industry

Finding alternative income sources to provide local self-sufficiency is critical to saving the Amazon. We continue our work with the Sápara people to establish the Naku Ecolodge and offer trainings to strengthen administrative, accounting and customer service skills.

Ikiama Nukuri Works to Protect Future Generations

The number of Maternal Health Promoters has increased to a total of 42 throughout Achuar territory and 170 clean birth kits were distributed to support the healthy births of a new generation of rainforest guardians. The team is implementing a pilot project with health education videos in collaboration with the Global Health Media Project to see how technology and visual aids can be used to improve learning and knowledge retention.

Defending The Rights of Nature Is An Ongoing Issue

We led legal actions in national and international courts to enforce rights of nature and collective rights of Indigenous peoples. This included cases in Ecuador involving the Condor Mirador mining project, Sarayaku community, Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation, and Yasuní Park.

The Threat Of Climate Change

We are contributing to the civil society debate within Ecuador on mechanisms for the conservation of tropical forests to mitigate and adapt to climate change and are in discussions with the Ministry of Environment on public policy in this arena.

Inspiring the Future: Highlights from Around the World

"Up to Us" Engagement Pathway in Full Swing

This engagement pathway is designed to awaken, educate, connect and engage a critical mass of "pro-activist" leaders committed to bringing forth a thriving, just and sustainable world. The pathway has various steps:

• Awakening the Dreamer Symposium – A half-day transformative, educational, awakening workshop. Thanks to more than 4500 trained volunteer Facilitators, the Symposium now has been presented in 82 countries worldwide. Provides a great foundation.
• Game Changer Intensive – This new online course was piloted to more than 830 people. Picking up where the Symposium leaves off, the Intensive catalyzes the inner work of transformation and inspires and equips people to engage in effective collective action.
• Communities – These provide a structure and an opportunity for people to connect with like-minded people at the local level, to continue to learn together about the key social and ecological concerns of the day, and to engage and work together on local, national and global issues.
• Movement Partners – We supported two key game changing movements aimed at addressing the root causes of the most pressing issues today in the United States: our unrepresentative Democracy and Climate Change. We partner with organizations that are central players in building these movements and that guide people to get involved at the grass-roots level through their local chapters.

Speaker Series Engages People on Key Issues

We hosted 7 live video conversations with key thought leaders of our time, on topics ranging from Indigenous Perspectives on the State of Our Planet, to GMOs. More than 3200 registered for these events.

Heart Opening Trips to the Amazon and New Mexico

Over 150 people participated in 12 life-changing immersions to the Ecuadorian Amazon at the invitation of our Indigenous partners, the Achuar, Sápara, Shuar, and Sarayaku community. We also continued our Journeys in the North with two powerful offerings to the high desert of New Mexico in collaboration with ceremonial leader and wisdom keeper, Arkan Lushwala, and the Arawaka community.

2013 in South America

As the government of Ecuador continues with its plans to develop millions of acres of pristine Amazon rainforest for oil production, the success of our Ecuadorian partnerships in forwarding an alternative development model based on well being, human rights, and the Rights of Nature has become more crucial than ever.

Indigenous Voices Speak Up for Preservation

Fundación Pachamama (FP) provided funding for numerous workshops and assemblies so that Indigenous communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon were fully informed about plans for oil development in their lands, and so that their voices calling for territorial preservation were clearly heard. This was all part of FP’s overall effort to find common ground between the need to protect the environmental and cultural richness of the Amazon and a commitment to help the Ecuadorian government achieve its legitimate and necessary long-term social development and poverty reduction goals for its people.

People of Sarayaku Receive Restitution Payment

With guidance from FP’s lawyers, the people of Sarayaku asserted their right to bind the government of Ecuador to comply with the 2012 favorable ruling by the Inter-American Court for Human Rights. The government paid reparations of more than one million dollars for damage to their land and people, and has committed to cleaning up the more than 3000 pounds of explosives left in their territory.

Fundación Pachamama Informs Environmental Public Policy and Actions

FP continued as president of CEDENMA, Ecuador’s largest network of environmental NGOs, and made great progress by forming important legal suits, participating in the creation of environmental public policy, and successfully using research, mobilization, and lobbying to halt destructive projects in Indigenous territories.

Ikiama Nukuri Takes Huge Steps in Advancing Safe Motherhood

In a new collaboration with One Heart World-Wide, Ikiama Nukuri trained 20 Achuar women in a community empowerment workshop. The 20 women will provide prenatal coverage to 47 Achuar communities. To date, Ikiama Nukuri has distributed 100 safe birth kits to women in approximately 30 communities.

Impact Analysis Begins for the Southeastern Amazon

FP provided financial support for a major scholarly study to research the impact of two divergent future scenarios in the southeastern Amazon—one of oil development and one of conservation. The research, evaluating economic, social, political, ecological, and cultural dimensions, is being carried out by respected universities in Ecuador and the United Kingdom, and will be used to inform FP’s future work.

FP Brings Together Allies for International Workshop on Indigenous Rights

Organizations from Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador who work to defend human and environmental rights, came together for an international workshop organized by FP to explore key issues around prior consultation, right to compensation and socio-environmental monitoring. They also toured environmentally toxic areas polluted by oil spills.

Amazon’s First Solar-Powered Transportation Network is Almost Ready

After a year of preparation, a groundbreaking system of solar-powered boats and recharge stations covering over 40 miles of rivers in Achuar territory is soon to be put to use. The project is in collaboration with the government of Finland, MIT, Ecuador’s most renowned engineering university, and multiple Ecuadorian government agencies, as well as the Achuar people, who will be the owners of the system.

2013 Around The World

The world has changed since the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium debuted in 2005, and the need for conscious, committed change agents is more urgent than ever. In 2013 we designed and piloted a brand new transformational pathway to social action for people after they have taken a Symposium: the Up to Us engagement pathway.

Awakening the Dreamer Symposium Reaches 76 Countries

Pachamama Alliance’s flagship workshop, the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium, has now been delivered in 76 countries—in least 13 languages—to more than 4000 trained volunteer Facilitators worldwide who are bringing the Symposium to their local communities and allied organizations.

Up to Us is Developed

Relying on input from experts on movement building and feedback from our volunteer community, Pachamama Alliance has developed the Up to Us engagement pathway for people after they have taken a Symposium.

Up to Us Pilot Programs Underway

We are piloting several new programs within Up to Us in advance of a full launch in early 2014:

• Game Changer Intensive — An eight-part webinar series that builds citizen leadership by deepening participants’ experience of their sacred connection to the Earth community and sense of responsibility for its future; empowering them to engage with the root causes holding our current systems in place.
• Community Action Circles — Intimate local circles of people who meet regularly to educate themselves and put into action the principles of collective citizen leadership.
• Speaker Series — Live video conversations that engage people deeply with key issues of our time. We piloted three such conferences with a range of speakers on topics of social activism, climate change, and women's leadership.
• Media Engagement — Media tools to empower our community volunteers to be published in their local media on broad issues of sustainability and social justice.

Game Changing Partnerships Formed

We are partnering with organizations that are aiming at the root causes of two of the most pressing issues confronting the U.S. today—the corruption of our democracy and climate change. We encourage people to engage with these movements by joining with our game changing partners, currently: Move to Amend, doing grassroots organizing around democracy; and Citizens Climate Lobby, organizing around climate change. Both are effectively pushing for concrete achievable political solutions.

High-impact Pachamama Journeys Bring Allies from the Modern World

140 people participated in 10 separate deep-immersion journeys to connect with our Indigenous partners in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the spirit of the rainforest itself. In addition to visiting Achuar territory, our journey offerings included visits to Karanqui, Kichwa and Zapara communities. We also piloted a new Journeys to the North program, which visits the high desert of New Mexico in collaboration with spiritual leader and Pachamama Alliance advisor, Arkan Lushwala, and the Arawaka community.