Rio Gregório Indigenous Territory

The Rio Gregório Indigenous Territory is located in the state of Acre, in the Brazilian Amazon. Covering approximately 187,000 hectares of forest, it is home to the Yawanawá and Noke Ko’ĩ Pano peoples. The Gregório River runs through the territory and is central to community life, providing water, food, and transportation. The territory is a living homeland of ancestral knowledge and culture, as well as an important area for protecting forests and biodiversity.

YAWANAWA People

Around 900 Yawanawá people live in eight communities along the banks of the Gregory River. Contact with Western society 200 years ago completely altered their way of life and widespread deforestation has driven the local environment to its breaking point, also bringing new types of waste. This is threatening their wellbeing, affecting livelihoods and causing health problems. 

In February 2017 we started Aldeia Lixo Zero at Mutum village. We learned more about how they manage their waste. One of the most worrying things we found was the amount of used batteries scattered in the forest and river. Why so many? The Yawanawá rely on hunting for subsistence, and each hunter uses six large batteries every night in their torches. Villagers are generally unaware of how toxic batteries are to both humans and nature. They can cause soil and water pollution and endanger wildlife. When thrown into the rivers they can bio-accumulate in fish, which reduces their numbers and makes them unfit for human consumption. Mutum village is the pilot project of the community zero waste initiative, and we plan to integrate what we learn into all other Yawanawá villages. Since villages are located around eight hours by boat from São Vicente village – where the nearest waste disposal facilities are – transportation is key. 

After the first visit, we launched a crowdfunding project at Indiegogo. Unfortunately, we were not able to raise all the funds needed for the actions required to help Mutum become a zero waste village. The funds raised, however, allowed us to implement further steps so we could move forward into practical implementation. In July 2017, we went to Mutum again for our second visit. We worked with families and children living in Mutum to increase awareness about the dangers of disposing of waste in the forest. We also put up zero waste signs throughout Mutum to inform visitors, realised our first clean up and distributed waste containers and cleaning materials for families. A short video of this visit is available here. 

In November 2017 we had our third visit in which we built local skills in how to reduce, reuse and recycle specific materials and how to compost organic waste. We invested the money raised through crowdfunding to acquire the infrastructure materials to construct the solid waste station in the village. Thanks to donations from Kambo Connect we came back to Mutum in April 2018 to solidify zero waste practices, provide knowledge about women and children's waste, teach children and adults about how to reuse materials to build musical instruments and cleaning brooms and finalise the construction of Mutum's solid waste station. We also started capacity-building actions in another tree villages: Escondido, Yawarani and Sete Estrelas. Photos of this visit are available here. 

Aldeia Lixo Zero team has been working voluntarily together with the State of Acre Waste Management Cooperative (CATAR) and state agents of Tarauacá and Cruzeiro do Sul municipalities and the residents of São Vicente to better organize the disposal and recycling of solid waste. In June 2018 - in partnership with CATAR - we created SELETAR, the waste collectors association for the Yawanawá tribe. 

Since then, the Indigenous villages involved have experienced profound transformations, especially driven by the growth of ethnourism and renewed interest in cultural traditions. This has brought an increasing number of visitors — from both Brazil and abroad — to the villages, intensifying the demand for infrastructure and local adaptability to host this audience.

During this period, structured project activities paused due to financial limitations and lower community engagement, as many residents took on responsibilities related to hospitality and visitor reception. However, the rise in tourism once again highlighted the waste issue — not only within the villages but also in the surrounding forest.

It was in this context, in 2025, with support from a collaborator linked to the Projeto Terra do Sol (in Portugal), that Aldeia Lixo Zero was reactivated with the Yawanawá and Katukina peoples, gaining renewed momentum and international recognition for the urgency of the cause. From that point on, the project began to reorganize with a renewed focus on actual waste challenges in Indigenous territories.

Recognizing that traditional disposal methods — such as burying or burning waste — are no longer viable or safe given the volume and types of waste generated, communities have sought sustainable alternatives. Buried waste contaminates soil, while burning pollutes air and poses fire risks, compromising health and environmental balance.

Today, with the support of volunteers, the Indigenous participants, and institutional partners — including Kama Collective — the project has resumed activities with phase-based planning to ensure sustainability, autonomy, and lasting impact.

During the latest field visit to the Yawanawá villages of Amparo and Yawarani in January 2026, the team met with local families, leaders, and residents to assess waste-management practices, challenges, and priorities. In Amparo, nearly every family was visited, revealing growing concern about waste management and highlighting the valuable work already undertaken by the person responsible for local waste collection, as well as the existence of a designated disposal site. Discussions addressed the inappropriate disposal of certain materials and the need for greater support for community clean-ups and awareness-raising activities. 

In Yawarani, although waste—particularly packaging from processed foods—was still found in some areas, residents reported significant improvements in the cleanliness of the territory in recent years. Local initiatives for managing organic waste and metals were identified, together with strong interest among leaders and residents in taking responsibility for waste management and developing educational activities for both children and adults.

Noke Ko’ĩ People

The Noke Ko’ĩ, often referred to externally as Katukina Pano, are an Indigenous people of the Pano linguistic family who live in the state of Acre, including communities within the Rio Gregório Indigenous Territory. Their preferred name, Noke Ko’ĩ, means “true people” and expresses their distinct identity and deep relationship with their territory, language, culture, and the forest.

During a field visit to Toniya Village in January 2026, our team observed that the central area was kept clean through the collective efforts of community members. However, some waste was still being discarded around the outskirts of the village and in the forest, highlighting the need to strengthen locally appropriate alternatives for waste treatment and disposal. The visit also included an awareness-raising session combining a presentation with community dialogue. Local leaders actively participated in reflecting on the challenges and helping identify possible paths towards more sustainable waste management.

We still need support for:

- Purchase a motorboat to take solid waste to São Vicente

- Supply solar flashlights and reusable batteries that can be recharged throughout the day

- Give each household a set of containers for different types of waste (compost, recyclable, toxic, etc.) and offer training in how to sort them

- Set up village composting systems

- Build a recycling station in the village of São Vicente

- Replicate the project in all Yawanawá villages