Community-based tourism transforms indigenous lands in Brazil

18-12-24

Community-based tourism is transforming the reality of indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon, offering a sustainable alternative that promotes economic development and cultural preservation. In the Shanenawa village, located in the municipality of Feijó, Acre, this form of tourism has enabled the community to share its cultural wealth and ancestral knowledge with visitors from all over the world.

Three years ago, the Shanenawa began to receive tourists interested in immersing themselves in their culture and learning about their harmonious coexistence with the forest. According to chief Tekavainy Shanenawa, the community used to hold cultural festivities for relatives from other regions and ethnic groups, but had no experience with tourism. The arrival of Brazilian and foreign visitors, attracted by forest medicine such as ayahuasca, has strengthened the local culture and provided new economic opportunities.