As part of Pearl Jam’s ongoing carbon commitment, we support the protection of a vast forested indigenous territory by the Kayapo indigenous people of Brazil. The Kayapo have fought hard to defend their ratified territory from invasion since the frontier of roadbuilding, settlement, ranching, goldmining, and logging first reached their border some 40 years ago. At over 10 million hectares (25 million acres) theirs is the largest tract of tropical forest anywhere in the world that is under some form of protection. If it were not for the Kayapo, this last large block of forest surviving in the southeastern Amazon would long ago have been incinerated along with all the beauty and wonderous life it holds. 

Pearl Jam’s previous carbon mitigation efforts have gone to protect & conserve the Amazon, which supports more species of animals and plants than any other place.  It plays a vital role in regulating climate, generating rainfall, and sequestering billions of tons of carbon. And there are no better allies for conserving Amazon forest than its indigenous people, whose livelihood and culture depends on intact primary forest. These cultures based on collective forms of organization view the world differently from Western capitalist culture that focuses on industrial exploitation of natural resources and accumulation of wealth. Indeed, the Kayapo act with fierce determination to protect the lands and forest that sustains them. 

As we near Indigenous Peoples Day, Pearl Jam is committed to showing support and acknowledgment for indigenous groups at home, and around the world. Almost two centuries ago the Sioux First Nation of the American Plains faced the same powerful forces as the Kayapo today: outnumbered and outgunned by invaders hungry for their land. Unlike the hard-fighting Sioux of the 19th century, however, the Kayapo have partners. Pearl Jam is proud to help the Kayapo remain unconquered. Visit The Kayapo Project to learn more about the Kayapo People, and the work that's being done to protect their contiguous land in the Amazon. 

Photo: Andre D'Ella

See figure below as well.

A modis satellite image shows the dark green forest of the 10-million-hectare block of Kayapo Territory contiguous with the three million hectare Xingu Indigenous Park to the south surrounded by deforestation for ranching and soy bean plantations. Plumes of smoke rise from ranchers burning remaining forest patches along the borders of indigenous land