The Juruá Valley region is strategically unique for the global bioeconomy because it concentrates extraordinary biodiversity and a high degree of endemism, harbouring species found nowhere else on the planet.
The Puyanawa Indigenous territory, with its high ecological integrity, acts as a sanctuary of ecological germplasm.
The importance of this territory goes beyond environmental conservation: it concerns safeguarding a unique genetic heritage, the key to understanding which lies in the biocultural memory of the Puyanawa and the other peoples who live there.
In this Indigenous territory, Indigenous school education has been the main tool for protection against biological and cultural erosion in one of the border areas under the greatest pressure in the Amazon.
Escola Ixubãy Rabuī Puyanawa
School facilities.
200 m², 8 classrooms, 1 library.
From early years education to secondary school.
22 Indigenous educators
200 students
Amazon Guardian Schools Network
- 1
Purchase of technology equipment for Indigenous schools
Donation of computers, antennas, cameras, projectors and screens for distance learning.
- 2
Grants for Indigenous educators
- 3
Digital inclusion and citizenship
Digital skills for maintaining devices and digital equipment and for using inclusive digital technologies.
- 4
Connecting with schools in the Global North
- 5
Digital and scientific literacy
Critical digital literacy: collaborative research
- 6
Mentoring for projects led by Indigenous teachers
Support for projects that use technology and artificial intelligence with a focus on preserving cultural and genetic heritage.
- 7
Environmental education workshops
Waste, water, climate and care of the land, based on the indigenous teachers’ own materials and the reality of each village.
- 8
Mental health and community life with screens
Workshops with young people, families and the community on device use and the arrival of satellite internet in the villages.
REGA (Red de Escuelas Guardianas de la Amazonía, the Amazon Guardian Schools Network) was formally established in 2017, after several years of voluntary work alongside Indigenous peoples.
This experience, which is now at last being extended to other peoples, shows that intercultural education, across borders, can become a transformative tool for raising awareness, strengthening identities, building lasting bonds and promoting a more critical and empathetic global citizenship, committed to a sustainable future for our planet.
Reaching across the Juruá
The Indigenous territories of the Juruá valley (Acre, Brazil), where the Network is growing. Hover over or tap a number to find it on the map.
Source: Organisation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Juruá River (OPIRJ)
Projects led by Indigenous teachers
Be part of EiAmazonia
Supporters, volunteers, schools, Indigenous communities, professionals, institutions and companies can take part in the Network in different ways. Explore the ways to collaborate and find the one that best suits you or your organisation.
“The Network grows with you” campaign
We are looking for 50 regular supporters this school year
A monthly contribution, however small, lets us plan the school year without depending on a grant.
