Protect an Acre Grants

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Resguardo Indígena Siona de Buenavista

$5,000 to support Siona Indigenous communities in Ecuador and Colombia that are working to secure recognition to over 120,000 acres of ancestral rainforest territory and to stop the placing of 8 seismic testing lines for oil exploration. This grant will specifically support the purchase and installation of solar energy and VHF radio communications systems that are badly needed for basic communications, energy and security in a region that is increasingly dangerous for Indigenous leaders.

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TierrActiva Colombia

$2,000 to support a youth network climate justice gathering in Colombia to provide an opportunity to learn practical tools and skills and develop regional strategies for concrete actions, including efforts to increase the visibility of community-led resistance to extractive industries in the Andean and Amazonian regions.

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Hutan Kita Institute – HaKI

$5,000 to support efforts to monitor Asia Pulp and Paper’s implementation of its social and environmental commitments and work with communities to help resolve ongoing conflicts related to the OKI Pulp & Paper Mills project, including verifying that any forest clearing process is conducted in accordance with agreements respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities and helping file formal complaints where appropriate.

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Pueblo Originario Kichwa de Sarayaku (Tayjasaruta)

$5,000 to support a delegation of Indigenous youth, women and leaders from the Kichwa territory of Sarayaku from the Ecuadorian Amazon to participate in the United Nations Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties 21st convening (COP21) in Paris, France to advocate for the protection of their ancestral territories and keeping oil in the ground in the Amazon.

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Land is Life

$1,000 to support the Leading from the Land Summit, a gathering in Ecuador of grassroots Indigenous leaders that are part of the Land is Life network working to defend Indigenous lands, cultures and livelihoods, including participation from the Philippines, India, Nigeria, Chile, Brazil, the U.S. and Ecuador itself.

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Link-AR Borneo

$8,000 to support training members of several villages in key areas of West Kalimantan, Indonesia to build a community-based monitoring system to track the implementation of major pulp and paper companies’ forest and social responsibility commitments, while also providing additional trainings and support related to capacity building towards decreasing the large-scale deforestation and marginalization of local communities’ rights that occurring in the region.

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Riau Forest Rescue Network (JIKALAHARI)

$7,500 to support work with 5 villages on Bengkalis Island, Riau, Indonesia, impacted by pulp and paper plantations and related fires that have not previously had any support to gather data regarding impacts on their customary lands and livelihoods and to engage in community organizing with the goal of protecting peatlands from conversion and securing the return of land rights.

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Riau Network of Peatland Communities

$5,500 to strengthen the capacity of communities in Riau, Indonesia, to secure land rights and the protection of peatlands and supporting the completion of one conflict resolution process that will provide a model for other villages impacted by pulp and paper plantations and related fires throughout the province.

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Kelompok Studi dan Pengembangan Prakarsa Masyarakat (KSPPM)

$10,000 to support work with Indigenous Tano Batak families in the Lake Toba region in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, impacted by Toba Pulp Lestari, a US$600 million pulp company, through trainings to build local capacity to protect and sustainably manage forests through agroforestry systems and conducting participatory mapping of Indigenous territories.