Previous work with indigenous communities by the SERVIR Amazonia AST led by Stephanie Spera culminated in a knowledge exchange at the University of Richmond called “Braided Knowledge for a Sustainable Future: Rivers, Indigenous Communities, Justice” on 11/13-18/23. Seven indigenous leaders from the Yurua District, in Ucayali, Peru, and from Acre in Brazil, were in attendance, along with the SERVIR Amazonia Indigenous Peoples’ Advisor Thomas Moore, and Vanesa Martin and Stephanie Jiménez from the SERVIR Science Coordination Office. Participants were able to share experiences, stories, concerns, and ideas with members of other indigenous communities from New Zealand, Canada, and the US. Each day of the event consisted of keynote speakers, discussion groups, and river-related excursions that fostered conversations about climate change, biodiversity, justice, and our shared environments. For many of the Amazonian indigenous leaders, it was their first time in the US.
Following the conference, the indigenous leaders traveled to Washington, DC for meetings with USAID, NASA, Conservation International, and the US Global Research Program (USGCRP), among others, to provide more immediate information about their concerns related to the conservation of their homelands in the Amazon against illicit activities like selective logging, and to seek opportunities for continuity to their work with SERVIR and beyond.
