Returning Ancestral Lands to Indigenous Hands

We are working side-by-side with our indigenous partners in their fight for territorial justice. Through our Land Fund, we’re working to purchase lands in two distinct regions of Colombia and return them to indigenous ownership and environmental stewardship. Our current goal is to raise $320,000, which will allow the purchase and return of 193 acres. 

Our first priority region is the northwest Amazon, where the rainforest meets the Andes, home to many contemporary yagé cultures. These biodiverse rainforests are the cradle of ayahuasca where American ethnobotanist Dr. Richard Evans Schultes was first taught about this revered plant by the region's indigenous peoples in 1941. If we meet our fundraising goal, ACT will be able to purchase and return a 33-acre property here that will help expand the existing 44-acre Mamakunapa Iuai Alpa Civil Society Reserve. This reserve is stewarded by ASOMI (the Association of Indigenous Women of Traditional Medicine), a group of Inga, Kamëntsá, Siona, Kofán, and Koreguaje women. Their mission is to revitalize indigenous knowledge and practices of medicinal plants, traditional garden-keeping, and ecological stewardship. 

Our second priority region is northern Colombia, where the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains meet the Caribbean coast. Here we are also supporting the purchase and protection of sacred sites with the Kogi people. This group is widely regarded as one of the most deeply spiritual in the Western Hemisphere. The Kogi are the descendants of the Pre-Columbian Tayronas. The Tayronas are believed by some to have consumed psilocybin mushrooms for their divination. The money we raise will also purchase an additional two other properties here, totaling 160 acres. Once these lands are returned to the Kogi, we will then support and advise the Kogi as they develop environmental management plans and work to integrate or expand these lands into their formal indigenous reserve. 

Both of these areas of cultural and spiritual importance in Colombia are increasingly threatened by deforestation, roadbuilding, and mining. We must act now. Can you donate today and help us raise $320,000 to return these 193 acres of land to indigenous hands?