Self-management. Defense of territory. Cultural valorization. Practical tools for planning. Since 2007, the New Technologies and Traditional Peoples Program has been supporting indigenous peoples, maroons and small producers in the implementation of their practices to use their territories sustainably. All this through access, knowledge and autonomous use of powerful, new technologies.<\/p>\n
To enhance the potential of these initiatives, a new project was just been approved, \u201cIndigenous communities and other relevant actors better protect their territories and other natural resources,\u201d made possible by the generous support of the American people through USAID. The project is carried out by the Equipe de Conserva\u00e7\u00e3o da Amaz\u00f4nia (Ecam) and has \u00a0as partners Google Earth Outreach, Imaflora, Natura, Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Palmares and Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Nacional do \u00cdndio (Funai).<\/p>\n
The project\u2019s premise is that technological innovations, such as the easy-to-access tools offered by Google, empower traditional communities in their territorial management and in sustainable use of natural resources. There will be 25 territories involved, among indigenous peoples, maroons and small producers, as well as public and private institutions.<\/p>\n
How everything started<\/strong><\/p>\n Two important moments mark the trajectory of the New Technologies and Traditional Peoples Program. In 2007, Google Earth Outreach was created. In that same year Almir Suru\u00ed, an indigenous leader, discovered the Google Earth tool. Almir immediately recognized the potential of this tool to improve the management of the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Land and insisted on contacting the Google Earth team. And Google Earth Outreach was created precisely for that: to give nonprofit organizations the knowledge and resources they need to tell their story in Google Earth & Maps to hundreds of millions of people.<\/p>\n The contact was fruitfu<\/a>l and the Surui received training to use the tool in their projects.<\/p>\n On 2015 that experience of the Suru\u00ed expanded. New trainings were held in Porto Velho, for about 40 people. These included the Temb\u00e9, Cinta Larga and Kayabi indigenous peoples; maroons from Par\u00e1, Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro states; and small-scale harvesters of non-timber forest products \u00a0from Rond\u00f4nia state. This enabled a much wider audience to become familiar with the tools, as had the Surui before them. This new project, supported by USAID, will permit many more communities and supporting institutions to gain access to Google technologies.<\/p>\n Free tools and spaces of representativeness<\/strong><\/p>\n The project is based on the exchange of experiences and knowledge about Google Earth and Open Data Kit (ODK) and the virtual space of the Google Cultural Institute.<\/p>\n ODK <\/a>is an open, simple and user-friendly data collection platform.<\/p>\n With constantly updated satellite images, Google Earth <\/a>provides a basis for inserting information on online maps.<\/p>\n