by Sunny Peter

Located about 500 km (310 miles) from the city of Manaus, is a place called Xixuau - a naturalist delight: 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) of virgin forest. It is a favorite jaunt for researchers, film- makers and eco-tourists that come from all over the world because of the area's abundance and visibility of fauna that is unique to the Amazon. Situated almost exactly on the equator, the seasons in the region are defined by high water during the months of March to September and low water from October to February. During the high water season, the area is characterized by vast tracts of igapo (flooded forest), and the low water season presents immense sandy beaches and extreme concentrations of aquatic life. Travel to this reserve site is done by regional boat, in which outboards are used along the main river and at the entrance to the reserve. All movements inside the reserve are by paddle canoe and on foot through the forest.

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Xixuau Takes Matters into its Own Hands

by Andrew Austin

Development pressure and deforestation continue to encroach in the Amazon; but deep in the interior of Brazil, the inhabitants of Xixuau are building a strong and self-reliant community, where they can preserve their way of life, economically prosper, and do it all while protecting their part of the vanishing forest.

The Xixuau River is a tributary of the Jauaperi, which flows down from Guyana in the north. The community along the Xixuau banks is isolated: reaching it takes about 40 hours by boat from Manaus during the dry season. The inhabitants are the caboclos, the descendents of the mixing of indigenous people with European settlers and blacks brought from Africa as slaves. Their community is dependent on the river for transportation and food.

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by Laura Preftes

The people of Xixuau (pronounced "sheesh shu ah u") understand the fundamental tenet of the sustainability movement: meeting current needs without compromising future generations. As Scottish environmentalist Christopher Clark put it, "They understand very fast that killing a jaguar could earn them 25 dollars for the sale of its skin. But a live jaguar brought in television companies, photographers and tourists. So it became a resource that went on and on and didn't end with a gunshot to the head and the sale of its skin." While much of the Amazon region continues to be threatened with deforestation and species extinction, in the 450,000 acre Xixuau Ecological Reserve, there is no logging, nor any large scale agriculture or raising of livestock, and the Xixuau people do not hunt the animal species in danger of extinction.


In 1992, with the help of Clark, the local residents and the posseiros (legal landowners) formed the Associação Amazônia so that they could have a voice in the decisions that affect the Amazon. They sold their possession of land to the association. Similar to a homeowners' association, the Associação Amazônia established covenants the Caboclos (the local inhabitants) follow, which guarantee environmental protection for the area. In the words of Christopher Clark, "The idea was to transform the local people into conservationists, and conservation into an economic resource." Since its inception, the association has taken on several projects to improve the quality of life for the residents of this extremely remote area. The association provides a health service that has helped bring malaria under control and schooling for the local children and adults. In 2002, the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) collaborated with the association to bring solar power and broadband wireless Internet access to the isolated area. This has greatly improved communication, education, and health care by providing access to information and to other communities. Xixuau has amalgamated the values of self-reliance and self-determination with environmental and economic sustainability. CEN actively promotes these values in other areas of the region as well.

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by Brian Kelly

When the Telecenter was put into operation in 2004 in Suruacá, nearly 500 miles up the Amazon Basin, the residents thought the addition of computers to their community was a great idea, but they weren't sure what benefits they would bring. The young people thought they were toys to play games on and the adults didn't understand the power of e-mail or what role the addition of a computer would provide them. Three organizations, including our Executive Director Bob Bortner's Acumen International, had worked with USAID to install Suruacá's Telecenter with its small solar powered generator. As the project finished, Bob formed Community Empowerment Network to provide continuing assistance to communities like Suruacá.

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