Let us all plant trees to help restore the Amazon Forest!!!

Inochi Amazon Rainforest Project 2023 / 2024 / 2025

“Flying rivers,” the air currents of the Amazon Rainforest, provide an enormous amount of WATER VAPOR which is essential to the regulation of EARTH'S CLIMATE. The Inochi Amazon Rainforest Project is working with a group of Buddhist students who have formed a collaboration with a community of the Puyanawa Indigenous People of the Brazilian Amazon who live in a deforested area of Puyanawa territory. The location of the project is Ipiranga Village, situated on the Moa river, in the state of Acre in the northwest of Brazil, bordering Peru.

We have good news!

Inochi's goal for 2023 was to raise enough funding from our friends and colleagues to support this local community to plant and sustain 5,000 tree seedlings of a mixed variety of indigenous species using already successful agroforestry techniques. We are thrilled to be able to tell you that we met that goal and were so inspired by the outpouring of financial support that we received, that we are aiming to repeat our goal again by raising funds to work with our partners in Brazil to plant 5000 additional trees in 2024 and 2025.

And even more good news!

The budget for our next round of planting and maintaining 5000 trees is $75,000, or $15 / tree which also includes a very minimal amount of administrative expenses.

To that end, an anonymous donor has offered a match of $37,500 for 50% of the cost of this round. Thus, we only need to raise $37,500 to support the planting of 5000 more trees! We are hoping that all of our previous generous donors will consider giving again to help us achieve this goal. Your donations will be especially effective as every dime that is given up to $37,500 will be matched in kind.

With your donation supporting Inochi's Amazon Rainforest Project, you will be part of something very special. You will be kept updated on the progress the project is making in the local village communities. Our updates on our progress and achievements will be posted on this website. U.S. donations are tax-deductable.

$15 will plant 1 tree and fund their care for 3 years, restoring 43 square feet of forest.
$150 will plant 10 trees and fund their care for 3 years, restoring 430 square feet of forest.
$750 will plant 50 trees and fund their care for 3 years, restoring 2,150 square feet of forest.
$1,500 will plant 100 trees and fund their care for 3 years, restoring 4,300 square feet of forest.
$75,000 will plant 5000 trees and fund their care for 3 years, restoring 5 acres of forest.

It is not only about the trees!

Your financial support will also have an important impact for the village and the surrounding villages.

Your contribution will:

1. Provide support to the community who will plant seedlings for the health of their community, for our planet, and essentially, for all of us.

Using agroforestry techniques, members of the local community will care for the young trees for three years. They will first plant seeds in their own nursery. The seedlings will then be transported to the deforested area, where they will be transplanted and monitored for three years. Not only will the agroforestry techniques provide food to the community, thus increasing the food-security of the local indigenous peoples, but they will also conduct the project within the traditional worldview and practices of the local Indigenous Peoples. This will ensure that the project helps to both protect and regenerate the Amazon Rainforest.

2. Reclaim the Amazon Rainforest.

Reclaiming the Amazon Rainforest is an essential way that all of us can directly help STOP and REVERSE CLIMATE CHANGE. It is one of the best available environmental actions for the Earth and all living beings. The United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Eco-Restoration. Around 25% of the land on Earth is now in a degraded state. The restoration of degraded lands is essential to ending the climate crisis.

3. Success with this project will create a prototype that can be easily replicated with other villages.

We are aware that a newly created pilot project cannot be large enough to single-handedly reverse the enormous scale of environmental destruction. But one of the best ways to make such environmental restoration efforts successful is to create a prototype that can be easily replicated and multiplied in the future by many individuals and organizations. In this way the recovery effort can be increased by exponential growth and can do even more to counter the destructive forces of deforestation and extractive industries. We are organizing this pilot project with hopes of replicating it many times over in future years.

4. Enhance knowledge exchange among indigenous peoples.

Historically, indigenous peoples of the Amazon region do not have the habit of meeting with each other and exchanging knowledge. Just a few decades ago, the social and environmental issues they are all facing have pushed them closer, but due to the high costs and big distances these meetings are still rare, although crucial to strengthen their spiritual and political resistance. One of this project aims is to provide a visit from Ashaninka’s leaders and experts on agroforestry to the Puyanawa territory. The Ashaninka have a large experience on the implementation of agroforestry systems and have been a big inspiration for the Puyanawas. The Ashaninka will have the chance to see the work the Puyanawas have done and exchange experience.

Who are we?

Inochi is a U.S. nonprofit organization active locally (in California, Hawaii and Japan) and internationally (around the world) since 1993. We have recently been working with a trustworthy volunteer team of Inochi members in Brazil to address climate change while supporting local communities of Indigenous Peoples. Our "Inochi—Brazil" team is associated with a Brazilian Buddhist magazine entitled Bodisatva and they are actively collaborating with the well-respected Amazon Reforest Alliance on this project.

Our Goal

We raised $70,000 in 2023 and hope to raise an additional $37,500 by December 31st, 2024.

Inochi is a U.S. non-profit organization.

Our Federal Identification Number is: 94-3175-526. (U.S. donations are tax deductible)

To donate by mail, send a check or money order made out to INOCHI to:

Inochi, 2267 Summer Street, Berkeley, California 94709 United States of America

Phone: +1 510 649 8844

Please share in our effort!

We encourage you to make “Planting Trees in the Amazon Rainforest” your own personal project and to ask your friends to join YOU!

Board Members

“Inochi” means “Life Force” in Japanese. The original Board members of Inochi, are based in Berkeley, California, Kealakekua Hawai'i'; and Osaka and Hamamatsu, Japan:

Kazuaki Tanahashi, Chair; Fusako de Angelis, Claire Greensfelder, Haruhiko Murakawa, Mayumi Oda, Yuka Saito, Eri Suzuki Tomita

The Brazilian Board members of Inochi based in Joinville and João Pessoa Brazil:

Lia Beltrão and Fábio Rodrigues

Members of the Inochi Brazil Team:

Lia Beltrão, Geovana Colzani, Fábio Rodrigues, Guilherme Valadares

Background

The United Nations Decade of Eco-Restoration.

The United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Eco-Restoration. Around 25% of the land on Earth is now in a degraded state. The restoration of degraded lands is essential to stopping and reversing the climate crisis.

The Amazon Rainforest, a large forested area served by critically important air currents also known as “flying rivers.” These currents provide an enormous amount of water vapor to the world which is crucial to the maintenance of the Amazon Rainforest which in turn is essential to the regulation of earth's climate. The Rainforest, which spreads across nine countries, represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees representing 16,000 species. The biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest is unparalleled.

This Rainforest has for decades now been subject to increased clear-cutting which is accelerating climate change.

Thus, it is extremely urgent and necessary to protect this forest. .

The best conceivable way for those outside of South America to help save the Amazon Rainforest is to identify an environmental organization with excellent values and visions that is active in the region, and has proven to be effective and transparent. Thus, it is a great honor for Inochi's team in Brazil to collaborate with the Amazon Reforest Alliance (Aliança Reflorestar da Amazônia), a consortium of indigenous associations, non-governmental organizations and others.

Project Location and Collaboration with Indigenous People

Inochi's Amazon Rainforest Project in collaboration with the Amazon Reforest Alliance:

The two communities of Indigenous Peoples working with Amazon Reforest Alliance in this project are the Puyanawa and the Asháninka. With the support of Asháninka's previous experience on agroforestry, members of the Puyanawa community (Map, yellow green) will be planting seeds for trees within their own plant nursery where they will cultivate them into seedlings.

The Agrosystem

The agrosystem (agricultural ecosystem) we are supporting will consist of three different types of seedlings: hardwood, fruit trees, and faster growing "pioneer trees" that protect and shade the other seedlings. Up to 150 different tree species will be used. Among the hardwood trees are native chestnut (Castanheira), cedar (Cedro), pink trumpet (Ipê Roxo), mahogany (Mogno), and the tallest among all the Amazonian trees, the Sumaúma. Considered by Amazon Indigenous Peoples as the "mother-tree" due to its multiple medicinal qualities, the Samaúma can grow up to 230 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter. The fruit trees will be chosen mostly by the community's children, who will be encouraged to bring seeds of their favorite fruits. Among them are Ingá, Mango, Star Fruit and many others. The pioneer trees such as Açaí and Banana will be planted among the hardwood trees, to create shade that ensures the growth of the hardwoods.

With your donation supporting Inochi's Amazon Rainforest Project, you will be part of something very special. You will be kept updated on the progress the project is making in the local village communities. Our updates on our progress and achievements will be posted to www.inochi-trees.org

$15 will plant 1 tree and fund its care for 3 years, restoring 43 square feet of forest.
$150 will plant 10 trees and fund its care for 3 years, restoring 430 square feet of forest.
$750 will plant 50 trees and fund its care for 3 years, restoring 2,150 square feet of forest.
$1,500 will plant 100 trees and fund their care for 3 years, restoring 4,300 square feet of forest.
$75,000 will plant 5000 trees and fund their care for 3 years, restoring 5 acres of forest.

Let us all plant trees to help restore the Amazon Forest!!!

Inochi Amazon Rainforest Project 2023 / 2024 / 2025