Protect the Heartbeat of the Planet ~ Support Indigenous Education
Your support empowers Achuar youth to access education without leaving home - protecting culture and the rainforest that sustains life on Earth.
The Future of Humanity and the Planet Lies in the Hearts and Hands of Our Youth
The importance of creating pathways for Indigenous children to learn the ways of their ancestors, alongside modern teachings cannot be understated.
The Achuar community of Sharamentsa is located in one of the most intact and biodiverse regions of the Amazon Rainforest.
For thousands of years, the Achuar have protected this forest through living cultural systems rooted in reciprocity, respect, and responsibility and reverence to the natural world. Their territory remains whole not by accident, but by intention.
Sharamentsa is holding a living thread at the center of Earth’s tapestry.
Keeping Achuar youth in their community through life-centered, Indigenous-led education keeps them connected to family, culture, language, and land.
For the Achuar, the forest is not an object or a resource. It is a living, sentient relative. Their stewardship has kept this territory whole for generations.
The Amazon helps regulate global climate, rainfall patterns, biodiversity, and carbon cycles. Protecting the rainforest is not about saving a distant place, it is about safeguarding the living systems that sustain all life.
The Achuar of Sharamentsa -
Guardians of a Living Forest
The Achuar have lived in deep relationship with the Amazon Rainforest for thousands of years. Long before national borders or extractive economies existed, they developed sophisticated cultural systems that allowed both people and forest to thrive together.
For the Achuar, the forest is not an object, a resource, or a backdrop to human life. It is a living, sentient relative. Plants, animals, rivers, and spirits are understood to be part of an interconnected web of life, each deserving of respect and care. Decisions are guided by reciprocity - taking only what is needed and giving back through stewardship, ceremony, and restraint.
This worldview has produced generations of ecological wisdom: intimate knowledge of medicinal plants, sustainable hunting and fishing practices, seasonal cycles, soil health, and forest regeneration. This is not abstract knowledge. It is lived intelligence passed from elders to youth through daily life.
The health of the forest is a direct reflection of Achuar culture, governance, and worldview. Their ability to remain on their ancestral land, protecting the forest that nurtures life for us all is critical. Their dream of an education system that honors their traditional ways and prepares their children for the future feels urgent to them. Children of the Pastaza was born as a response to this urgent dream.
The Heartbeat of the Planet -
Wisdom for a Time of Crisis
In a world facing accelerating climate instability, biodiversity loss, and ecological collapse, Achuar wisdom is not only culturally important, it is globally relevant.
Their way of life demonstrates that it is possible for human communities to meet their needs while protecting the integrity of living systems over millennia.
Holding the Forest Intact
Because Achuar culture remains strong, their territory remains largely free from deforestation, industrial agriculture, and large-scale extraction.
Where Indigenous stewardship has been disrupted elsewhere in the Amazon, forests have fallen. In Sharamentsa, the forest still stands.
The Achuar are not simply residents of the rainforest - they are its guardians.
The Role of the Next Generation
Today, Achuar youth stand at a crossroads.
They carry ancestral knowledge rooted in land, language, and relationship, while also facing a rapidly changing world that demands new skills and navigation of external systems.
Supporting education that allows youth to remain connected to home ensures this wisdom is not broken.
When Achuar culture continues, the forest continues, life on this incredible planet continues, and we hold onto powerful hope for tomorrow.
What is Wild Hope?
Wild Hope holds us all in its desires and manifestations. It unites all life in a dance of change and balanced co-creation. It reminds us that we are never alone, and that for every action there is a reaction.
It grounds us in the truth of oneness and the power of love.
Wild Hope extends beyond our own wishes and desires to include the hope of the collective, what is best for all life. It often emerges on the other side of grief, trauma and pain when we are forced to search outside of ourselves for support. You aren't broken when you are in this space - you are evolving.
Our Work
Supporting the dream of the Achuar to create a life-centered education system that keeps their children in community, connected to their ancestral wisdom, and learning the skills needed to stand in two worlds. Honoring and empowering the children who are our future forest protectors.
BioFIA is a global network designing bold financial solutions that unlock investment opportunities in nature, empowering those who protect it and driving long-term value while building a fair and regenerative future.
Center for Wild Hope is a supporting partner in this ongoing and important work.
An Economy Built for Forest Protectors
The Standing Forest Token (SFT) is a new financial tool that rewards the true guardians of our planet.
Channeling capital directly to forest protectors: the indigenous communities, conservation NGOs and local stewards who protect the world's remaining biodiversity.
The Standing Forest Token is a project of the Biodiversity Finance Innovation Alliance.