[Available in Brazilian Portuguese / Disponível em português brasileiro]

Mimãtihi, or “living forest” in the Maxakali language, was the name chosen by the Maxakali people alongside Fundação José Silveira (FJS)’s Arboretum Program for a project that sought to realize the dream of bringing the forest in Maxakali land back to life.

Community members map out the landscape alongside Arboretum Program officers.

The Maxakali people, also known as the Tikmũ’ũn, are an Indigenous group of approximately 3,000 people living in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, near the Hileia Baiana Model Forest. Traditionally semi-nomadic, they practice hunting, fishing, and gathering activities, placing great value in food that comes from the forest.

Maxakali communities report that animals and fish are now scarce because of deforestation and biodiversity loss. For example, whereas communities used to collect honey from native bees often, they cannot find bees as easily anymore, and the practice has become rare. “Now we have many diseases here, because we consume a lot of non-indigenous products. We eat a lot of industrialized food and become weak,” shares Marilton Maxakali, teacher in the community.

Through RESTAURacción, the FJS received support from the Government of Canada to restore the landscape, diversify the region’s fauna and flora, promote fire prevention, and improve Maxakali food security and quality of life. Between 2023 and 2024 alone, 16.06 hectares were planted with 26,065 native tree saplings, 6,000 banana saplings, and 3,300 saplings of other fruits.

Forests are more than a source of food for the Maxakali. According to the Maxakali worldview, life in the villages is permeated by their relationship with the forest spirit-peoples of the Atlantic Forest, known as Yãmĩyxop (singer-spirits). The Yãmĩyxop are invited to visit the villages to sing, dance, and eat during rituals. “We need to plant [trees]. Yãmĩyxop will walk in the forest and eat the fruits we are planting. The animals will return with the fruits we are planting. That is very good”, explains community member Davina Maxakali.

These landscape changes and reduction of forest coverage have also impacted Maxakali customs. “Embaúba”, a native tree species once abundant, is one of the biggest losses, as it is traditionally used to produce bags, fishing nets, necklaces, nets to carry children, and strings for bows. Similarly, the availability of plants and animals used for medicinal purposes, such as the leaves of fruit trees and capybara fat, has decreased. Davina Maxakali observes, “Now that there is no forest, there is no medicine. Back then our medicines were from the forest and the animals. Now we don’t have them.”

Through the International Model Forest Network (IMFN) and other Government of Canada funded projects including RESTAURacción and IMFN Climate, Arboretum Program forest engineers and specialists accompanied a group of 50 Maxakali people in search of “embaúba” trees for fiber harvesting and tagging mother trees to conduct seed collection and seedling production. A socio-environmental diagnosis was also carried out to better understand the reality and daily life of these villages and co-develop a restoration strategy alongside the Maxakali aligned with the demands of their community.

The project has been well received by community members, many of whom participated in trainings related to restoration and forest management, including sapling production and seed collection. Between 2022 and 2024, 265 individuals participated in capacity building sessions.

“We consider it not only a project but a process. A process of knowledge, a process of learning, and a process of capacity building, both for the team that had the opportunity to work with this community in such a unique way, and for the community who learned about planting, monitoring, and sapling production,” summarized Viviane Barazetti, Forest Engineer and Coordinator of the FJS Arboretum Program and the Hileia Baiana Model Forest – member of IMFN.

For more information, please visit:

• Programa Arboretum programaarboretum.eco.br
• International Model Forest Network » RESTAURacción www.imfn.net/restauraccion
• International Model Forest Network » IMFN Climate www.imfn.net/climate
• International Model Forest Network www.imfn.net