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World’s First basic income pilot for Indigenous Peoples

Big news!

Your donations are going directly to Indigenous peoples who are protecting the Amazon rainforest.

No middlemen, no faff, just cash in the hands of the people with an unbeatable record of keeping rainforests safe. It’s all thanks to the basic income pilot that you have helped create.

In fact, it’s a first… not just a Cool Earth first. It’s a WORLD FIRST!

What does this news mean though?

This is the first time Indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest have been provided with income that is given directly to individuals, has no conditions, and the pilot has been designed together with Indigenous organisations to meet people’s needs. It’s been three years in the making, working together with Indigenous peoples and our partners, ONAMIAP and OMIAASEC, (all female Indigenous-led organisations) to develop a programme in the fairest way possible.

The ONAMIAP, OMIASEC and Cool Earth teams preparing the basic income sign up process for the Asháninka and Yanesha communities in Peru.

The ONAMIAP, OMIASEC and Cool Earth teams preparing the basic income sign up process for the Asháninka and Yanesha communities in Peru.

For the next two years, every adult in three communities in the Amazon rainforest will be receiving a regular income to sustain their needs.

They won’t have to sell their land and forest to earn an income, to feed their families, to send their children to school or to care for the elderly.

Your money means freedom to remain in the rainforests rather than needing to seek work elsewhere.

This matters. If people don’t live in the rainforest, those that want to destroy it will move in. This is social justice in action, for biodiversity and climate gains. A triple win.

There is so much more to come on this, but we couldn’t resist sharing the good news right now.

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A special thank you to AidKit and the Players of the People’s Postcode Lottery for their on-going support of our basic income pilot.