The Institute for Socio-Environmental Development of the Amazon (IDAAM) is a nonprofit organization, unaffiliated with political or religious issues, and does not discriminate on the basis of creed, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, or gender. Established in 2008, IDAAM aims to consolidate, by 2034, the participatory and integrated development of 10 spiritualist communities in the Vale do Juruá (AC), through the sustainable cultivation of the species Psychotria viridis and Banisteriopsis caapi, with the goal of ensuring the responsible use of Ayahuasca, while also promoting food security and strengthening the agency of approximately one thousand members of forest peoples. Our objective is to plant 100,000 vine seedlings (Banisteriopsis caapi) and 10,000 chacrona seedlings (Psychotria viridis) by 2030.
Our mission is to provide training and capacity-building for the preservation of Amazonian biodiversity, related to seedling production, small animal husbandry, fish farming, and administrative services such as project development, while promoting environmental sustainability, generating socioeconomic benefits, and expanding opportunities through the reduction of inequalities.
We are agents of change.
Our mission is to offer specialized services:
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For the preservation of biodiversity in the Amazon and the protection of ecosystems.
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To promote environmental sustainability and the conservation of natural resources.
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To generate socioeconomic benefits and expand opportunities by reducing inequalities.
We understand that many of humanity's most urgent challenges — from climate change to poverty — are closely tied to the forest and to water. Through our work, we contribute to poverty reduction, climate resilience, healthy ecosystems, and more prosperous and inclusive societies. Improved biodiversity governance is essential to achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Thanks to our multidisciplinary approach, we are able to strengthen policies and broaden our reach through our environmental, cultural, social, and spiritual programs and projects. These activities allow us to innovate and develop knowledge and tools applied to biodiversity governance and the preservation of local cultural traditions.
IDAAM promotes regular community gatherings featuring workshops that engage children, youth, women, and elders, project accountability sessions, and support for spiritual gatherings related to Ayahuasca religious practices, both nationally and internationally. The aim is to spread Christian faith and charity to all individuals, without distinction of social or financial status, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, race, age, or political and/or religious beliefs.
We respect the spiritual traditions of other communities and cultures, recognizing SANTO DAIME®️ as a divine sacrament with ritual use.
We seek to change the way forest peoples, their culture, and biodiversity are understood and valued.
At IDAAM, we have expertise in designing and developing projects focused on the management, participation, and monitoring of public policies aimed at the social, environmental, cultural, and economic advancement of traditional communities. We seek to build networks and collaborate in the creation of collective projects for revitalization and sustainability, grounded in spiritual principles and in the value of human beings.
We promote changes in the way people who live in the forest, along with their culture and diversity of life, are perceived and valued. Our focus is on transforming the traditional or prejudiced views that often exist regarding these peoples, their traditions, and the environment that surrounds them. We seek a deeper, more respectful understanding and genuine appreciation of these communities, their cultural practices, and the ecosystem in which they are embedded. This includes fostering intercultural dialogue, recognizing local knowledge, and adopting more sustainable and inclusive practices in relation to these populations and the natural environment.
Projects and initiatives
The Institute for Socio-Environmental Development of the Amazon (IDAAM) works to strengthen indigenous, riverside, and extractivist communities of the Acreana Amazon through projects focused on environmental conservation, bioeconomy, food security, cultural valorization, and climate change response.
Our initiatives integrate traditional knowledge and sustainable solutions aimed at protecting the Amazon rainforest and strengthening community territories.
IDAAM Institucional Projects
Projects designed, coordinated, or directly implemented by IDAAM.
Institutional Strengthening for Conservation and Socio-Environmental and Cultural Development of the Amazon
A project aimed at the institutional strengthening and development of IDAAM, so that it may become a more politically influential actor in civil society and be better positioned to lead, manage, and sustain the promotion of integrated and participatory local development for traditional populations of the Vale do Juruá (AC).
Location: PDS Crôa – Cruzeiro do Sul/AC
Focus Areas: Institutional Strengthening
Status: Approved and Completed
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Sachcha Mission – O caminho do Coração
Responsibility for the Sustainability of the Amazon
A project aimed at the institutional strengthening of IDAAM, seeking to expand its territorial capacity, organizational management, institutional communication, and community outreach in the Vale do Juruá. The initiative includes the acquisition of furniture and equipment, technical staff training, strategic planning, institutional communication strengthening, and a georeferenced socio-environmental assessment of communities affiliated with the Institute. The project seeks to consolidate IDAAM as a strategic actor in promoting participatory socio-environmental development, strengthening its capacity to support traditional Amazonian communities.
Location: PDS Crôa – Cruzeiro do Sul/AC
Focus Areas: Institutional Strengthening | Community
Governance | Territorial Development | Socio-Environmental Communication
Status: Approved · Completed
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Fundo Casa Socioambiental
Crôa Sustentável: Bioeconomy and Climate Resilience
A project focused on strengthening food security, income generation, and environmental conservation in the PDS Crôa – Nova Era Community, through community-led bioeconomy initiatives, sustainable production, forest nurseries, a community garden, poultry farming, and the valorization of traditional Amazonian knowledge.
Location: PDS Crôa – Cruzeiro do Sul/AC
Focus Areas: Bioeconomy | Food Security | Climate Change
Status: Submitted to Brazil Foundation
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Brazil Foundation
Community-Based
Tourism on the Rio Crôa
An initiative aimed at strengthening community-based rural tourism in the PDS Crôa, promoting cultural experiences, the valorization of traditional Amazonian knowledge, income generation, and environmental conservation. Activities include community lodging, ecological trails, regional gastronomy, cultural immersions, and environmental education.
Location: PDS Crôa – Cruzeiro do Sul/AC
Focus Areas: Community Tourism | Traditional Culture | Environmental Conservation
Partners: Local communities and community entrepreneurs
Status: Fundraising in progress (national and international)
Integrated Socio-Environmental Development and Biocultural Regeneration in the Vale do Juruá (Acre, Brazil)
A structural project focused on integrated socio-environmental regeneration in the Vale do Juruá, promoting biodiversity conservation, strengthening of traditional communities, and the development of regenerative territorial economies in the Acreana Amazon. The initiative integrates sustainable productive systems, food security and sovereignty, valorization of living Amazonian culture, sustainable territorial planning, and community governance strengthening, with a focus on long-term solutions for climate resilience and standing forest protection.
Location: Comunidade Flor do Juramidam, Rio Tauari, Tarauacá/AC
Focus Areas: Environmental Conservation | Agroecology | Sustainable Development
Status: Submitted to the Rooted Elders Biodiversity Fund — international fundraising in progress
Technically Supported Projects
Projects developed by associations, institutes, and traditional communities with technical, institutional, and administrative support from IDAAM. Support includes: project design; technical advisory; strategic planning; implementation support; administrative and financial monitoring; accountability reporting; and community institutional strengthening. In several cases, this support was provided on a voluntary and cost-free basis to the supported community organizations.
Development of Green Activities in the Amazon
A project focused on the implementation of sustainable productive systems in Amazonian communities, promoting reforestation, agroforestry systems (AFS), community strengthening, and income generation through forest bioeconomy.
Lead Organization: Associação Socioambiental Agroextrativista Rio Tauari – ASARIT
Location: Comunidade Flor do Juramidam, Rio Tauari, Tarauacá/AC
Focus Areas: Environmental Conservation | Agroecology | Sustainable Development
Status: Approved · In execution
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Fundo Casa Socioambiental
IDAAM's Role: Partner Organization
Project Shane Kaya: Strengthening Your Ancestral Roots
An initiative developed in the Katukina/Kaxinawá Indigenous Territory focused on the cultural valorization of the Shanenawa people, the strengthening of community-based ethnotourism, food security, and sustainable income generation. Activities include the establishment of the Shane Kaya Guesthouse, support for indigenous craftsmanship, a community garden, and the revitalization of traditional spaces.
Lead Organization: Instituto Hunãti Shane Kaya Shanenawa
Location: Katukina/Kaxinawá Indigenous Territory, Shane Kaya Village – Feijó/AC
Focus Areas: Traditional Culture | Community Tourism | Food Security
Status: Approved · Completed
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Fundo Casa Socioambiental
IDAAM's Role: Technical and institutional support
Forest Alchemy: Cultivating Health and Sustainability
A project focused on the recovery of ancestral knowledge related to Amazonian medicinal plants, promoting sustainable cultivation, the production of plant-based medicines, and the strengthening of community bioeconomy. The initiative seeks to preserve traditional medicinal species and strengthen the connection between scientific knowledge and forest wisdom.
Lead Organization: Associação Alquimia da Floresta
Location: Rodrigues Alves/AC
Focus Areas: Medicinal Plants | Bioeconomy | Environmental Education
Status: Approved · In execution
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Fundo Casa Socioambiental
IDAAM's Role: Partner Organization
Ayahuasca: Sustainability and Preservation of the Noke Kuî Ancestral Heritage
A project focused on the sustainable cultivation of the species used in the preparation of Ayahuasca, promoting environmental conservation, cultural strengthening, and the valorization of the traditional knowledge of the Noke Kuî people. The initiative integrates agroforestry practices, forest enrichment, and protection of Amazonian biodiversity.
Lead Organization: Associação Sociocultural Varinawa – ASV
Location: Campinas/Katukina Indigenous Territory, Varinawa Village – Cruzeiro do Sul/AC
Focus Areas: Sociobiodiversity | Reforestation | Traditional Culture
Status: Approved · In execution
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Fundo Casa Socioambiental
IDAAM's Role: Technical and institutional support
Revitalization of Lago Belo Monte – Rebirth of the Waters
A project focused on the environmental recovery of Lago Belo Monte, in the Katukina/Kaxinawá Indigenous Territory, through cleaning, revitalization, and restocking of the lake with aquatic species. The initiative strengthens food security for indigenous families and promotes sustainable management of fishery resources.
Lead Organization: Associação dos Produtores Artesãos e Criadores da Aldeia Boa União
Location: Katukina/Kaxinawá Indigenous Territory, Boa União Village – Feijó/AC
Focus Areas: Food Security | Water Resources | Sustainable Fish Farming
Status: Approved · Completed
Supporter(s)/Donor(s): Fundo Casa Socioambiental
IDAAM's Role: Technical and institutional support
Our Work
IDAAM operates in indigenous, riverside, and extractivist territories of the Acreana Amazon, promoting initiatives focused on:
Biodiversity
Conservation
Bioeconomy Strengthening
Food Security
Cultural
Valorization
Reforestation
Climate Change
Sustainable
Toursim
Community Strengthening
Community Institutional Strengthening
IDAAM provides technical and institutional support for the creation and strengthening of community organizations, associations, and institutes dedicated to territorial defense, cultural valorization, and sustainable development in the Amazon. Supported initiatives include:
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Instituto Hunãti Shane Kaya Shanenawa – Feijó/AC (2024)
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Associação Socioambiental Agroextrativista Rio Tauari (ASARIT) – Tarauacá/AC (2025)
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Alquimia da Floresta do Juruá – Rodrigues Alves/AC (2025)
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Centro Livre da Fluente Luz Universal – Portal da Jurema – Cruzeiro do Sul/AC (2026)
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Instituto Kochty Kamãnawa – Tarauacá/AC (2026)
Support activities include technical advisory, document preparation, institutional strengthening, founding assembly support, strategic planning, legal regularization, and socio-environmental project development.