Washington, DC, 09 March 2026 —Forest Trends supported Ikorē’s recent publishing of the Balaio de Memórias (or “Basketful of Memories” in Portuguese) website, which is a digital platform that gathers and publicizes the historical archive of Brazil’s Indigenous Culture Center (Núcleo de Cultura Indígena, or NCI). This archive was produced between the 1980s and 1990s, during a period of unprecedented collaboration between Indigenous Peoples from different regions of the country.
This was a decisive moment in Brazil’s redemocratization and in the consolidation of Indigenous rights in the 1988 Constitution. In this context, NCI operated as a space for communication, memory, and gathering, contributing to the circulation of information, political education, and the strengthening of Indigenous networks at the national level.
The archive includes records of the first Indigenous assemblies in the Northeast, meetings in the Demini village of the Yanomami people, testimonies of leaders during the Altamira Meeting (1989), the formation of the Alliance of Forest Peoples that brought together Indigenous peoples and rubber tappers, the experience of the Embassy of the Forest Peoples in São Paulo, and the Indigenous Research Center in Goiânia, among many other landmark events.
The initiative is led by Ikorē, an organization that previously digitized 170 episodes of the historic Programa de Índio (Indigenous Program), a radio production created by NCI in the 1980s.
In this new phase, Ikorē brought together:
- 350 cassette tapes with full recordings
- 150 video tapes in formats such as VHS, MiniDV, and Hi8
- Hundreds of documents, photographs, and letters from listeners and from people in Indigenous villages
- Printed publications from NCI’s two decades of activity
The process involved nearly two years of work by a specialized team, combining technical expertise and living memory. Participants included individuals who were active in the Indigenous movement during that period, capable of recognizing voices and historical contexts, as well as young, urban Indigenous people who engaged with the trajectory of their leaders. The digitization required individualized monitoring of each original medium, ensuring the careful recovery of fragile and unique materials.
Balaio de Memórias is a first step. The continuation of the work involves expanding the digitization of the remaining archive, developing educational materials, and creating new outreach and training strategies in partnership with schools, universities, and Indigenous organizations.
The project was made possible with support from Forest Trends’ Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative (CTGI) and another international institution that chooses to remain anonymous. For CTGI, preserving and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ memories affirms their autonomy, a key dimension of territorial governance.
“Balaio de Memórias reminds us that territory and culture are inseparable,” said Beto Borges, Director of Forest Trends’ CTGI. “Supporting this project is a commitment to recognizing that Indigenous Peoples are the true guardians of forests, and that, within them, they also safeguard the histories from which we can learn how to live better as a society. This memory is political, it is alive, and it deserves to circulate.”
This support builds on a longstanding partnership between Forest Trends and Ikorē. In 2022, the two organizations jointly published Histórias do Começo e do Fim do Mundo: O Contato do Povo Paiter Suruí, which documented the Paiter Suruí peoples’ perspective on their first contact with non-Indigenous society.
Access the full content in Portuguese at www.balaiodememorias.org, as well as on Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Forest Trends is a civil society organization that works to conserve forests and natural ecosystems by promoting nature-based solutions, sustainable economies, and climate justice. Through its Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative (CTGI), Forest Trends has worked for over two decades in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities to strengthen territorial governance, cultural preservation, and equitable access to climate finance. CTGI has a strong presence across Latin America and extensive experience in pioneering projects that intersect conservation, forest-based economies, and community leadership.
Ikorē is a Brazilian cultural production company and creative publisher founded in 2001. It develops projects in partnership with Indigenous and traditional peoples, focusing on the preservation, promotion, and dissemination of their knowledge, cultures, and artistic expressions. Through editorial, audiovisual, research, and curatorial initiatives, Ikorē works to strengthen cultural identities, rights, and heritage while fostering dialogue between Indigenous communities and broader society.