Native Future — protecting cultures :: conserving threatened land

Native Future is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that recognizes the inextricable link between native peoples and their lands. Our mission is to protect marginalized indigenous cultures and to help them conserve the ecosystems in which they live. If you would like to know more about the culture of the Wounaan people and their current struggles,… [Continue Reading]

The Basilio Perez Scholarship Fund is dedicated to giving Wounaan and Ñgäbe-Buglé families basic help with the cost of educating their children. It continues the long-running work of new Native Future board member Sara Archbald, who helped initiate the fund in 2002 to help families working on a cooperative farm in El Jacinto, a Buglé… [Continue Reading]

Native Future recognizes that education is an essential component of helping indigenous peoples to maintain their culture and traditions while growing in economically sustainable ways. Thus, in 2006, Native Future began the Native Education program. The Native Education Program comprises two sub-projects: Basilio Perez Scholarship Fund Wounaan Higher Education Project

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The Wounaan Land Tenure Program is at the heart of Native Future’s mission. Through it, Native Future seeks to help Wounaan communities gain legal title to their lands. Currently, twelve Wounaan communities are without title; approximately 50,000 hectares of rainforest. In 2007, Native Future developed a two-year project plan that worked toward achieving this goal with three pilot… [Continue Reading]

RioHondoPlatanares

The Wounaan are one of seven indigenous peoples (Bribri, Buglé, Embera, Kuna, Ngabé, Teribe and Wounaan) who live within the Republic of Panama. One of the smallest indigenous groups in Panama, the majority of the 6,800 Wounaan live in the Darien, Panama’s largest and wildest province. In the Darien province most Wounaan live in small… [Continue Reading]

Rio Hondo Beach

Recent Activity

RioHondoPlatanares

Rio Hondo and Platanares Map

In light of recent events in the Rio Hondo and Platanares watersheds we are in the process of revisiting the mapping effort from early 2008. Updates with new remote sensing deforestation data will be available soon.

2 Muertos en Chepo

Arquilio Opua, Leader of the Wounaan Community of Platanares, Killed

We are very sad to report that on Friday, March 30, Arquilio Opua, leader of the Wounaan community of Platanares, was shot and killed by a logger who was watching over logging equipment located inside the boundaries of the indigenous communities of Rio Hondo and Platanares. At the same time, an unnamed logger was killed. [...]

Indigenous Leaders Travel to Washington DC to Defend Collective Land Rights in Panama

“Four representatives from the Ñgäbe and Wounaan peoples will participate in a hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on March 23, 2012. Washington, DC: A delegation of indigenous representatives and human rights specialists from Panama will be in Washington DC to participate in a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) this [...]