The World

Protecting a Forest and Preserving a Culture

An ancient indigenous tribe trades in its bows and arrows for laptops and satellite dishes. The Surui tribe of Brazil embarks on a unique project designed to protect their forest and profit from the results.

In Brazil’s Southwest Amazon region, an ancient tribe turns to modern technology to save their forest, culture, and perhaps the planet’s climate. The Surui people have preserved their forest for millennia. Now they’ve devised a new management plan to protect it in the future. It calls for reforesting 18,000 acres cut by loggers and planting 1 million trees. Bruce Gellerman and Bobby Bascomb travel to the Surui reserve to see the tribe’s re-forestry project in action.