Rikbaktsa: Guardians of the Rainforest

The Rikbaktsa people live in the Juruena and Aripuanã river basins, in northwestern Mato Grosso, Brazil. About 1,800 people are distributed across at least 35 villages within the Indigenous Lands of Erikpatsa, Japuíra, and Escondido.

After nearly disappearing in the 1950s and 1960s, due to disease and the violence of forced contact with non-Indigenous people, the Rikbaktsa resisted. Their history is marked by struggle and by the capacity to continually reaffirm their identity.

Today, surrounded by large farms, the Rikbaktsa face new pressures from agribusiness, fires, and deforestation. Even so, they continue to defend their lands and keep their ways of life alive.

For the Rikbaktsa, the rainforest is the foundation of life: it provides food, medicine, art, and spirituality. Their diet blends farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering, sustaining a diverse diet and a life in harmony with biodiversity.

The harvesting and commercialization of Brazil nuts is one of the main economic activities of the Rikbaktsa people. Carried out collectively, it provides food and income, combining tradition and sustainability, keeping the forest standing and strengthening the community’s food security.

Beekeeping is a recent practice among them. With support from the Biodiverso project, a meliponary was established in the Pé de Mutum village, where women have started raising stingless bees. The activity may become a new source of income for the community.

In 2009, the Rikbaktsa resumed extracting latex from their native rubber trees, this time collectively and without overseers. The activity generates income in harmony with the forest, bringing together traditional knowledge and sustainable practices to strengthen the community’s autonomy.

Another source of income and cultural expression in the villages is handicraft. Made mainly by women, the work requires delicacy and experience. The threads for necklaces, bracelets, headdresses, and other pieces are hand-spun with cotton harvested from their own territory.

Painted bodies and ornaments of feathers and seeds reveal the Rikbaktsa’s vibrant sense of beauty. In every hue and detail shines identity, spirituality, and a deep connection with the forest.

In Rikbaktsa tradition, feather art reflects a refined knowledge of color and form. Carefully prepared feathers are transformed into headdresses, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and other artifacts, which in the past also indicated social position within the community.

Flutes, rattles, and drums crafted from natural materials accompany Rikbaktsa rituals and celebrations. Music serves as a bridge linking the community, the forest, and the spiritual realm.

Among the Rikbaktsa, knowledge is passed on orally from one generation to the next. The youth learn from the elders to manage the forest, secure food, create art, conduct rituals, and safeguard ancestral memory. Their native language endures as a vital bond of cultural resilience.

Earplugs carved from caixeta wood are powerful symbols of Rikbaktsa culture. They embody pride, belonging, and enduring resistance.

For the Rikbaktsa, the forest is more than a source of sustenance: it is part of the community. It nurtures health, spirituality, and culture, reinforcing ancestral bonds with the land.

The Rikbaktsa people shows that it is possible to live in abundance while remaining in balance with the forest and all the life it shelters. As guardians of biodiversity, they inspire the world to rethink its relationship with nature.