A global exchange driving solutions
GTI-PIACI, in partnership with the Solutions Insights Lab, set out to identify what is working to protect the rights and territories of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI), and what is needed to strengthen and replicate those approaches elsewhere.
Indigenous Peoples in Isolation are communities that live without sustained contact with broader society and exercise their right to self-determination by safeguarding their ways of life, cultures, and territories. Their protection is critical given their extreme vulnerability to disease, external pressures, and human rights violations.
Drawing on interviews with 29 Indigenous leaders, advocates, researchers, and practitioners across South America and Asia (Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, and Indonesia), the partnership explored key questions:
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What strategies are producing meaningful results?
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What conditions enable success?
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What barriers constrain protection efforts?
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How can knowledge from one region inform another?
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What is needed to strengthen collaboration and advance recognition of PIACI as a global human rights issue?
Protecting PIACI territories is increasingly recognized as essential for both human rights and environmental goals. Their territories encompass some of the world's most intact forest ecosystems, and growing evidence shows that stronger Indigenous land rights are linked to lower deforestation and healthier biodiversity.
Why does it matter?
Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) have sustained their existence for centuries, but today face growing threats from increasing pressure on their territories.
In South America, at least 188 Indigenous Peoples in Isolation (PIA) groups have been identified in nearly half of all Indigenous territories, covering approximately 125 million hectares, yet only 60 are officially recognised. This gap reflects their limited visibility, inadequate protection, and insufficient investment in research and action.
Their territories are also critical for climate stability and biodiversity conservation, covering between 34 and 60 million hectares of some of the planet’s best-preserved forests and contributing significantly to global climate mitigation.
Rising extractive activities increase the risk of forced contact, environmental contamination, and irreversible harm. Evidence from contacted Amazonian peoples, including high mercury exposure, points to the serious risks PIACI may face under comparable pressures.
Protecting PIACI is, at the same time, a rights priority and a key strategy for global climate stability. Responding to this challenge involves identifying and scaling effective solutions from the territory.
Solutions from the territory: what is working