Maranhão Program

Promotes sustainable development and biome conservation actions, aligned with the socio-environmental realities and challenges of Maranhão.

Maria Antonia Souza in the São Pedro Quilombo, in Anajatuba (MA). Photo: Ariel Rocha/ISPN Collection

Antônio Guajajara in the Piçarra Preta Village, Rio Pindaré Indigenous Land (MA). Photo: Ariel Rocha / ISPN Collection

Natania Janes Correa da Silva and Lucas Casimiro, family farmers in the village of Centro da Josina, in São Luís Gonzaga (MA). Photo: Ariel Rocha/ISPN Collection.

Mário Nascimento, family farmer, in the pepper growing area, in the village of Fala Cantando, in Bacabal (MA). Photo: Ariel Rocha/ISPN Collection.

The Maranhão Program develops initiatives focused on agroecology, ethnodevelopment, institutional development, gender, and health regulations, encouraging the inclusion of sociobiodiversity products in traditional markets. It works to strengthen and expand the socioenvironmental agenda in Maranhão, especially in the Amazon and Cerrado regions, promoting sustainable practices and respecting the ways of life, knowledge, and cultures of the PIPCTAFs. To this end, it participates in networks, forums, committees, and councils, in addition to promoting agendas and monitoring debates on public policies.

The Program also establishes partnerships with universities and federal institutes, bringing communities and researchers closer together and expanding spaces for knowledge exchange.

Who supports us

VALE

Danish International Development Agency (Danida)

Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA)

United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)

External Joints

RAMA (Maranhão Agroecology Network)

National Articulation of Agroecology

CATRAPOVES

MA Sociobio Observatory

Articulation of the Cerrado Network

We're watching

Collaborative Advocacy Network (RAC)

MATOPIBA Observatory

Maranhão State Climate Council

State Committee of the Program for Productive Inclusion and Health Security of Maranhão

Solidarity Economy Forum

Maranhão Solidarity Economy Management Committee

Babaçu Dialogue Collective

Fiscal Council of the Cooperation and Commitment Agreement

PBACI Monitoring Management Committee

Commission for the Prevention of Violence in the Countryside and the City (COECV)

Pindaré River Basin Committee

State Environmental Council

State PCTs Commission

State Human Rights Forum

Standing Cerrado Coalition

Projects

Project status

Strengthening civil society in Maranhão to address the impacts of soybean expansion

In progress

Financier(s): Danish International Development Agency (Danida)

Work on the Law and Governance axis, carrying out activities to register 50 communities on the Tô no Mapa app and in the field of political advocacy, encouraging other sectors of civil society to contribute to popular participation in public policies.

Basic Environmental Plan for the Awa and Guajajara Indigenous Component of the Caru and Rio Pindaré Indigenous Lands (PBACI)

In progress

Financier(s): VALE

The PBACI of the Awa and Guajajara peoples is part of the environmental licensing process for the expansion of the Carajás Railway, under the responsibility of the company Vale SA. The general objective of the Plan is to present the set of actions necessary to mitigate and/or compensate for impacts caused by the expansion, operation and maintenance of the Carajás/Vale Railway.

Productive Backyards of Cariongo/Forest + Amazon

In progress

Financier(s): Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA), United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

The project involves 28 families in the Cariongo quilombo, located in Santa Rita, Maranhão, with the goal of generating income and improving their diets through agroforestry gardens. Developed in partnership with the Cariongo Rural Agroproducers Association.

Agroecological Renaissance in Quilombos: Quilombola farms, backyards and agroindustries/Forest + Amazon

In progress

Financier(s): Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA), United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

The Project aims to strengthen productive capacity and food security by encouraging agroecological processes and technologies in 09 quilombos located in Anajatuba (MA), where ISPN implements actions in partnership with the Union of Associations of Remaining Quilombo Communities of the Municipality of Anajatuba (UNIQUITUBA).

Sustainability and Value Creation in Production Chains (Babaçu Dialogue)

In progress

Financier(s): German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)

Its objective is to “Facilitate the process of mobilization and engagement of key actors in favor of the strengthening and sustainable development of the babassu value chain” with actions to support, plan and strengthen the Babassu Dialogue Collective in Maranhão.

Cooperation and Commitment Agreement between Indigenous Associations and Communities of the Caru, Rio Pindaré, Awá and Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Lands and FUNAI – TCC

In progress

Financier(s): VALE

This term aims to “regulate Vale’s contribution of financial resources for the benefit of the signatory indigenous communities for application in strategic actions of territorial protection, preservation and conservation of natural resources, economic sustainability and income generation, cultural strengthening, institutional strengthening, health, education, citizenship, basic sanitation and infrastructure”.

I'm on the Map (IPAM)

closed

Financier(s): Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), Good Energies

Expansion of the Tô no Mapa application, together with the Goods Energy fund to work on registering communities in the Amazon portion of Maranhão, with the aim of expanding the registration of communities and families in this area, with the objective of “continuing the engagement of multiplying institutions, mainly those representing local social movements in the northern Cerrado and eastern Amazon, in the use of Tô no Mapa and its tools, in addition to supporting the improvement of the Tô no Mapa platform”.

Quilombos in Maranhão strengthen sustainable production and increase income.

The Floresta+ project promotes productive backyards, honey production, and territorial management in quilombola communities.

12 May 2026

News

Quilombo Cariongo launches Territorial and Environmental Management Plan.

A tool for collective construction consolidates decades of struggle, strengthens quilombola resistance, and demands public policies.

March 5th, 2026

News