The first approach that the Volunteer Ecological Guards of the Province of Modena had with the Amazon was thanks to the interest of the Department of the Environment of the Province of Modena, which thought of encouraging a collaboration between the GEV and Amazzonia90 scarl, and thus the project “A forest for life” was born.
Which also saw the organization of a concert by the “Nomadi” in April 1998 to raise funds for the Amazon.
Later, during the first environmental volunteering festival held in Modena in June 1998, some members of the Fondo per la Terra association introduced us to Christopher Clark.
In the meantime, the Volunteer Ecological Guards of the Province of Modena established their own autonomous sector of intervention within the scope of international cooperation for the defense and conservation of natural systems and biodiversity, with support for local populations, called “Foreste per Sempre”, which will transform into the current Foreste per Sempre ODV.
July 2000 first GEV expedition to Xixuau. Upon arrival in Manaus they were welcomed by Chris and reached Xixuau aboard the Certeza I recently purchased thanks to our contribution of 10,000,000 lire.
In the Reserve, the GEVs, accompanied by canoes by caboclos who work for the Amazonia association as guides and park rangers, were able to visit the famous flooded forest or igapò with unique characteristics. The presence of a dentist on the expedition also allowed them to offer health care to the population.
……….. October 20, 2000 Emanuela Evangelista and Lyne (Danish biologist) arrive at Xixuau and join the second GEV expedition ………….
2000 – Certeza I Boat Purchase Project
2000 – Health Project: Travel expenses for professional nurses
In the following years the partnership between Foreste per Sempre-GEV Modena with Christopher Clark and the Xixuaù population has strengthened. The expeditions to the Amazon have continued as well as the support for the various projects.
2001 – Women Project: Purchase of Manaus Market License
2001 – School Project: Purchase of PCs and technologies
2002 – Otter Project: Contribution to researcher Emanuela Evangelista
2002 – School Project: Purchase of equipment
In 2003, the BPER employees’ club joined the Modena GEVs and, in addition to having financed the health project, personally participated with some colleagues.
The expedition got to know the beautiful and wild Amazonian nature, brought medical assistance and visited the project headquarters, in particular the Eco-farm under construction.
2003 – Health Project: Screening
2003 – Otter Project: Contribution to researcher Emanuela Evangelista
2003 – Ecofarm Project
2003 – Health Project: Alcinei Assistance
2004 – Health Project: Purchase of dental equipment
2004 – Health Project: Screening
2004 – Multipurpose Center Project
2005- Multipurpose Center Project
2005 – Fast Boat Purchase Project
2005 – School Project – Construction of a traditional school
2006- Multipurpose Center Project
2006 – Fast Boat Purchase Project
2006 – Ecotourism Project
2007 – Ecotourism Project
2008 – Agua Boa Project
2008 – Ecotourism Project
2009 – Forest Adoptions Project
2010 – Forest Adoptions Project
2012 – Student House Project
2021 – Health Project: Covid Emergency
Total Donations €79,611
Christopher Julian Clark , an environmentalist of Scottish origins, married in Italy and moved to the Amazon in Xixuau with the aim of preserving the forest and biodiversity. Throughout his life he will work to establish a reserve in Xixuau-Xiparinà, now included in the Resex Jauaperì Baixo Rio Branco and protected by the federal government. Chris left us prematurely in July 2020
The history of Resex told to Foreste per Sempre by Chris himself
In 1992 we created the Associação Amazonia in Brazil and the Associazione Amazonia in Italy in Grosseto with the aim of protecting the Xixuau area which we began to call Reserva Xixuau .
In 2000 Plinio and I went to IBAMA Brazil to ask for the area to become some form of official reserve. We met the official Edison Mileski. He listened to us and said he was interested. In April 2001 he came to Jauaperi with a team from Ibama Brasilia. They decided to continue the project that at the time would be called Reserva Extractivista do Xixuau. Then he went to the other communities of the river and the lower Rio Branco and the project expanded to include those areas and it became Reserva Extractivista do Baixo Rio Branco- Jauaperi. The legal/bureaucratic process began and all the institutional collaborators and organized civil society came in, such as WWF, Fundação Vitoria Amazzonica, ARPA program, you in Italy (GEV Modena – Foreste per Sempre). Around 2006 Luca Mucci helped us organize a meeting with then president Lula. We sent a group of natives from the area to Brasilia to pressure the government to create the reserve. But the political authorities of Roraima have always been against it and have continuously attacked us with all the various commissions of inquiry and accusations, even absurd ones, that you know well. In 2009, President Lula offered to return 6 million hectares of federal lands in the state of Roraima to the state government. But in exchange he set conditions and one was the creation of our reserve. Little by little the major obstacle to the reserve disappeared and finally the government of Roraima changed its mind and accepted it. Several times they told us that it was going to be created, but it was never true. Almost everyone had lost hope until now when President Michel Temer created it .
