Indigenous Participation in the Native Seed Market: Adapting Ethnic Institutions for Ecological Restoration in the Southeastern Amazon

Forest and landscape restoration are emerging globally as a major challenge for development and conservation in the twenty-first century. With a restoration market providing demand for participation in supplying products and services, such as native seed, Indigenous communities have experienced new opportunities for cash income and livelihood improvements. This chapter explores the ways different Indigenous populations in Brazil have engaged in the native seed trade for restoring degraded lands, and the outcomes of their participation. We cover a case study based on one decade’s experience of the Xingu Seeds Network, focusing on challenges faced by 232 Indigenous people, mostly women, from 13 villages of Ikpeng, Kawaiwete, Matipu, Panara, Wauja, Xavante and Yudja ethnicity in the southeastern Amazon. Indigenous communities have engaged in the activity mainly to secure current and future access to natural resources. Although communities have shown a large fluctuation in their seed production and cash income over the years, these collectors have produced 6.7 tonnes of seeds from 159 species leading to US$ 65 thousand cash income for households. Native seed production is strongly aligned with traditional knowledge with outcomes related to women’s empowerment, opportunities for young people, territorial mapping, and building local organizations. However, communities have faced constraints in adapting ethnic institutions to business management requirements mainly due to scales of production, language difficulties and lack of accounting skills. Therefore, institutions must be developed acknowledging Indigenous knowledge and culture for building a more inclusive and flexible approach to support Indigenous groups to adapt to participation in markets.