UPDATE: We have found a wonderful house in a great location! It's a beautiful spot and already has some security features. We urgently need to raise another £11,789 pounds to secure the property. Please donate and share!

Help us raise £25,000 to create Casa de Respiro Florestal (Forest Respite House) for human rights defenders in the Amazon.

Target - £25,000 to buy a piece of land and house

Every two weeks, an environmental defender is murdered in Brazil. Hundreds are threatened, criminalised, and suffer physical and psychological violence. Some have to flee their homes after assassination attempts and serious death threats. They need a safe space where they can take care of their mental health and wellbeing, to have somewhere they can rest, be creative and breathe.

With the funds raised we will purchase a house and land in the Amazon. The House will create a safe space for refuge for threatened defenders and provide access to holistic therapies, local Amazonian treatments, and training in physical, digital and collective protection.

With £25,000 we can buy a house in a secure location, near a beautiful river and in a peaceful spot. We're now over 50% of the way there with a generous donation from a supporter in Brazil (not shown here). Can you help us secure this house and create a haven?

The next £20,000 will cover the materials needed to extend the house with more bedrooms, to add solar panels, eco-toilets and sustainable furnishings. We have regular donations and grants to cover basic operating costs for the first year. There are already many at-risk defenders who need a safe place to relocate, when staying in their community or village is simply no longer an option.

The story begins with the Zé Claudio and Maria Institute, a collective organisation that works with women’s groups and fights to protect defenders of human rights and the environment who experience death threats. The institute was created by the family and friends of the couple José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva, environmentalists and farmers, who were assassinated in 2011 for protecting the forests inside their agro-extractivist settlement in Nova Ipixuna, Pará.

In October 2019, the Z&M Institute and Not1More organised a gathering of over 100 at-risk environmental defenders in Marabá, Brazilian Amazon. The gathering created a safe space to welcome defenders, engage in trainings and share experiences. Many of those present had suffered, and still suffer, death threats and other forms of violence. The gathering highlighted the importance of supporting mental health, self-care, and holistic approaches to wellbeing. It shone a light on the importance of creating a safe space, a Respite House.

Inspired by stories of the Casa La Serena in Mexico, Ze Cladio é Maria Institute and Not1More are working to create a space that reflects the needs and character of the Amazon. Good things happen when people gather in safe spaces. Now with your help, we can create this space.

Thank you
Claudelice Santos, 2019 nominee for the Sackharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and founder of the Zé Claudio e Maria Institute

Fran Lambrick, co-founder of Not1More