Welcome to Native Future!
Native Future is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that recognizes the inextricable link between native peoples and their lands. Our mission is to protect marginalized indigenous cultures and to help them conserve the ecosystems in which they live.
If you would like to know more about the culture of the Wounaan people and their current struggles, press play on the player below to watch "Culture in Crisis," a short documentary video about the Wounaan. Or, click here to download the documentary (17.1 MB).
News
3/1/2008: Land Tenure Challenge Campaign raises $36,702.
11/10/2007: Basilio Perez Scholarship fundraiser a success.
11/1/2007: Fall 2007 Newlsetter.
6/2/2007: Save the Date: Third Annual Wounaan Basket Show Planned for July 11-21
5/24/2007: International Indigenous Rights Expert Completes Consulting Trip to Panama.
Since its inception in 2003, Native Future has principally worked with the Wounaan indigenous people of the Republic of Panama. The Wounaan number 6,800 people and live in 18 small villages scattered throughout the eastern rainforests of the Majé and Darién regions. For generations, they have lived in harmony with their natural environment. Their traditional lands comprise some of the most intact ecosystems in Panama and the Americas. Moreover, the Wounaan depend on these forests, streams and mangroves for both their livelihood and their culture. Now all of that is threatened by non-indigenous settlers from other provinces who invade traditional Wounaan lands and cut down the forest for cattle ranching and large-scale agriculture.
For the past several years, Native Future has helped the Wounaan in their Native Future has helped the Wounaan in their efforts to face these problems and gain control over their lands, their livelihoods, and their future.
Through the Native Land Tenure Project , Native Future has assisted three particular Wounaan communities in their struggle to gain legal title to their traditional lands.
Through the Native Leadership Project, Native Future has provided support to the national-level tribal leaders of the Wounaan to allow them to more effectively communicate with, organize, and lead their people.
Recently, Native Future has added a third program area, the Native Education Project. The Native Education Project helps to cover basic education expenses for indigenous children who would otherwise be unable to attend school. Here, Native Future works not only with the Wounaan, but also with the Ñgäbe and Buglé indigenous peoples of Western Panama.