OUR STORY
The story sounded like a fairy tale. However, there was a tone of passion and sincerity in his voice when he said that since that day he had lived in the hope of rebuilding what he had had to destroy.
OUR STORY
The story sounded like a fairy tale. However, there was a tone of passion and sincerity in his voice when he said that since that day he had lived in the hope of rebuilding what he had had to destroy.
Museo Verde is the result of a conversation between Gherardo La Francesca and Bruno Kyrique Barras, the cacique (village chief) of the Ishir Community of Karcha Bahlut, Upper Paraguay.Karcha Bahlut is a village of about 150 people on the right bank of the Paraguay River. In this region, the concentration of crocodiles, river fish, birds and mosquitoes is very high, while the population density is among the lowest on the planet.
In June 2015, Bruno Barras stood by the river bank recounting a story that had taken place 25 years earlier. A story of love and death. He told of a young woman in love with a man, the same age as her. She wanted to marry him but her parents refused. Devastated by desperation, the girl hanged herself in a house where the inhabitants of Karcha Bahlut kept the objects of ancestral memory: a kind of small rudimentary museum, a place of memory.
Bruno Barras had recently been appointed cacique and could not shirk his responsibilities. Suicide attracts evil spirits that can lead to the destruction of the village and only fire can drive them away. To the general dismay, the museum was reduced to ashes.
The story sounded like a fairy tale. There was, however, a tone of passion and sincerity in his voice when he said that, from that day on, he had lived hoping to rebuild what he had been forced to destroy. Gherardo believed him and promised that the museum would rise from its ashes.
To begin fundraising, it was necessary to organize a project and estimate costs. The key concepts were thus established: participation and involvement, indigenous construction, km 0, low cost, sustainability, adaptability, place of memory, and more.
The Cultural Centre of the Republic of Paraguay, El Cabildo, together with the National Secretariat of Tourism and the Municipality of Bahia Negra, allocated the funds to transform the dream into reality, with WWF Paraguay also supporting the initiative.
The men of Karcha Bahlut equipped themselves with chainsaws and went into the forest of their reserve, while the Chamacoco women resumed producing decorated textiles. A logo and graphics gave identity to an idea that had been taking shape rapidly as we finally gave it a name, Museo Verde.
The rainy season in Paraguay occurs in the summer, and that summer it rained more than usual. The waters of the Paraguay River rose till they reached the closest houses of Karcha Bahlut. The museum seemed destined for destruction, even before it was built. But then something happened. Perhaps, the community’s shaman performed the correct propitiatory rites to Ashnuwerta, the goddess of the waters. Or maybe, high air pressure came to our rescue from Patagonia. The fact is that the rain stopped and the water began to flow away.
In August 2016, the Karcha Bahlut Museo Verde was inaugurated. It seemed like the end of a beautiful story. But it was only the beginning. Soon enough, it became clear that the newly-built museum would not be the only one.
The project created for the Chamacoco people was adapted for the Ayoreos as the United Nations Development Organisation (UNDP) allocated funds for its implementation. The Italo-Latin American Institute (IILA) also took an interest, providing the Aches, Qoms, Caduveos and Wichis with a place to preserve the memory of their past. It was no longer a single infrastructure, but the beginning of a network in an immense region covering more than a million square kilometers across four states: Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. This is the Gran Chaco, where communities belonging to 40 indigenous peoples still survive, tenaciously attached to their ancient traditions.
A conversation ensued about how to preserve and enhance this extraordinary heritage. As the WWF took an interest and showed approval, the "Alliance for the Chaco" was born. This was concrete proof that that the combination of nature and indigenous culture can be a healthy ‘vaccine’ for Humanity and much more
Ever since that talk on the banks of the Paraguay Rivery in June 2015, we have come a long way, and our journey is not destined to stop. However, we must not forget that it all began there. From a cacique’s dream.
Why Museo Verde?
Museo
Each native community builds, with our help, a small exhibition space in their village, where they keep indigenous art objects, to keep alive the memory of ancient customs and traditions.
Verde
It is built with local materials and located in the middle of the forest.
DEFORESTATION IS NOT ONLY AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME. IT IS AN INCREDIBLE EXAMPLE OF STUPIDITY, EVEN FROM A PURELY ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW.
OUR MISSION
"Where trees are felled and wildlife killed, local germs are found flying around like dust rising from the rubble. A pest disturbed in its daily life and driven from its usual host has two choices: find a new home, or become extinct."-Spillover, David Quammer.-
The Museo Verde has the following objectives
Objective 1
TO PRESERVE AND CONSERVE THE GREAT CHAQUE OF DEFENCE
Objective 2
PRESERVING AND PROMOTING THE HISTORICAL CULTURE AND MEMORY OF THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES OF THE GRAND CHACO.
Objective 3
PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT TO INCREASE CO2 REMOVAL FROM THE ATMOSPHERE
Our association pursues the conservation and valorisation of indigenous cultures in South America’s Gran Chaco region, trying to stop deforestation via alternative development strategies.
At PreCop 26, the international conference on climate change, Museo Verde launched its "Pact for the Gran Chaco”, in collaboration with IILA, WWF Italy and the embassies of Argentina and Paraguay.
The Pact aims to promote sustainable developmen via a combination of cultural and environmental initiatives. This is to enhance and protect the natural and cultural resources of one of the planet's greatest green lungs.
Climate change and pandemics threaten our survival. Much still remains unclear, but scientists do agree that the dangers we are facing result from one major issue: the alteration of complex and delicate natural balances.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deforestation is one of the major causes of balance disruption. Three-quarters of new diseases affecting humans originate from animals.
"Where trees are felled and wildlife killed, local germs are found flying around like dust rising from the rubble. A pest disturbed in its daily life and evicted from its usual host has two options: find a new home, or become extinct" "Spillover" by David Quammer.
Greenpeace has also denounced the link between deforestation and the increase in infectious diseases. But there is more. Deforestation is not only an environmental crime but an incredible example of stupidity, even on purely economic terms.
To those who claim that deforestation is necessary to sustain the economy, we can now reply that there are alternatives, which are no less profitable and do not come with the incredibly high costs of pandemics and climate change.
The sustainable management of forests resources can generate higher profits than their destruction. We must make use of modern innovations, but we cannot do without the experience of indigenous peoples, who have always been the forest guardians. We must ensure that a large share of the profits generated by smarter and more sustainable forest management go towards the survival of these peoples, with their culture to be recognised as a precious resource for the whole of humankind.
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ANTHROPOLOGISTS, ECOLOGISTS, DIPLOMATS, ARCHITECTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ITALIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS CONTRIBUTE TO THE MUSEO VERDE.
THE TEAM
Gherardo La Francesca, Luca Rugiu, Camilla Persi, Andrea Gristina, Marcella Simonelli, Riccardo Tiddi, Rubens Piovano. Architects, graphic designers, anthropologists, diplomats, journalists, economists, agronomists, photographers, Italian and Latin American institutions and representatives of the indigenous communities of the region contribute voluntarily.
THE TEAM
ANTHROPOLOGISTS, ECOLOGISTS, DIPLOMATS, ARCHITECTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ITALIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS CONTRIBUTE TO THE MUSEO VERDE.
Gherardo La Francesca, Luca Rugiu, Camilla Persi, Andrea Gristina, Marcella Simonelli, Riccardo Tiddi, Rubens Piovano. Architects, graphic designers, anthropologists, diplomats, journalists, economists, agronomists, photographers, Italian and Latin American institutions and representatives of the indigenous communities of the region contribute voluntarily.
OUR PARTNERS
THE PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY
ITALY
PARAGUAY
