OUR PARTNERS: THE MAPUCHE-LAFKENCHE COMMUNITIES OF BUDI

The Mapuche are the people (che) of the earth (mapu), with close to a million members in Chile. The Lake Budi basin is a traditional Mapuche-Lafkenche territory or Ayllarewe, declared as a conservation zone (2002), consisting of nine Rewe that group together dozens of smaller communities, comprising a total of around 15,000 members.

MAPLE works with Mapuche-Lafkenche communities, in Chile that self-identify as People of the Ocean, given their closeness to the southern Pacific coast and the mega-diverse, brackish Lake Budi. Nevertheless, similarly to many indigenous communities around the world, the Lafkenche way of life is threatened by out-migration of youth, economic dependency, and environmental degradation.

Against all odds, the Ayllarewe Budi families are committed to preserve their language, ceremonies, traditional authorities, and self-government based on consensus. Since 2013, with the support of MAPLE, they have developed effective and holistic tools for self-management to counteract the threats caused by globalization and environmental change: instead of promoting dependency, we create self-sufficiency through co-designed local management tools and capacities, that will eventually be completely controlled by the communities themselves.