Federation of the Huni Kuῖ People of the State of Acre
The Huni Kuῖ — "the true people" in their own language — have inhabited the western Amazon for millennia. Across 12 indigenous territories in the Brazilian state of Acre, stretching into Peru, more than 14,000 people live in over 100 villages in one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth.
The forest is not a backdrop to their lives. It is their life — spiritually, ecologically, materially, and culturally inseparable from who they are.
The Federation of the Huni Kuῖ People of the State of Acre — FEPHAC — was founded in 2006 by the leaders of 12 indigenous lands to give this people a unified political voice. Since then, it has fought for territorial demarcation, defended cultural heritage, supported communities through floods and crises, and placed Huni Kuῖ sovereignty at the centre of every decision. After 22 years of struggle, a landmark legal ruling in 2023 finally ordered the demarcation process for key Huni Kuῖ territories — a victory FEPHAC president Chief Ninawá called “hope for future generations.”
The Huni Kuῖ are recognised internationally as guardians of biodiversity and of the traditional knowledge of sacred medicines. Their graphic art — Kene Kuῖ, a visual language of geometric patterns encoding cosmology, healing, and ancestral memory — is now being considered for recognition as Brazilian national cultural heritage. Their struggle is not only for survival. It is for the right to continue being who they are — people for whom the health of the Earth and the health of the community have always been the same question.
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