Aveda And The Yawanawa: CSR Chief To Chief

"Aveda and the Yawanawa people have been working together for 17 years. Although there have been challenges in communicating and understanding each other--with one being a big company and the other a grassroots community deep in the Amazon--we are working toward the same goal, which is to protect the environment for the world." This is what Chief Tashka Yawanawa explained to me this afternoon by satellite phone. Chief Tashka leads the Yawanawa, an indigenous people who live in Acre, in the far western part of Brazil.

According to Tashka, Aveda has helped to more than double the size of the Yawanawa's land rights to 178,000 hectares (687 square miles), and has provided support to protect the land. Without Aveda's efforts, Tashka explained, "we wouldn't have a future." Together with Aveda, "we work in harmony, we have our health, our land, our identity, and our future."

The global village also benefits. With the Yawanawa land in the Amazon Rainforest that is now protected with Aveda's help, 30 million tons of carbon will not be released. Beyond its work in Acre, and reflecting its broader global approach, Aveda is...

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