Buying and giving away rainforest? Sounds strange, but it’s possible. Wiggert is going to buy it from a restaurant owner in Brazil who overheard him talking about his plan. Chance? “I don’t believe in that. It had to be that way,” he says. The woman needed money and wanted to get off the land. It had to cost 25,000 euros.
Forty days with the tribe
That money was so close. His foundation to save the Amazon raised 40,000 euros for the plan in two weeks. But after he buys it, Wiggert immediately gives the land away again.
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Wiggert gives it away to old acquaintances. Acquaintances with whom he had a special time in 2016. Due to a burnout, the entrepreneur decided to live with the tribe for forty days. There he took part in an ancient ritual: cleansing the soul by taking the plant brew Ayahuasca.
105 football fields
He wrote a book about the wisdom he learned there. He now uses part of the proceeds from the book to purchase the rainforest area adjacent to the habitat of the same tribe. It concerns 105 football fields of dense jungle in Acre, the westernmost point of Brazil bordering Peru.
Wiggert is surprised about the many donations that amount to 5000 euros. Many donations come from readers of his book. “They feel connected to the place and the tribe.”
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105 football fields of untouched nature, that sounds huge, but does it make sense? Wiggert doesn’t have to think about that for a second. “I can’t save the world, but I can save a piece of Brazil. I hope this can start a chain reaction.”
Wiggert does think it’s ‘crazy for words’ that he has to buy rainforest to give it back to the residents. Still, he decided to play on the system instead of fighting it. “I am an entrepreneur and saw that this was the fastest way to help tribes in Brazil.”
‘I just need something’
Wiggert buys the land back for the original owners. “That’s how I enlarge their backyard.” If he didn’t, there are two possible outcomes: someone else with unknown intentions buys it, or it doesn’t sell, and invaders destroy the rich wildlife through illegal logging and poaching.
Wiggert sees no better option than to return the land to the native tribes. “They know better than anyone how to take care of the forest, which animal species live there and how nature must be restored.” The problem is of course far from over after his action. “But I just need something.”
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Most recently, British journalist Dom Philips and his guide Bruno Pareira were murdered in the Javari Valley. That is just above the plot of land that Wiggert is going to buy. “I was shocked, if you put the ruler next to it, it is actually 1 centimeter away from it.” It didn’t change Wiggert’s mind. “Although my Brazilian colleagues who came by for the sale did receive threats.”
Nature and indigenous people have been a target for years
In the Amazon of Brazil, nature and the indigenous population have been targets for years. That has increased sharply since far-right President Bolsonaro took office in 2019. For example, deforestation in the Amazon was the highest in 15 years last year. Wiggert: “The President also let it be known that indigenous tribes do not have to count on one centimeter more land.”
Recently, the president signed a decree to strengthen the protection of the Amazon. Yet nothing seems to have changed. In the first months of this year, records of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon were broken again.
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