Naku is the Rainforest.
Currently rooted in the Sapara Nation’s ancestral territory, Naku Foundation is building an Indigenous-led model for forest protection and cultural regeneration that will expand to other Amazonian regions.
Naku Foundation exists to protect the living intelligence of the rainforest—its lands, peoples, and spiritual ecosystems.
Our current focus lies in partnership with the Sapara Nation, who safeguard 914,289 acres of ancestral territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Since their origins, the Sapara have lived in deep relationship with the forest, guided by dreams, ceremony, and the wisdom of life itself.
In the Sapara language, Ñukaki means “one with the forest.”
This is not metaphor—it is worldview.
Who Are the Sapara People
The Sapara Nation is one of the most ancient Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, inhabiting 914,289 acres of pristine rainforest in southeastern Ecuador.
Recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, the Sapara are guardians of one of the planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems — a living sanctuary of water, medicine, and spirit.
For the Sapara, the forest is not a resource but a relative — a breathing being filled with memory and intelligence. Their language, songs, and dreams are woven with the voices of the trees, the rivers, and the ancestors.
Once numbering in the thousands, today fewer than 700 Sapara people remain, and only three elders speak their ancestral language fluently. Despite this, their spiritual and ecological knowledge continues to guide global movements for cultural survival and environmental protection.
The Sapara worldview — rooted in dreamwork, ceremony, and reciprocity with the forest — is at the heart of Naku Foundation’s regenerative framework. Every project begins and ends with Sapara leadership, ensuring that protection of the land and revitalization of culture remain inseparable.
To protect the forest is to protect the people.
To protect the people is to protect the dream of the Earth itself.
WHY WE EXIST
Naku was born from an urgent need:
To create an Indigenous-led structure capable of defending the forest—
not only in spirit, but in practice.
The threats are intensifying:
Oil extraction. Cultural erasure. Land division.
And still, the forest breathes.
From this truth, Naku Foundation emerged — a living collaboration between Indigenous leaders, healers, and allies committed to protecting the forest and revitalizing its wisdom for generations to come.
“To protect the forest is to protect the dream of the Earth itself.”
— Sapara Elder
Our story began in Sapara territory — but the vision belongs to the forest itself.
“Samai… is the vital breath that sustains everything. It is energy, spirit, movement—connecting the material and the spiritual.”
— Manari Ushiuga, Spiritual Leader, Naku Foundation
To meet this moment, Naku Foundation has developed a four-pillar vision—
A living framework for regeneration rooted in Indigenous wisdom and the balance of the natural world.
This model is taking shape through the Sapara Nation, and will expand to other territories in the future.
A Framework for Regeneration
The Naku Foundation’s regenerative system integrates four essential pillars — Territorial Management, Regenerative Economy, Education, and Vitality — creating a living model for Indigenous-led environmental protection and community resilience. Rooted in ancestral knowledge and designed for long-term impact, this framework supports the preservation of cultural wisdom and the regeneration of the Amazon rainforest.
Naku Foundation’s Regenerative System: a holistic model for Indigenous-led environmental protection, education, and cultural resilience.
This is not just about land.
This is about life.
Every contribution helps protect the forest, uplift Indigenous leadership, and preserve the wisdom that has cared for this planet for millennia.
Join us in protecting the Forest of Life.