Yaripo Yanomami Ecotourism Business Plan

The project to develop the Yaripo Yanomami Ecotourism business plan was proposed by the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) and executed by Raízes Sustainable Development. The objective of this project was to update the Business Plan for Yanomami Yaripo Ecotourism with a view to the sustainability of the community tourism chain in the region, with the expedition to Pico da Neblina, the highest peak in Brazil, known to the Yanomami people as Yaripo.

This Business Plan is one of the constituent elements of the Visitation Plan, which was developed with broad participation from the Yanomami community and approved in assemblies. It also received the consent of FUNAI and ICMBio, as it concerns an indigenous territory (IT) within a Conservation Unit (CU): the Pico de la Niebla National Park.

The project was carried out over three months and in four major stages, which were:

• review of secondary data with analysis of various reports and the first business plan produced, and exploratory interviews with actors involved with the community and the tourism product;
• preparation of the preliminary technical and financial feasibility assessment and preparation of field strategies;
• field activity in Yanomami territory and with the indigenous community working in Yaripo, including: collective workshops on redefining positions, activities, and remuneration; indexing values; calculating the Community Fund; and planning the Maintenance Fund.
• Finally, as the last stage of the project, a final analysis of all the data was carried out and the new business plan was systematized.