This collaborative information and communication technology (ICT) for development (ICT4D) project was inspired by a young man named Almir, the first Surui to graduate from college. He travelled to the United States (US) in 2007 to meet with officials at Google Earth; in the words of one company representative, "[h]e asked us to train his people so they could tell their story, their history and the beauty of their land and culture and gain support from the world to fight the loss of the forest. At the moment their territory is just a green blob on Google Earth..." The following year, a small group of scientists from Google Earth Outreach, the company's philanthropic arm, travelled to Brazil to conduct a crash course for the Surui people on how to surf the Web and use map data, YouTube, and blogs. The US-based Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) provided the tribe with laptop computers with an internet connection, video cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, satellite maps, and other high-tech gadgets.

With this knowledge and these tools, Surui tribespeople are telling stories about their culture, history, and traditions through Google Earth. The maps will also provide updates on the planned reforestation project of the 7,000 hectares the tribe has lost to illegal logging. The project also set up an interactive website for the tribe's continued use, and as a way to share information with the world.

Environment, Natural Resource Management, Rights.

The Surui tribe made its first contact with civilisation in 1969 during the construction of the 2,000-mile Trans-Amazon Highway. While the Brazilian Constitution guarantees indigenous tribes the right to live on their lands, organisers explain that the government lacks resources to protect them from the intrusion of illegal loggers and ranchers, who reportedly sneak onto the conservation lands to cut down trees during the day, leave them to rest, and then steal them away under the cover of darkness. (Depending on the tree, a trunk can fetch £250 to £500). The soil is poor beneath the trees, so cleared land becomes scrub and the soil washes away - silting up rivers and killing river fish.

"Since the Surui and other indigenous people were given training tools by Google, our land has received more visibility," Chief Almir Surui said in an email written in Portuguese. (Surui is both the common surname and the name of the tribe.) "All the information is shedding light on the invasion of our land...and giving our people the responsibility for their own future." Furthermore, in the words of one ACT official, "One of the stated goals of the Brazilian government is digital inclusion. Indians have less economic resources, so this project is helping the Brazilian government to achieve that goal."

Google Earth, which has grown to 400 million users in the 3 years since its creation, hopes its Brazil initiative will be a model for other indigenous tribes worldwide. One member of the project team explains, "There are a number of Amazon tribes that have become extinct, and many of these tribes just have a handful of people," she said. "Now they are using ... Internet technology to become a part of the (global) dialogue."