Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations from the Brazilian Amazon
COIAB is one of the largest indigenous organizations in South America. Founded at a meeting of indigenous leaders in April 1989, COIAB is now composed of 75 member organizations representing more than 400,000 people comprised of 160 different indigenous peoples from all 9 states on 272 million acres of the Brazilian Amazon.
Its mission is to promote the social organization, cultural, economic and political integration of indigenous peoples and organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, contributing to their empowerment and autonomy. They play a pivotal role leading the resistance of the immense threats from President Bolsonaro’s aggressive campaign to open the Amazon to exploitation, considering indigenous peoples a threat to the country’s economic development.