Associacion Sombra de Arbol (Tree Shadow Association)

The Tree Shadow Association brings together a multidisciplinary team of independent professionals, committed to the sustainability of the Chaco environment and nature with a long history of working with communities and ecosystems in the Paraguayan Chaco. They are united by their option to defend the environment and the diversity of indigenous and traditional peoples that support the Chaco with its cultural and environmental wealth. The name Tree Shadow alludes to this option, since: The word tree shadow refers to a natural space in which people find themselves to shelter from the heat as well as the cold, to share the fire, the mate, the tereré, to cook, to manufacture their works of art and, above all, to talk about their daily experience , reflect and project in life. In several of the Chaco cultures, the word shadow is also used to mean soul or spirit. In this way, the name Tree ShadowIt alludes at the same time to nature, the construction spaces and the socio-cultural organisms originating from the Chaco. It stands as a sign of resistance in a context in which all diverse life is seriously threatened by attitudes and activities that are oriented to materialistic values ​​and clearly devastating as self-destructive. It describes a mystique and a will to defend the environment and the sociocultural diversity that has enveloped and sustained this region for millennia. Mission The Tree Shadow Association is constituted as a space + meeting, articulation and exchange between people committed to indigenous and creole peoples of the Chaco region + administrative support for initiatives by people and organizations that are committed to a more environmentally, culturally and socially sustainable Chaco + support for the management of community initiatives of empowerment, articulation and political incidence regarding their fundamental rights Since its foundation in 2009, the Tree Shadow Association has been involved in actions, programs, and projects aimed at dignifying Indigenous and Creole Peoples in the Chaco region and strengthening their own role. It supports alternative methods and practices of territorial management, the preparation of materials in their own languages, socio-political organization, the construction of water systems and environmentally friendly production initiatives in a context of acute climate change.