Vale's approach to engagement with Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities aligns with international best practices and is supported by dedicated staff. Our approach respects local specificities and social and political organization, and is mediated through participatory processes.
Vale’s focus is on building and sustaining trust, empowering and building community resilience, and achieving mutual benefits. Learn about the outcomes of some of our initiatives in collaboration with these communities.
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40 years of relationship with the Xikrin do Cateté Indigenous People
In 2022, we celebrated 40 years of partnership with the Xikrin do Cateté Indigenous community, in Brazil. This milestone was also marked by an umbrella agreement to settle pending legal disputes.
The Xikrin do Cateté Indigenous Land and the six protected areas that Vale assists in protecting in the southeast of Pará collectively host a vast 1.2 million hectares of preserved forests, equivalent to nine times the size of São Paulo City.
One of Vale’s flagship initiatives with the Xikrin is helping to preserve and revive indigenous culture and heritage. This initiative, dubbed the Xikrin do Cateté Heritage Project, has already produced two books and launched a digital platform documenting the history of these peoples, including an audio archive of songs, rituals, and accounts of community life. The materials were selected by community members themselves from an extensive collection of photos, drawings, objects, and audio recordings gathered over a period of 30 years by anthropologists Lux Vidal and Isabelle Vidal Giannini and donated to the University of São Paulo.
Indigenous healthcare is also an integral part of our longstanding partnership with the Xikrin do Cateté. In the last four years alone, more than 3,500 indigenous patients have been seen by physicians in different specialties at the Vale-supported Yutaka Takeda Hospital in the Urban Center of Carajás.
To celebrate our 40-year relationship, Vale CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo and Xikrin do Cateté leaders came together on the Xikrin Indigenous Land and at Vale's facilities in southeastern Pará.
About the Xikrin do Cateté Indigenous People
Vale’s history with the Xikrin do Cateté people goes back to the discovery of the Carajás region by geologist Breno Augusto dos Santos in 1967. Following aerial surveys across the Amazon, he stumbled upon vast mineral deposits.
The Xikrin and other Indigenous Peoples in Pará and Maranhão have benefited from an agreement signed between Vale and National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) to fulfill one of the conditions for a World Bank loan for the Carajás Project in the 1980s. Among the initiatives under the agreement, the demarcation of Indigenous Lands was a significant milestone supporting the rights of these populations. Leading the efforts to meet the World Bank's requirements was architect and urban planner Maria de Lourdes Davies de Freitas, known as Lourdinha, who was appointed as the Environmental Coordinator of the then-named Companhia Vale do Rio Doce.
Vale Archive
“With the support of the Brazilian Association of Anthropology (ABA), and in partnership with FUNAI, Lourdinha, along with architects Vania Velloso and Katia Serejo Genes, began visiting the areas that would be impacted by the development of the mine and railroad (EFC). She was assisted by various anthropologists, including Yara Ferraz from FUNAI, Lux Vidal and her daughter Isabelle Giannini, and by Antônio Carlos de Lima Venâncio, who later succeeded Lourdinha (...) and became the primary coordinator of indigenous affairs," as described by Maria de Lourdes in her memoir “Devotion of a Lifetime.”
Covering an expanse of 439,000 hectares, the Xikrin do Rio Cateté Indigenous Land was established in 1977 and officially ratified in December 1991. This indigenous community comprises approximately 1,600 individuals.
Vale Archive
Traditional Communities Support Program (PACT) promotes institutional strengthening of Social Organizations in Maranhão
The Traditional Communities Support Program (PACT) is one of Vale’s initiatives developed along the Carajás Railroad (EFC) in Maranhão, as outlined in the Basic Environmental Plan, part of the environmental licensing process. Serving 27 traditional communities—including riverside dwellers, quilombolas, and coconut breakers—in rural areas of 12 municipalities, the program operates through three main action lines: Institutional Strengthening, Productive Chain Development, and Monitoring and Evaluation.
Launched in 2014 and now in its third cycle, PACT aims to promote initiatives that enable the recognition, strengthening, and protection of the territorial, social, environmental, economic, and cultural rights of traditional communities, while respecting and valuing their sociocultural identity, organizational structures, and institutions.
With the end of the pandemic, the program—which had been conducted online—resumed in-person activities, while maintaining some hybrid formats. This approach acknowledges that broader access to connectivity has enabled greater community participation. To support this transition, Vale, through PACT, donated a multimedia kit to each community association, including a TV, notebook, and other equipment, which has helped facilitate the management activities of local Social Organizations.
This action line aims to contribute to the institutional strengthening of traditional organizations by enhancing their administrative and financial management capabilities, as well as their ability to propose, implement, monitor, and evaluate socio-environmental projects. Activities already carried out include Public Policy Workshops; Project Development and Fundraising Training; Marketing Courses; and technical advisory services in financial, legal, and accounting management, among others.
Each training session is conducted by a specialized technical team that supports the communities not only during the learning process but also afterward, providing ongoing assistance. This has fostered autonomy and development in the territories participating in the program.
Currently underway is the Public Policy Workshop Course, designed to stimulate and deepen community knowledge of public policies, encouraging leadership and local organizational engagement. These are short-term training activities that combine theoretical concepts with practical actions. Since its launch in June 2025, more than 10 workshops have been held in person, with over 162 participants.
PIPOU – Indigenous University Retention and Opportunity Program
Promoted by Vale, in partnership with the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), experts in Indigenous higher education, and representatives of the Indigenous social movement, PIPOU’s main goal is to contribute to the autonomy and empowerment of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil through education. The program aligns with the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly Article 14, which affirms the right to access education without discrimination and to establish and control their own educational systems and institutions, offering instruction in their own languages and respecting their cultural methods of teaching and learning.
Andreza Andrade/ISPN Collection - delivery of notebooks to indigenous students at UnB carried out by the PIPOU/ISPN team
The program provides financial support through monthly scholarships and a laptop, along with academic mentoring and extracurricular activities, such as tutoring in subjects where students may face challenges, and regular discussions with a council composed of Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts, Indigenous leaders, current and former scholarship recipients, as well as representatives from Vale and ISPN. These discussions aim to encourage reflection on rights based on the lived realities of Indigenous Peoples and to foster the exchange of knowledge and experiences.
Now in its fourth year, PIPOU is open to students from Indigenous Peoples across Brazil. The selection process considers each student’s life journey and their commitment to their undergraduate studies, their community, and their territory. Scholarships last for one year and may be renewed based on academic performance.
In 2025, PIPOU supports 131 students from 54 Indigenous Peoples, originating from 67 Indigenous Lands. Of the active scholarship recipients, 83 are women and 45 belong to Indigenous Peoples with established relationships with Vale, notably the Guajajara from the Rio Pindaré Indigenous Land, the Gavião from the Mãe Maria Indigenous Land, and the Tupiniquim and Guarani from the Tupiniquim and Comboios Indigenous Lands. The students are enrolled in 27 higher education institutions across the country, with the largest numbers at the Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará (Unifesspa), the University of Maranhão (Uema), and the University of Brasília (UnB). The most popular fields of study include Medicine, Law, Social Sciences, and Nursing. Since PIPOU’s launch in 2021, 23 students have graduated across 14 different degree programs.
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