On

Miguel Barrella Filho , Founder of AFS Amazon Sustainable Forest
Lawyer, writer, filmmaker, musician — Citizen of the world rooted in the Amazon

Miguel Barrella Filho, an Italian-Amazonian born and resident in Manaus, is a lawyer with 40 years of experience, graduated from the Amazonas Law University. His career includes specializations in Amazonian Law — a pioneering discipline that laid the foundations for Sustainable Development Law —, International Law, Indigenous Law and Business Law, in addition to extensive forays into the fields of literature, cinema and music.

His education is intertwined with the rich intellectual tradition of the Amazon, cultivated by movements such as the Clube da Madrugada, whose meetings under the Pé de Mulateiro in Praça da Polícia gave voice to a robust Amazonian literature and culture, marked by poets, lawyers, economists and writers committed to the preservation and renewal of regional identity.

Over the course of his four-decade career, Miguel has specialized in defending the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities, working on issues such as:

• Brazilian environmental legislation;

• Sustainable management of natural resources;

• Creation and consolidation of Extractive Reserves, such as Xixuaú and Jauaperi;

• Projects such as CAPC - Pari Cachoeira Agro Mineral Cooperative (Tukanos of the Tiquié River, Upper Rio Negro);

• Territorial defense in Serra do Traíra, on the Brazil-Colombia border;

• Land regularization of traditional Amazonian communities.

Its actions have always been guided by a humanist vision, promoting sustainable economic development and valuing the creativity and knowledge of the people of the Amazon.