 Due to this appropriation of Maleku lands, 62% of residents in the legally designated Maleku reserve currently are non-Maleku.Surrounding fields have been sold to farmers who have cleared the Maleku forest to raise cattle.The Maleku therefore use most of the money they earn to buy back the land they consider to be theirs, particularly to support their devotion to reforestation efforts like planting trees on the lands they reclaim.