Surging global appetite for ayahuasca amid the psychedelic renaissance has now summoned an event of unprecedented scale and character, one that places the psychoactive medicine’s original guardians in charge of the conversation.
Next month, the first World Ayahuasca Forum will arrive in Girona, Spain. From Sept. 11 to 13, with pre-forum activities on the 9th and 10th, more than 100 Indigenous spiritual leaders from the Amazon and beyond will gather at the city’s Palau de Congressos and Fira conference and exhibition centres.
Co-organised by the Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute, the Nixiwaka Institute, and the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service (ICEERS), the forum places Indigenous leadership at the centre. Participants will explore ethics, safety, integration, regulation and intercultural alliances through dialogue, presentations, music, dance, visual arts and traditional showcases. No ceremonies or ayahuasca will be offered; the focus is on dialogue and collective strategy with a “New Time of Alliance” theme.
The visionary behind the gathering is Benki Piyãko, an Ashaninka spiritual leader from Brazil’s Acre state. He founded the Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute to advance reforestation, agroforestry and the transmission of traditional knowledge. Piyãko previously initiated a series of Indigenous Ayahuasca Conferences that began in 2017. Earlier this year, Japan’s Niwano Peace Foundation non-profit awarded him its 43rd Peace Prize for his sustained defence of Indigenous land and culture and his pioneering environmental work.
“A large delegation of Indigenous Leaders — guardians of sophisticated ancestral sciences and technologies of healing, equilibrium and the spiritual underpinnings of Life — are leaving their territories to gather with us and plant the seeds for this New Time of Alliance together,” commented American psychedelics and cannabis lawyer Sean T. McAllister.
Ayahuasca has been prepared for centuries by Indigenous peoples across the Amazon basin, primarily in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. In these countries traditional and religious use enjoys legal protection. Brazil recognises it for religious practice, Peru declared it part of the nation’s cultural heritage in 2008, and Colombia and Ecuador safeguard it under Indigenous rights frameworks. The resulting tourism draws tens of thousands of visitors annually, with Peru alone estimated to have hosted more than 36,000 people at retreat centres in 2019 (according to ICEERS). Outside these contexts the brew occupies a legal grey area in much of the world because it contains the illegal psychedelic drug DMT.
Earlier gatherings now look modest by comparison. ICEERS organised World Ayahuasca Conferences in Ibiza in 2014 (with around 700 participants), Rio Branco in 2016, and Girona in 2019 (1,400 people). Brazil’s Indigenous Ayahuasca Conferences, held since 2017, remained smaller and regionally focused. With roughly 2,000 people expected in September, the new forum is slated to dwarf these predecessors.
The timing is fitting as rising global demand has begun to strain the wild populations of Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, the plants that form the brew. This strain has raised fears of scarcity and the erosion of associated knowledge systems. At the same time, high-profile tragic incidents at retreat centres — including a fatal combination of ayahuasca and frog venom (kambo) in Australia (2021) and a violent attack during a ceremony in Florida (2024) — have sharpened concerns about safety.
The forum should offer Indigenous leaders a platform to address these pressures and to help shape a more responsible future for the medicine that has been integral to their cultures for generations. Tickets are currently going for US$577.
Our friend Alexander Boëthus shared this beautiful video he made for the World Ayahuasca Forum. 🌿
Girona, Spain, Sept 11-13. Ancestral voices, researchers, artists and allies gathering for a new time of alliance. Dennis McKenna among them.https://t.co/0ygN6nMPOW pic.twitter.com/DdtjuYhZcv
— McKenna Academy (@MckennaAcademy) August 8, 2026
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