Illegal gold mining continues to grow exponentially across the Amazon Basin, crossing the borders of the nine countries it encompasses, and causing far-reaching environmental and social impacts everywhere it reaches. 

“Gold mining has become a transnational activity that affects the Amazon at scale,” said Andrés Santana, Senior Manager for Combating Illegal Deforestation at Amazon Conservation. “Addressing it effectively requires coordinated action between local organizations, Indigenous leaders, scientific institutions, and governments that goes beyond national borders.”

With this shared understanding, Amazon Conservation hosted a high-impact forum in Bogotá, Colombia, with representatives from our network of local partners to strengthen regional coordination to combat illegal gold mining through science, collaboration, and collective action.

From January 28 to 30, technology, policy, and communications experts from seven Amazonian countries had the rare opportunity to share experiences, learn from one another, and advance a shared approach to address Amazon-wide gold mining deforestation, grounded in common methodologies and lessons learned.

Building on Amazon Conservation’s efforts to date to halt deforestation, our team highlighted the tools and advances that are driving progress, including Amazon Mining Watch, a new AI-based monitoring platform created jointly with Earth Genome and the Pulitzer Center, and stronger ongoing analysis from the satellite monitoring experts at our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP). 

Representatives from our partners Conservación Amazónica-ACCA, Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA, Amazon Conservation Team, Conservation Strategy Fund, Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD), Fundación EcoCiencia, Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible (FCDS), Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV), and Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) shared monitoring innovations in each country and how they are converting data into action on the ground.

For Fundación EcoCiencia, the forum reinforced why collaboration across the entire Amazon is essential. “We can’t address these threats in isolation,” said Jorge Villa, MAAP Coordinator at Fundación EcoCiencia. “Working together at an Amazon-wide level allows us to learn from what has worked and what has not, and to better engage governments across countries to combat illegal mining more effectively.”

Sessions at a glance

The technical and policy sessions were focused on strengthening regional responses to illegal gold mining across the Amazon. Topics included real-time monitoring with Amazon Mining Watch and MAAP, the use of mining impact assessment tools, coordination protocols with government 

authorities, Indigenous and civil society-led monitoring experiences, country-level responses to illegal mining, and comparative analysis of mining policies across the Amazon basin, including emerging trends in Suriname and Guyana.

The event also included a dedicated communication and advocacy session focused on strengthening the translation of scientific analyses into awareness, education, and activism to drive greater policy and field action. Representatives from the Pulitzer Center and the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS) shared successful case studies to showcase the role of investigative journalism, strategic storytelling, and data-driven narratives to inform public opinion and influence decision-making. Building on each other’s experience, participants took vital steps to develop a common communication strategy to support coordinated advocacy and policy efforts at national and pan-Amazonian scales. By bringing together fellow civil society organizations, Indigenous leaders, and technical experts, the forum marked an important step toward deeper regional collaboration to combat illegal gold mining and protect the Amazon.

This forum was made possible by generous support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Drawing on 24 years of satellite data, the analysis maps gold-mining deforestation across the country and shows recent incursions into protected areas.

A new analysis by Amazon Conservation Association’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP), combining over two decades’ worth of satellite data with recent AI monitoring results from Amazon Mining Watch, reveals that gold mining has impacted an estimated 92,000 hectares (approximately 227,000 acres) of forest in Suriname over the past 24 years, an area larger than New York City.

Just as similar MAAP analyses have revealed rapid expansions of gold mining across the Amazon in countries such as Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, the data now show a comparable pattern emerging in Suriname.

Using high-resolution satellite imagery dating back to 2001, this report provides the first comprehensive, data-driven assessment focused exclusively on deforestation caused by gold mining activities in the Surinamese Amazon. The long-term historical analysis is based on data from the University of Maryland, while evidence of new mining activity is provided by Amazon Mining Watch, a recently launched AI platform developed through a partnership between Amazon Conservation Association, Earth Genome, and the Rainforest Investigations Network of the Pulitzer Center, with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. A gold mining path is clearly visible in the satellite images. 

Approximately 3,000 hectares (equivalent to 7,400 acres) of new gold mining deforestation have been detected over the past five years, with activity increasingly encroaching on protected areas. In recent years, nearly 10% of Brownsberg Nature Park has been affected by mining-driven deforestation, while Brinckheuvel Nature Reserve is beginning to experience a mining invasion, highlighting growing pressure on conservation areas.

“The intensifying gold mining deforestation in Suriname is particularly concerning,” notes Matt Finer, Senior Research Specialist and Director of Amazon Conservation Association’s MAAP initiative. “It reflects the same expanding pattern that we have heavily documented in other Amazonian countries, including Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. This deforestation is having a devastating impact on many iconic protected areas such as Brownsberg Nature Park.”

Turning Information into Action

These findings have already contributed to ongoing dialogues with key decision makers in Suriname. A confidential report based on this analysis was shared with the Surinamese government, helping inform discussions on responses to illegal gold mining in the region. According to Finer, “this type of precise monitoring is essential for enabling authorities and partners on the ground to respond more effectively to illegal mining and prevent irreversible environmental damage.” In response to this report and related information, the Suriname government has indicated plans to tighten its approach to illegal gold mining in Brownsberg Nature Park.

This analysis was developed in collaboration with Amazon Conservation Association’s local partner, Amazon Conservation Team, and was generously made possible by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Read the full report here: https://www.maapprogram.org/gold-mining-suriname/ 

About Amazon Conservation Association, MAAP, and Amazon Mining Watch

Amazon Conservation is an international conservation nonprofit that has worked for more than 25 years to build a thriving Amazon. Its holistic approach focuses on partnering with local organizations and allies to protect wild places, empower people, and put science and technology to work for conservation.

As part of Amazon Conservation’s efforts to use the latest in science and technology for conservation, the organization leads initiatives such as the Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP) and Amazon Mining Watch. MAAP provides cutting-edge, real-time technical analysis to report on the most urgent cases of deforestation and fires across the Amazon, using the latest satellite-based technology, and produces pan-Amazonian reports on basin-wide issues – such as unsustainable infrastructure, agricultural expansion, and climate change impacts – to drive conservation and policy action. Amazon Mining Watch, a collaboration between Amazon Conservation Association, Earth Genome, and the Pulitzer Center, complements this work by integrating near-real-time AI-based detection of new gold mining activity with land-designation and policy data, helping assess whether mining is likely unauthorized or illegal, and estimating the socio-environmental costs of mining impacts for a more robust analysis. Together, these tools strengthen transparency, accountability, and decision-making to help protect priority areas in the Amazon before irreversible damage occurs.

For more information, visit amazonconservation.org.

Press Contacts

Priscila Steffen, Communications & Public Relations Manager: info@amazonconservation.org.

 

 

 

In 2025, your support to Amazon Conservation made meaningful results possible across the Amazon Rainforest, strengthening local people’s ability to defend their forests, expanding protected areas, and elevating Indigenous leadership, while ensuring that science, partnerships, and action moved forward together. Here are some highlights of what we achieved together during our 25th anniversary year. 

Through our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP), we produced 232 analyses last year to pinpoint the most urgent deforestation cases across the Amazon. 219 of those were confidential intelligence briefs sent directly to government agencies or local community leaders across 6 Amazonian countries to help them take swift action against illegal activities destroying the forest. These reports prompted 171 government responses and enforcement actions, including 18 on-the-ground operations targeting illegal mining activities.

We also expanded our regional reach, working alongside more than 20 local partners and Indigenous leaders to strengthen their ability to defend their forest homes with real-time satellite monitoring, legal support, and technical training, effectively monitoring 478 million acres of forest in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

At the same time, your support helped secure lasting protection on the ground. In 2025, four new conservation areas safeguarded over 3 million acres in Bolivia and Peru, while Indigenous communities in Bolivia’s Tacana II territory achieved a historic land title victory that now guarantees their legal right to steward their ancestral lands after two decades of advocacy.

 Our science also reached the global stage. Our analysis on the impact of “flying rivers” to generate rainfall and where conservation gaps threaten to accelerate the forest’s tipping point was heavily highlighted by the media and at COP30, which elevated the conservation needs of the Amazon to key decision makers.  

And in partnership with Earth Genome and the Pulitzer Center, we launched Amazon Mining Watch, an AI-powered platform offering the most comprehensive basin-wide picture of gold mining deforestation to date. This tool you enabled will be vital for policymakers and journalists to inform decisions and investigative reporting on the conservation impacts and the socio-environmental costs of illegal gold mining. 

Each analysis, each acre protected, and each territory secured represents more than a statistic. It reflects Indigenous leadership, stronger governance, and a more resilient Amazon, made possible because of you. As we look ahead, we invite you to continue walking alongside us. The Amazon’s future depends on sustained action, and your partnership ensures that progress continues in protecting forests, empowering Indigenous guardians, and securing a resilient future for us all.

Thank you for standing with us!

 

 

 

 

 

On this day of giving thanks, we pause to honor the people who make meaningful work possible. For us, that includes you.

Across the Bolivian and Peruvian Amazon, our partners wanted to share something simple yet profound: their gratitude. Today, we bring you a short video with messages from forest stewards, Indigenous leaders, forest producers, and families whose daily efforts keep the Amazon resilient. Their words come directly from the field and speak for themselves.

Why Your Support Matters

Because of supporters like you, communities across the Amazon are building sustainable livelihoods that keep forests standing. You help ensure that local and Indigenous leaders have the tools needed to defend their territories. You help strengthen the technology and networks needed to confront the greatest threats to the forest. And you help safeguard one of the world’s most vital ecosystems for generations to come.

Your generosity doesn’t just protect trees—it protects opportunities, dignity, and dreams.

A Message From the Amazon to You

We invite you to take a moment to watch the video below and hear gratitude directly from our partners on the ground. Their voices say it better than we ever could.

From All of Us, With Thanks

As you gather with loved ones today, know that your compassion stretches far beyond your table. It reaches deep into the Amazon, where your support is helping build thriving and resilient communities and forests.

Thank you for standing with the Amazon—today and every day.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Amazon Conservation.

 

 

 

When COP30 opened its doors in Belém, Brazil, the first United Nations climate summit ever held in the Amazon, it became clear that the world had arrived not only to negotiate but also to listen. With more than 190 countries represented, over 50,000 delegates gathered, and historic participation from more than 2,500 Indigenous leaders,  this COP took on a different tone: grounded in territory, science, and lived experience.

For Amazon Conservation, the summit reinforced a message we have carried for more than 25 years: the Amazon’s future depends on collaboration across borders and sectors. Throughout the week, our events at the Socioenvironmental Journalism House, the Center for Climate Crisis Analysis (CCCA) Climate Hub, and the Colombian Pavilion brought scientists, journalists, civil society and grassroots organizations, policymakers, and forest-based specialists together to discuss actionable solutions for the region.

Science, Monitoring, and Regional Leadership

 

Working alongside our sister organizations Conservación Amazónica-ACCA (Peru) and Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA (Bolivia), we contributed to multiple science-driven discussions throughout COP30. At the session “Amazon Tipping Point at a Bay,” Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA’s Executive Director Marcos Terán emphasized that the tipping point is not only an ecological threshold but also a social one. He noted that “as climate impacts intensify, entire communities and even industries in the eastern Amazon may be forced to migrate westward, accelerating existing pressures. Financial mechanisms must also support this social dimension — including restoration and the needs of climate migrants.”

Building on this regional perspective, Luciana Gatti, from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) connected 46 years of atmospheric and climate data to the findings of our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program’s (MAAP) findings on drying patterns and vulnerability. She emphasized that “the more deforested a region is, the more rainfall it loses and the more its temperature increases — especially during the dry season. The time for action is now.”

 

Amazon Mining Watch and Environmental Crime

 

Illegal gold mining was a notable common concern throughout discussions on governance and environmental crime. Amazon Mining Watch (AMW), which we developed with Earth Genome and the Pulitzer Center and implemented with partners such as Fundación EcoCiencia and Instituto Centro de Vida, became an essential tool for journalists, civil society, and Indigenous organizations to address these concerns.

Carmen Josse, Executive Director at Fundación EcoCiencia, highlighted AMW’s added value for cross-border collaboration. She noted that “the platform’s ability to compare legal, fiscal, and enforcement frameworks across countries using the same methodology is extremely valuable, and it helps promote dialogue between authorities in neighboring countries.”

Maria Franco Chuaire, Program Officer at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, reinforced the need for basin-wide coordination: “We need basin-wide solutions, and this alliance with Amazon Conservation — which works with organizations across different countries — is essential to address both local challenges and shared challenges that require transboundary and connected responses.”

We also supported a civil society mapping effort in a working group at COP, for which we are now gathering information for the next steps of the World Bank’s Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program (ASL) to coordinate responses to environmental crime.

 

Forest-Based Economies and Local Leadership

Conversations about sustainable value chains of Amazon forest products, including Brazil nuts, açaí, cacao, and others, drew on more than a decade of work by our sister organizations Conservación Amazónica-ACCA and Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA in the Madre de Dios–Acre–Pando (MAP) region that covers an overlapping intersection of forest in Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia. Their experience supporting community-led production, expanding market access, and building climate resilience helped guide discussions about expanding forest-based economies, including in Brazil.

Across all sessions, one message remained clear: sustainable livelihoods must be built with local people at the center.

More than 200 participants joined us for six events we co-hosted, while another 60 partners gathered at our networking reception focused on halting illegal deforestation. Leaders from the Norwegian Development Agency (NICFI), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and others emphasized long-term collaboration and trust. At the reception, Amazon Conservation President John Beavers reflected on how our approach is resonating across the basin, noting that “the great take-home is that there is great enthusiasm for the work we’re doing.Really, it’s about people; it’s about keeping those forests standing — whether it is applying the law or building a forest-based economy. We feel there is a lot of echo for what we’ve been saying in the region, and we feel great about the new partnerships we’re building and what the future holds for the Amazon.”

Outcomes of COP30

According to the United Nations, countries committed to mobilizing a collective $1.3 trillion annually by 2035; doubling adaptation finance by 2025 to build climate resilience, then tripling it by 2035; operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund; launching the Global Implementation Accelerator; and establishing the Belém Mission to 1.5°C (34.7°F). Countries also pledged for the first time to counter climate disinformation.

However, the absence of a commitment to phase out fossil fuels — an objective supported by more than 80 countries — highlighted a major gap. Brazil announced plans for two new roadmaps: one to halt and reverse Amazon deforestation, and another to guide a just transition away from fossil fuels.

Looking Ahead

From science and monitoring to community-led economies and coordinated action on environmental crime, Amazon Conservation and our partners brought a unified, regionally grounded perspective to COP30. As the world moves on from negotiation towards implementation, we will continue working alongside the people who protect the Amazon every day.

Also, check out the InfoAmazonia story “At COP30, Researchers Call for Expansion of Brazil’s Zero Deforestation Target by 2030″ produced with Amazon Conservation scientific support by clicking here. 

 

The new Policy Tracker and Scoreboard reveal how Amazonian countries regulate mercury and gold mining, fostering accountability and better environmental governance.

From November 3 to 7, 2025, the 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury took place in Geneva, Switzerland,. The Minamata Convention is a global treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of mercury. At this year’s “COP6”, Amazon Conservation presented the development of our Policy Tracker and Scoreboard on Gold Mining Governance Across the Amazon during the Knowledge Lab organized by Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and the Conservation Strategy Fund.

Through this initiative, Amazon Conservation aims to strengthen the Amazon Mining Watch platform by offering a comparative tool that enables users to explore national legislations and policies across Amazonian countries, fostering a more transparent and sustainable path for the gold mining sector.

The session brought together participants and stakeholders to discuss how the Policy Tracker and Scoreboard, to be embedded on Amazon Mining Watch, can help combat mercury use in mining. By visualizing geospatial data on mining areas and analyzing how countries regulate illegal gold mining and mercury use, Amazon Conservation seeks to promote transparency, inspire policy improvements through emulation of good practices, and support greater alignment between national frameworks and international environmental standards.

 

 

 

8-part video collaboration launched on November 4, 2025, rolling out a new episode twice a week through November 26. 

The series began with an official pre-release episode, Rainforests: Guardians of Earth’s Balance – A Journey from Hawaii to the Amazon, set in Waimea Valley, Hawaii.

 

 

Standing amid the lush rainforests of the Waimea Valley, the importance of preserving tropical ecosystems becomes immediately clear. Inspired by these forests in Hawai‘i, a new eight-part video series begins a journey to the Amazon Rainforest, one of the planet’s most critical life-support systems, which is now approaching an irreversible tipping point.

The series was conceived by Heather Murata, founder of EcoWellness Journeys, who sought to create a program that could inspire global audiences to learn about and protect the Amazon. To ensure scientific accuracy and on-the-ground expertise, Murata partnered with Amazon Conservation, a nonprofit with over 25 years of experience safeguarding the rainforest through real-time satellite monitoring, Indigenous partnerships, and habitat restoration.

The result is a strategic collaboration that blends Murata’s concept, storytelling, and production with Amazon Conservation’s field-based knowledge to produce a visually rich, educational, and emotionally compelling series. Viewers are taken from Waimea Valley to the heart of the Amazon, exploring its biodiversity, learning from Indigenous stewards, and understanding the urgent need for action to protect this irreplaceable ecosystem for future generations.

Release Schedule

• Oct 23 – Series Premiere: From Hawai‘i to the Amazon – Why Rainforest Protection Matters
• Nov 4 – Episode 1: Amazon Teetering on the Brink? — The urgent truth about deforestation and climate change.
• Nov 6 – Episode 2: Revealing Nature’s Pharmacy — The rainforest’s hidden medical potential—and why it’s at risk.
• Nov 11 – Episode 3: Beautiful Guardians of Life — Why the Amazon’s biodiversity is essential to us all.
• Nov 13 – Episode 4: Unsurpassed Wisdom of the Forest — How Indigenous cultures lead in conservation.
• Nov 18 – Episode 5: Silent Casualties: Wildlife Loss from Deforestation — The devastating impact on wildlife.
• Nov 20 – Episode 6: The Miracle Breath — How the Amazon shapes our weather and climate.
• Nov 25 – Episode 7: The Amazon Under Siege — The truth about illegal exploitation and its consequences.
• Nov 26 – Episode 8: How to Be a Voice for the Amazon — Practical tips to make a difference from anywhere.

 

Why It Matters

A thriving Amazon Rainforest matters to the people who live there, to the countries it encompasses, and to the entire world. The Amazon contains the single largest tropical rainforest on the planet. Covering about 40% of the South American continent, it spans more than 1.6 billion acres across nine countries. Stretching east from the foothills of the Andes Mountains, the upland glaciers, streams, and wetlands feed the Amazon Rivers that wind all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, creating the world’s largest river basin. The Amazon’s forests and waters make it the most important terrestrial biome on the planet.

Yet the Amazon is getting closer to its “tipping point”— when it will no longer be able to generate its own rainfall and support its rainforest ecosystems. Estimates place the current deforestation level of the Amazon at 17%, while its tipping point is estimated at 20-25%. If the tipping point is surpassed, the largest rainforest on Earth could become—at best—a dry grassland. Urgent action is needed now to prevent reaching this irreversible point of no return.

How to Watch & Take Action

The 8-part series, Amazon Rainforest & Beyond: Conservation Series, premiered on November 4, 2025 on YouTube. 

With the holiday season approaching, viewers have an opportunity to turn inspiration into impact. By supporting Amazon Conservation, you can help protect forests and habitat, sustain Indigenous and local communities, and ensure the Amazon’s vital ecosystems and wildlife continue to thrive. Donations can also be made in honor of a loved one, creating a meaningful gift that contributes to lasting change.

Support the Amazon here:

Donate Today

About EcoWellness Journeys

EcoWellness Journeys creates inspiring, educational content that explores the vital connection between human and planetary health, offering stories and actionable steps for living in harmony with the Earth. Their mission is to inspire healthier, more sustainable lives by exploring the symbiotic relationship between Mind, Body, Spirit, and Planet.

 

About Amazon Conservation

For over 25 years, Amazon Conservation has worked to unite science, innovation, and people to protect the Amazon – the greatest wild forest on Earth. We envision a thriving Amazon that sustains the full diversity of life. Amazon Conservation’s focus on protecting wild places, empowering local people and putting science and technology to work has been shaped by the people and land where we began.

 

 

Behind every success at Amazon Conservation is an array of individuals with a shared passion for the Amazon: our generous donors and funders, dedicated staff (bothon the ground in Latin America and at our headquarters in Washington,DC), and world-class Board of Directors. Our Board brings together passionate leaders in science, business, and conservation who selflessly lend their invaluable expertise, vision, and financial support to help protect the rainforest we all love and the people who depend on it.

Andrew Wilcox hit the ground running when he joined the Amazon Conservation Board not too long ago in 2023. Andrew boasts an extensive background in the field of bioeconomy, including in the Amazon, with professional experience in the sustainable commercialization of forest products such as açaí and Brazil nuts — a perfect complement to our forest-based economy initiative. He’s been hard at work behind the scenes at Amazon Conservation, actively leading several exciting pilot projects within the Board.

Keep reading to discover how Andrew found his way from the concrete jungle of New York City to the forests of the Amazon – and to Amazon Conservation!

 

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Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but some of my happiest memories are from summers spent exploring the Housatonic River in Connecticut, which sparked my lifelong curiosity about and love of nature. After studying Economics and History in undergrad, I joined the Peace Corps and spent more than half a decade living and working in rural Latin America (Paraguay, Peru, and Brazil), followed by two years on an organic farm in New York’s Hudson Valley. Later, I earned Master’s degrees in Sustainability and Forestry, worked at a nature- and space-tech startup, and eventually joined Unilever, where I’ve spent the past eight years sourcing ingredients and commodities sustainably, from palm oil in Indonesia to soybeans in Iowa. My current role is Associate Director of Sustainability for Procurement Strategy & Insights at Unilever.

These days, I live outside Boston with my wife and young daughter. And a fun family fact: one of my distant ancestors actually explored and mapped parts of the northeastern Amazon back in the 1600s in what’s now the Brazilian state of Amapá!

 

What sparked your interest in conservation?

I’ve had an affinity for nature since childhood, but my first hands-on experience with conservation (or what I like to call “applied nature”) came during my Peace Corps service in Paraguay. I learned so much from the Paraguayans’ deep connection to nature – especially medicinal plants (“pohã” in the native Guarani language) — knowledge I applied when starting a business exporting yerba mate, a caffeinated herbal tea endemic to South America, to a new US consumer market. While operating my yerba mate business, I focused heavily on the lessons I’d learned from local Indigenous peoples with regard to agroforestry, novel ingredients, and the reforestation of key watersheds in the eastern Amazon. 

How did you first connect with Amazon Conservation? 

After my yerba mate business ended, I decided to take a leap of faith and follow a lifelong dream: I went to “the greatest wild forest on Earth.” Amazon Conservation was well-established by then, so I found Amazon Conservation through my online research and applied for a volunteer position at the Manu Biological Station in Peru. I eventually managed a project focused on improving soils for sustainable agriculture and had the incredible opportunity to learn directly from Amazon Conservation’s co-founders, Adrian Forsyth and Enrique Ortiz, whose mentorship played a formative role in how I think about the Amazon, sustainability, and life. 

From your perspective as a Board Member, what is it that sets Amazon Conservation apart from other similar organizations?

Reaching 25 years is an amazing accomplishment! But what really stands out to me is how Amazon Conservation combines innovation with deep community partnership. From deforestation monitoring to expanding the bioeconomy, Amazon Conservation ensures that technology isn’t just state-of-the-art, but also that it’s accessible to and scalable for the people who live and work in the Amazon. To me, as someone who has spent a significant portion of my career working with technology – in big corporations, startups, and academic research – it is that human-centered approach to conservation that truly makes Amazon Conservation exceptional.

What have you learned from your Board service thus far?

That relationships are everything. Lasting conservation isn’t just about protecting forests; it’s about nurturing the relationships that make protection possible. Amazon Conservation’s widespread impact is possible only thanks to close collaboration with our sister organizations in Peru (Conservación Amazónica–ACCA) and Bolivia (Conservación Amazónica–ACEAA), alongside all of our collective networks of local partners. Having an organization in the Global North working with organizations in the Global South on a complementary and co-equal basis is a unique and potent collaborative model that we believe is the most effective pathway for positive impact – and the whole enterprise relies on good, trusting relationships. 

Why is our mission of protecting the Amazon so important?

The Amazon is essential for life on Earth. It stores vast amounts of carbon, regulates rainfall across South America, and sustains millions of people and an unparalleled diversity of species. But beyond its global importance, the Amazon is a place of transcendental beauty, awesome scale, and inconceivable creativity in both the life strategies of the plants and animals it supports and the cultural expressions of the Indigenous and traditional communities that call it home. It’s an irreplaceable part of the Earth’s patrimony that we share with all life. I challenge anyone to go to the Amazon and not walk away convinced that it must be protected.

What advice would you give to others seeking to make a difference? 

Support Amazon Conservation! But beyond donating, simply learning about the Amazon – caring about it and sharing that passion with others – makes a big impact. Awareness leads to action, and it takes ongoing attention and focus to stay engaged with what really matters. Attention is the scarcest resource of all these days, but if we stay committed for the long haul, we can build a future for the Amazon, and for the world, that’s both prosperous and sustainable.

Is there anything else you’d like people to know about Amazon Conservation? 

Despite our name, Amazon Conservation isn’t just about protecting forests; it’s about reimagining what development can look like. The Amazon can and should contribute to human wellbeing and prosperity, but in ways that regenerate, not deplete, its natural and human capital. Currently, huge swaths of the Amazon are still being converted to cattle pastures, soybean fields, and gold mining, all of which are extractive in nature. But it doesn’t have to be this way; there is a path forward in which the region benefits from producing high-demand materials in such a way that regenerates the natural and human capital required for production. The transition starts small, maybe with a handful of Brazil nuts or an açaí smoothie, but it leads to something much bigger: a new vision for the region’s future that’s as dynamic, abundant, and beautiful as the forest itself. 

As Andrew’s journey shows, lasting change for the Amazon starts with people who care deeply, think creatively, and act boldly. Join us in protecting this irreplaceable forest and the people and nature that depend on it by making a tax-deductible gift to Amazon Conservation today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a milestone for Bolivian Amazon conservation, local communities and the Municipal Government of Nueva Esperanza, with support from our sister organization Conservación Amazónica–ACEAA and the Andes Amazon Fund, have joined forces to establish the Río Negro Forest for Integrated Management and Ecotourism (called BAMIT Río Negro). This new protected area strengthens conservation and sustainable development in northern Bolivia’s Amazon.

Spanning more than 209,000 hectares (approximately 516,000 acres), this community-driven initiative was established in response to growing environmental threats to the region, including wildfires, illegal mining, deforestation, and land invasions. The Río Negro Forest will serve as a cornerstone for biodiversity protection, sustainable livelihoods, and the preservation of Bolivia’s Amazonian cultural heritage.

A Natural and Cultural Treasure

The protected area is home to unique ecosystems, including Brazil nut forests (Bertholletia excelsa), flood-prone palm groves, floodplains, and ancient geological formations. In addition, researchers have identified petroglyphs and megalithic structures that reveal the ancestral presence of Indigenous peoples such as the Tacanas, Esse Ejjas, Pacahuaras, Cavineños, Yaminahuas, and Machineri.  

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Community Participation and Shared Commitment

The creation of the Río Negro Forest was the result of a collaborative, participatory process involving Indigenous and campesino (rural farming) communities, social organizations, and the Nueva Esperanza FarmWorkers Union.

Throughout this journey, Conservación Amazónica–ACEAA provided technical and strategic support to help design and consolidate the proposal. The Municipal Government will lead the management of the area with support from  local committees, technical coordination teams, and an environmental volunteer program that will strengthen monitoring, enforcement, and education.

A Model for the Future of Conservation

Now part of Bolivia’s National System of Protected Areas, the Río Negro Forest will be managed through a management plan, zoning system, and strategic agenda aimed at ensuring the long-term conservation and sustainable use of its natural resources.

This initiative promotes food security, sustainable economic opportunities, and a balanced relationship between people and nature. It stands as a forward-looking model for conservation, reaffirming Nueva Esperanza’s and its allies’ commitment to protecting the natural and cultural richness of the Amazon for generations to come.

Amazon Conservation is proud to have supported this milestone through the Amazon Conservation Alliance, working alongside its sister organization Conservación Amazónica–ACEAA in Bolivia and local partners to strengthen community-led conservation efforts across the Amazon.

 

 

Groundbreaking analysis shows how the “rivers in the sky” connect the fate of  the entire rainforest and identify which regions are most at risk.

Washington, DC, 16 Sept 2025 – The Amazon will not collapse everywhere at the same time. A new special report by Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP) reveals how “flying rivers” determine which regions of the Amazon are most at risk of reaching the tipping point that will turn irreplaceable rainforests into dry savannas.

“Flying rivers” are moisture highways in the atmosphere, like rivers of rain in the sky, that travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes Mountains and provide vital water resources to the nine countries that form the Amazon Basin. They are the silent and invisible force that drives the water cycle of the entire region, making the rainfall that gives the Amazon its title of “rainforest” possible. As this delicate “flying river” is disrupted by human-caused deforestation and the effects of climate change, the impact on people, nature, and wildlife will be catastrophic, potentially including species extinction, increased droughts and lack of water access, and the end of the forest as we know it. 

Amazon Conservation’s latest analysis has identified that key areas of the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon are most susceptible to the negative consequences of the breakdown of the region’s flying rivers. This includes areas in southern Peru and northern Bolivia that are home to some of the most iconic and biodiverse places on the planet, such as Manu National Park and Madidi National Park, which together protect 8.9 million acres of rich forests from the high Andes to the lowland Amazon. 

Corine Vriesendorp, Director of Science at Amazon Conservation’s Peruvian sister organization Conservación Amazónica-ACCA, oversees three biological stations along an altitudinal gradient near Manu National Park: “This research shows that some of the most wild places on the planet, like Manu, are at tremendous risk. We need to come together across the whole Amazon to protect these increible flying rivers to have a chance to avoid the tipping point.” The areas identified by this report as most vulnerable to a possible tipping point directly depend on the continued, uninterrupted water cycle provided by these flying rivers, which begins in Amazonian countries that border the Atlantic Ocean, like Brazil and Guyana. The state of deforestation and conservation in these countries on the “eastern” side of the Amazon will determine how much water will get to countries on the “western” side of the region – like Peru and Bolivia – showing the interconnectedness of the rainforest’s ecosystems that goes beyond country borders.

A threat that crosses borders

“The western Amazon relies on flying rivers to bring water all the way from the Atlantic Ocean, crossing millions of acres of forests in the eastern Amazon before it gets there,” said lead author Matt Finer, Senior Research Specialist and Director of Amazon Conservation’s MAAP initiative. “So the survival of rainforests in Peru and Bolivia actually depends on intact forests in Brazil to the east, since if those forests are destroyed, the water cycle that creates the flying rivers is broken, and it can’t reach the western Amazon. It’s all connected.”

Finer highlights that an important contribution of this analysis is that it reveals that, contrary to the common misconception that the tipping point will happen suddenly and uniformly across the region, it will likely happen progressively, beginning in particularly vulnerable areas and escalating from there.  

         

Seasonal shifts will also intensify the impact on these vulnerable areas. As rainforests tend to experience only two seasons (wet, or rainy, and dry seasons), the amount of water carried through the flying rivers is significantly limited during dry seasons, and exacerbated by human-caused deforestation and the effects of climate change, such as droughts.

Daniel M. Larrea, Director of Science and Technology at Amazon Conservation’s Bolivian sister organization Conservación Amazónica–ACEAA, added that  “this report sheds light on the critical role that flying rivers play in preserving standing forests and water access in the Amazon. Understanding their dynamics allows us to better protect vulnerable regions in Peru and Bolivia, where conservation is not only a local priority but a regional imperative. Science, innovation, and technology must guide our actions to ensure these forests can survive and thrive for generations to come.”

Urgent call in the run-up to COP30

These findings come at a crucial moment, with COP30 approaching in Belém and countries negotiating their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which establish their climate action plans under the Paris Agreement. It highlights how forest conservation is central not only to climate goals but also to the water security for the millions of people and wildlife that call the Amazon home and for the collective survival of entire ecosystems across country borders. Decisions and policies made by Brazilian authorities will directly shape rainfall patterns in neighboring countries, making international cooperation essential.

This groundbreaking analysis was made possible by the Leo Model Foundation, in collaboration with nine scientists and researchers from across the Amazon Basin. It represents the first comprehensive mapping of flying rivers across wet, dry, and transition seasons, with an extensive literature review.

Read the full report here. 

About MAAP
Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), an initiative of Amazon Conservation, Conservación Amazónica–ACCA (Peru), and Conservación Amazónica–ACEAA (Bolivia), provides cutting-edge, real-time technical analysis on deforestation and fires across the Amazon. MAAP uses satellite imagery, data science, and field information to generate timely reports that support conservation action and policy.

About Amazon Conservation Association
Amazon Conservation is an international conservation nonprofit working for the past 25 years towards building a thriving Amazon. The organization’s holistic approach focuses on working with local partners and allies to protect wild places, empower people, and put science and technology to work for conservation. Visit amazonconservation.org for more information.