April is not just a time for spring blossoms and warmer weather—it’s also Earth Month, a time to reflect on our planet’s incredible biodiversity and the urgent need to protect it. The Amazon’s rich biodiversity and all that depend on it – including local families, wildlife, and the world’s ability to regulate climate change – are under threat from a variety of drivers, one of the most significant being nature crimes. These illegal activities, ranging from illegal wildlife trafficking to deforestation, not only pose a severe threat to the overall forest cover of the Amazon and ecosystems worldwide but also undermine the conservation efforts and progress that have taken decades to put in place. 

As we delve into Earth Month, we want to highlight how combating these nature crimes is essential for safeguarding biodiversity and how our working as a founding member of the recently-established Nature Crime Alliance is a crucial next step in protecting biodiversity across the Amazon.

Deforestation: A Global Challenge

Some of the leading drivers of deforestation in the Amazon are criminal forms of logging, mining, fishing, wildlife trade, and land conversion. These nature crimes frequently converge with each other and other forms of international criminal activity. 

The region’s forests are biodiversity hotspots, teeming with life found nowhere else. However, rampant deforestation threatens this biodiversity, pushing species to the brink of extinction.

Combating deforestation requires a multifaceted approach since local law enforcement and environmental agencies responsible for addressing nature crimes are often underfunded, understaffed, overworked, and exacerbated by how commonplace corruption is. With this myriad of challenges in fighting illegal activities, joint efforts between civil society organizations, local communities, and governments are crucial to effectively combat the alarmingly increasing rates of illegal deforestation and nature crimes through real-time satellite monitoring, swift action on the ground, and reinforcing local land and territorial rights.

Through our Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Program and our integral role with the Nature Crime Alliance, we are working alongside local families, Indigenous communities, and regional governmental agencies to quickly identify and halt harmful economic activities that contribute to deforestation, offering a path toward both climate action and biodiversity preservation.

The Price of Biodiversity Loss

Biodiversity is the foundation of all healthy ecosystems. It encompasses all living organisms from microscopic bacteria to towering trees — each of which plays a vital role in maintaining ecological balance. When biodiversity is lost, ecosystems become vulnerable. This vulnerability extends to the well-being of humans, impacting our food security, water quality, and resilience to natural disasters.

Nature crimes drastically affect biodiversity loss by directly targeting unique species and key habitats. Poaching, for example, decimates populations of iconic species like the jaguar, Andean bear, and tropical birds. Deforestation, often driven by illegal logging, destroys the homes of countless plant and animal species. These crimes don’t just harm wildlife; they disrupt entire ecosystems, leading to a domino effect of environmental degradation.

The Link to Climate Change

Beyond the immediate loss of species and habitats, nature crimes have broader implications, including their contribution to climate change. Deforestation, for instance, not only destroys biodiversity-rich ecosystems but also releases stored carbon into the atmosphere, intensifying the effects of global warming. 

Unchecked agricultural activities can also speed up the destruction of critical ecosystems, as experienced by communities in the Andean Highlands when over-grazing for wild alpacas and vicuñas destroyed a vulnerable wetland ecosystem. Preserving forests and other natural habitats is a vital strategy for mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity simultaneously. 

Individual Actions for Collective Impact

While these challenges may seem daunting, individuals can make a difference! Making a donation to Amazon Conservation’s sustainable conservation efforts and joining our Wild Keepers community of monthly givers are tangible ways to make an impact this Earth Month.

As we celebrate Earth Month, let’s remember that protecting biodiversity is not just an ecological issue; it’s a human imperative. Combating nature crimes, whether through tackling illegal wildlife trade, stopping illegal gold mining, or preserving forests, is fundamental to this mission. By safeguarding biodiversity, we not only protect the incredible variety of life on Earth but also secure a healthier, more resilient future for generations to come. This Earth Month, let’s stand together as stewards of the Amazon and of our planet, committed to halting nature crimes and to preserving the rainforest’s precious biodiversity for all.

Your contribution this Earth Month helps protect biodiversity across the Amazon

Last year,  in collaboration with the organization SOS Orinoco, we published an urgent report about illegal mining on top of a sacred tepui in the heart of Yapacana National Park in the Venezuelan Amazon (MAAP #169). These Tepuis are stunning table-top mountains found in northern South America and are considered sacred by indigenous groups of the region.

MAAP #169 documented 425 illegal mining data points (consisting of mining camps and machinery) on top of the tepui, indicating an organized and large-scale operation. Given the importance of this finding, the Washington Post published a high-profile article on the subject in December of 2022, further exposing the severity of the illegal mining on the tepui. In response, the Venezuelan government conducted a military operation against the illegal mining activity on the tepui.

Here, in MAAP #207, we show a series of very high-resolution satellite images taken during the raid (December 2022) versus one year later (January 2024). The images reveal that all illegal mining camps and equipment on top of the tepui have been dismantled.

While this removal of illegal mining activity from the tepui marks an important victory for Amazon conservation in Venezuela, we also show illegal mining continues in surrounding areas within and outside the Yapacana National Park.

Read the full report here.

Thank you for honoring nature with us this Earth Month!

Throughout April, we are stepping outside and taking the time to appreciate all the beautiful flora and fauna that surrounds us. In line with appreciating our environment this Earth Month, we are asking our supporters to help us protect the incredible biodiversity of one of the planet’s most critical ecosystems: the Amazon.

A thriving Amazon matters to the people and wildlife who live there, the countries it encompasses, and the entire world. As the single largest tropical rainforest on the planet, the Amazon is an immensely diverse region that serves key roles both locally and globally. Not only is this forest home to more than 10% of the world’s known wildlife species and the ancestral homelands to more than 400 tribes, but it is also a vital resource for traditional and modern medicine, including vaccines and cancer treatment, and a major force as a global climate regulator and carbon sink.

Your favorite local natural spot is connected to ecosystems near and far, including the Amazon. Protecting the rainforest’s diverse ecosystems and biodiversity helps protect wildlife, people, and ways of life across the planet. 

What happens in the forest doesn’t stay in the forest; it affects all of us across the globe. Now is the time to take action for nature and biodiversity. 

To honor nature and protect biodiversity this Earth Month, explore these 5 quick and easy ways that you can make a difference:

1. Create your legacy today to honor the Amazon for generations to come: This Earth Month, you have the unique chance to cultivate a lasting legacy, one that provides a protective canopy for plants, animals, and communities for generations to come. By including Amazon Conservation in your will or trust, you’re not just sowing seeds for change; you’re nurturing a future where the vibrant ecosystems of the Amazon and the diverse communities that call it home thrive together, safeguarded by your foresight and generosity. Plant your roots for the future by creating your free plan today. If you have already included Amazon Conservation in your will or trust, let us know by filling out this quick form!

2. Spread appreciation for nature and the Amazon’s biodiversity through your Giving Circle: Are you part of a Giving Circle or community of Doers committed to making the world a better place? Share why you want to help protect the Amazon with your friends, family, and followers to maximize our conservation impact. Even better, invite us to speak with your group about how we are working for a thriving Amazon! Send us an email to find out more.

3. Become a Wild Keeper to honor nature and protect biodiversity throughout the year: When you donate to Amazon Conservation every month, you are providing the sustainable support we need to ensure the longevity of our programs on the ground across the rainforest. Starting your monthly donation of any amount in honor of nature and Earth Month facilitates your giving plans and deepens your impact because recurring gifts help us plan for ongoing support of our most essential conservation efforts with long-term impacts. By becoming a Wild Keeper, you are joining a global community of champions of biodiversity working together to take collective action for nature and to protect biodiversity in the Amazon and beyond. Learn more about what it means to join our community of Wild Keepers here.

4. Honor nature through your business and grow your brand’s impact: Being a business supporter of Amazon Conservation’s mission is a great way for your businesses to give back to the planet and leave a lasting positive impact on nature. Our business partners support our work in a variety of ways, from corporate donations and fundraisers to events and workplace giving. Find out more about business partnerships here or send us an email to start giving back.

5. Find other ways to honor nature and grow your impact for Earth Month: Do you know the variety of ways you can make your contribution to Amazon Conservation count? Check out our Ways to Give page and explore if your contribution might qualify for a match from your employer, explore other donation means that could mean bigger tax benefits, or consider sharing your love for nature and the Amazon by starting your own fundraiser for the Amazon here to start and help raise funds and awareness from your friends and family to protect biodiversity in the Amazon.

Honor Nature and Support Biodiversity Protection Today!

“What’s your favorite animal?”

This is the question that team members from our Bolivian sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA asked children from local communities in the Amazon to understand how they are connected to their environment. To their surprise, most of the answers they received were elephants, giraffes, and lions, as opposed to locally found species such as the jaguar or giant otter.

To encourage these children to learn more about their local environment, Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA created a series of comics to tell the stories of Amazonian animals called “Once Upon a Time in Your Forest.” In these comics, these animals in the Amazon tell stories of their habitats, and how certain conflicts with humans affect their food sources, shelter, and overall environment. By telling these stories from the animal’s perspective, these children can gain a better understanding of respecting their habitat and learning to coexist with these species. Executive Director of Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA Marcos Terán explained that “it is important to encourage children’s relationships with nature. The educational curriculum should promote this with the support of the teachers, with the aim that future generations respect their environment by making conscious use of natural resources.”

The most recent comic No. 5 tells the story of the Anteater, who details his role in the ecosystem, threats to his species, and the importance of conservation spaces to protect their habitats.

English copies are now available to download! Copies in Spanish can be found here.

View the rest of Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA’s comics

Our Bolivian sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA recently organized an environmental education training workshop with the Cobija Municipal Environmental Brigade and the Cobija Water and Sanitation Company (EPSAS) to educate young 4th and 5th-grade students about the importance of caring for their water systems that stem from Arroyo Bahía: the main water source for Cobija and surrounding communities. 

This workshop was part of an ongoing project to help protect and manage water resources from the Arroyo Bahía Conservation Area (a conservation area we helped create in 2022 known as the Natural Area of Comprehensive Management of the Arroyo Bahía Basin – ANGICAB). Since the creation of ANGICAB in April of 2022, the Autonomous Municipal Government of Cobija, in alliance with Conservación Amazónica- ACEAA and funded by the World Wildlife Fund – Sweden, launched the project titled Protegiendo el Arroyo Bahía, Garantizamos Agua para Cobija (Protecting the Arroyo Bahía, We Guarantee Water for Cobija). Through this project that began in April 2023, they intend to continue helping the residents of Cobija apply measures and actions that promote the conservation of ANGICAB, take advantage of non-timber forest resources, and collect solid waste in the ANGICAB and its area of influence for subsequent recycling. 

The workshop carried out by the Cobjija Municipal Environmental Brigade  and EPSAS aimed at educating these young students to understand where their water comes from, the value of the ANGICAB protected area, and impactful changes they can implement in their daily routine to save water in their homes. The following topics were also covered during this workshop: 

• Getting to know the ANGICAB Protected Area
• Economic importance of Amazonian species 
• Managing forests, water resources and watersheds 
• Reducing pollution in water sources
• Climate change, resilience and adaptation

Since Arroyo Bahía is the main water source  for the entire city of Cobija, its protection and correct  management of existing natural resources is very important to guarantee access to clean water for its residents. Teaching them the values of ANGICAB highlights the importance of conserving these bodies of water and the forests that surround them to ensure a healthy and natural ecosystem, along with the fauna and flora that inhabit them.

Multiple education trainings and workshops meetings have been held for teachers, educational students and young people from different groups since the beginning of this project, and has shown relative success in changing attitudes towards the integrity of ANGICAB. By raising awareness for this protected area, surrounding communities can help keep their water sources safe and protected for both the residents and wildlife that depend on them. 

Photo by Conservación Amazónica – ACCA

On March 15th, the first stage of the creation process for the Selva Verde – Santo Domingo de Puno Regional Conservation Area was approved by the Peruvian National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP). This marks the completion of one of four stages defined by SERNANP to create a conservation area, which begins with the systematization of physical and biological information, cartographic analysis of the area, and a financial sustainability commitment letter signed by the Regional Governor of Puno. The Manager of the Regional Government of Puno, Wilman Mendoza Quipe, indicated his agreement and joy at achieving this important milestone as part of the process of establishing this regional conservation area.

This proposed conservation area consists of 109,000 hectares of forests located in the buffer zone of the Bahuaja Sonene National Park, and overlaps the “Bahuaja Sonene” Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) and two regional priority sites, known as “Selva Verde” and “Santo Domingo.” Among the most notable characteristics presented by this proposal, a representative sample of pristine forests of the Bolivian Yungas Ecoregion will be protected, which only exists in the Puno Region, and is the habitat of various endangered species such as the woolly monkey, the woolly night monkey, the jaguar, the spectacled bear, and the tapir among others.

Photo by César A. Vega / PromPerú

Although no notable human activity has been identified within the proposed area, an increase in deforestation has been observed in adjacent areas, destined mainly for illicit coca growing and the presence of mining activity on the left bank of the Inambari River outside the proposed conservation area, which poses a threat to the integrity of the surrounding forests.

Ronald Catpo, Conservation Director of Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, stated that this approval of the first phase marks a significant step towards the conservation and protection of biodiversity in the Puno region. Likewise, he reaffirmed the commitment of all parties involved in the protection of our natural resources.

Our Peruvian sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACCA has been helping the Agroforestry Association of the Infierno Native Community in Madre de Dios, Peru, strategize ways to advance their cacao production to enter the international market. On February 16th, the association held an exchange of experiences at the facilities of the Agrobosque Cooperative to develop a strategy to increase production volumes and access international markets. This meeting followed a recent meeting with the directors of the Agrobosque Cooperative on February 12th, in which they established purchase agreements for cacao produced by the community. 

The Agroforestry Association of the Infierno Native Community has 21 hectares (about 52 acres) of agroforestry systems dedicated to the cultivation of cacao, in addition to having a processing plant with the capacity to process 19 thousand kilos (41,888 pounds) of cacao pulp per month.  Partnering with the Agrobosque Cooperative would help provide them with technical support in the post-harvest processes, delivery of quality cacao, and the opportunity to obtain and maintain organic certification for crops associated with their agroforestry systems. Additionally, this exchange of experiences helped them open doors to jointly participate in various trade promotion activities and business conferences at the national level.

Thanks to the technical advice provided by Conservación Amazónica – ACCA and funding from the EROL Foundation,  the Infierno Native Community can develop a solid commercial strategy, enabling them to make their agroforestry production profitable and actively participate in fairs and business roundtables at the national level, such as local fairs and the ExpoAmazónica. This articulated work in collaboration with Agrobosque is important for local communities, such as the Infierno Native Community, to potentially increase profits upon entering the international market. 

On February 21st, we celebrated World Bear Protection Day by gathering the latest updates on Andean Bears as a continued joint effort with our Peruvian sister organization Conservacion Amazonica – ACCA to protect this emblematic species.

Throughout the Kosñipata Valley, in the buffer zone of the Manu National Park near Cuzco, Peru, a team of Peruvian scientists are continuing to lead the Andean bear conservation program in collaboration with researchers, volunteers, authorities, and local communities to conduct studies on the distribution and behavior of mammals in the area help us better understand wildlife responses to environmental change and the functional diversity of ecosystems. Andean bears are vital contributors to reforestation and regulation of their environment, which is why this work done in the Kosñipata Valley not only aims to protect this culturally significant species but also to contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge and environmental awareness. 

To better understand habitat use and bear movements, scientists use GPS collars to track these bears and collect data on their movement patterns. Via telemetry, these collars have tracked the bears’ range of roughly 100 kilometers squared (about 62 miles squared), and have found that younger bears can often move even further distances. Their presence was particularly frequent among the Q’eros Nation’s region of the Peruvian Andes and has even raised some concern as they were tracked near prevalent mining zones. 

In addition to GPS tracking technologies, camera traps placed throughout the region capture images of the bears in their natural environment, providing vital information about their behavior and distribution. Through these monitoring efforts, our grounds team has recorded 43 medium to large-sized bears in more than 70,000 camera trap images throughout the studied area. As scientists continue their analysis of the Andean bear population, the exact total number of bears in the area is still unknown. The population and well-being status of these bears are still under analysis by scientists in the region. While they seem to maintain a stable population among these areas of Peru, they still face several conflicts, such as the burning of vegetation, mining in certain areas, and difficulties for non-governmental organizations to carry out conservation work in their region. 

With the collection of this data, scientists can better understand these bears’ needs, habits, and impacts on the environment to fully understand their role in conservation, and allow organizations to prioritize the protection and restoration of their habitat accordingly.  As an extension of this collaborative research, environmental education programs, and implementing sustainable conservation practices further prioritize this work to reduce human-bear conflicts and foster peaceful coexistence. These efforts are made possible thanks to the dedicated team of scientists from Conservación Amazónica – ACCA and the support of allied organizations such as Standler Family Charitable Foundation, ICFC, Catto Shaw Foundation, National Geographic Society, IBA, Acción Andina, Osa Conservation and Ideal Wild.

In a series of previous reports such as  MAAP #151 and  MAAP #182, we warned about the emergence of alluvial mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon, specifically in the area around the Punino River.

In our latest report, MAAP #206, we highlight the rapid growth of gold mining activity in the Punino area: 784 hectares in 2023, which represents a striking increase of 261%.

Combined with previously documented mining, the total forest area affected by mining activity is 1,001 hectares (2,474 acres), from 2019 to the present.

The vast majority (over 90%, covering over 900 hectares) of the detected activity is illegal mining, as it is outside the limits of the areas authorized for mining, and even threatens a newly created protected area.

Read the full report here.

To help secure the longevity of the Amazon, part of our mission is to inspire the next generation of conservationists to take part in protecting the forests. The Amazon is home to not only an incredible array of flora and fauna but to local families and community members who also depend on its resources for their livelihood. Thus, the coexistence of people and nature is vital to keeping forests standing. 

On January 19th, our Manu Biological Station (with the support of ICFC) held its second Science Fair, attracting more than 150 visitors from the nearby communities of Pillcopata, Patria, and Huacaria. The fair was designed to emphasize the important connection between people, science, and nature while also addressing climate change and its impact on the landscape and wildlife.

Visitors were given the opportunity to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of various animal groups by visiting detailed exhibitions on Amazonian mammals, insects, reptiles, and amphibians. Each of these exhibitions highlighted unique organism traits and key methods researchers use to study their presence in the region to better understand their impacts on the surrounding ecosystem. Additionally, the fair also offered a practical explanation of canopy climbing, a safe and sustainable method for climbing trees to help researchers study life in the treetops, an activity vital for scientific research and conservation. Visitors were amazed by the intricate details and functions of each organism and were able to explore the evolution and phylogenetic relationships between different groups of living beings, which allowed them to learn about the adaptations developed by various species to survive in their environment. 

Educating others on the importance of interspecies relationships is essential for addressing crucial topics like climate change and its impact on the landscape and wildlife. Thanks to the coordination by the Manu Biological Station team, visitors were able to better understand the challenges faced by the Amazon and the importance of conserving this vital ecosystem for global balance.