2023 was a year full of overwhelming support and enthusiasm for the Amazon, and thanks to the generosity of individuals like you, we’ve been able to scale up our work on the ground and across the Amazon basin to help keep biodiversity, local and indigenous communities, and vital ecosystems protected. From strengthening local forest-based economies to directly addressing nature crimes, we are thrilled to share some of the accomplishments you’ve helped make possible. From all of us at Amazon Conservation, we thank you for your commitment to making a difference.

MAAP 200th: 8 Years of Fighting Deforestation and Fires

In March 2015, Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Program (MAAP) launched its first-ever report taking a look at the escalating gold mining deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon. Over the past 8 years, MAAP has continued to provide vital information via the latest technology to raise awareness and inspire solutions to protect one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems. 

2023 marked our 200th MAAP report, highlighting the current major deforestation drivers across the Amazon, including roads, agriculture (both small and large-scale), cattle, and gold mining. Additionally, newly available data reveals the Amazon is still home to abundant carbon reserves in these core areas.

Thank you to our supporters and funders who have helped us carry out our MAAP work across the Amazon basin for the past years and helped us achieve 100% coverage of the Amazon in real-time.

 

Stopping Illegal Deforestation on the Ground

Through our Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Program (MAAP), we’ve been able to work with indigenous groups, local communities, and government agencies across the Amazon to share vital information on nature crimes and illegal deforestation. This year we supported 5 major government interventions against illegal gold mining in both the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon. For example, on June 6, 2023, the National Police, the Navy, and the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office of Madre de Dios in Peru carried out a field intervention against illegal mining in the Indigenous community of Barranco Chico thanks to the information provided by MAAP. Roughly $11 million worth of mining tools and equipment were destroyed, resulting in one of the largest illegal mining raids in Peruvian history. 

 

Helping Sustainable Producers Get Market Access 

This past year, with support from our Bolivian sister organization Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA, the producer federation FEDAFAP, which represents 8 producer associations and hundreds of local families, closed a major deal with the Bolivian Food Company (Empresa Boliviana de Alimentos) — one of the top food distributors in the country — to become their açaí suppliers. This supply agreement for 253 tons of açaí pulp is a big win for the communities we support, as they can now sell more of their production in bulk directly to end buyers, eliminating intermediaries and minimizing production waste. This success is one of many for our initiative to build a forest-based economy in the southwest Amazon in Peru and Bolivia, which aims to support local people in improving their quality of life through sustainable production while elevating regional economies and protecting forests.  

 

Combatting Nature Crimes Locally and Regionally

Our sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, with the support of the Amazonía Que Late Network, has launched Peru’s first Amazon Legal Clinic: a service dedicated to helping empower local people to actively participate in legal processes against environmental and forest crimes. The Amazon Legal Clinic provides free legal advice, representation, and assistance in criminal and administrative matters for local people who want to file a deforestation claim or report a forest crime in the Ucayali, Loreto, San Martín, Amazonas, Cusco, and Huánuco regions. This transformative initiative will provide those affected by forest crimes (e.g. illegal mining, deforestation, illegal logging, or wildlife trafficking) with access to the support they need to report the crime and initiate swift action on the ground.

At the regional level, in 2023 Amazon Conservation helped establish the Nature Crime Alliance, a global multi-sector initiative to fight environmental crimes across the globe. This joint initiative led by the World Resources Institute (WRI) will help facilitate collaborations with NGOs and local governments to raise political awareness, implement financial commitment, and strengthen operational capacity to initiate solutions to nature crimes.

 

Launching the Thomas Lovejoy Laboratory

Thanks to funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Fiddlehead Foundation, our Manu Biological Station inaugurated the Thomas Lovejoy Molecular Biology, Biodiversity, and Climate Change Laboratory in September, created in memory of renowned scientist and former Amazon Conservation Board Member Thomas Lovejoy. 

This new facility will provide resources for molecular studies including barcoding, metabarcoding, and environmental DNA using Nanopore® technology, mercury analysis, and respirometry and thermal tolerance. The building will also contain a photography room, a terrace for events, a digital herbarium, semi-permanent collections of insects and fish, and the Tom Lovejoy garden full of edible and attractive plants for birds, butterflies, and other pollinators.

 

On the ground in Bolivia, we are working with communities and park guards to improve local perceptions and promote coexistence between humans and jaguars to engage local people in the protection of jaguar habitat and the larger forest ecosystem. Our education efforts work to mitigate conflicts between humans and jaguars and work with park guards on how to handle these conflicts in local communities. They also help to further sensitize children to the importance of jaguars and other iconic Amazon species to value peaceful coexistence in the forest.

Resilience for the Amazon relies on healthy and dynamic ecosystems as much as climate-smart and forest-friendly economies. Key wildlife like the jaguar serves a dual role as an iconic Amazon species and an indicator species for the rainforest. They hold a central role in local cultures and Indigenous relationships with the forest, and their presence (or lack of) in a region indicates if a forest is healthy or if it needs better protection and restoration.

Since jaguars are a keystone species that helps keep ecosystems balanced, they are an important tool to better understand the state of the Amazon in Bolivia and Peru. Our extensive camera trap network in the Bolivian and Peruvian Amazon utilizes more than 700 cameras to track the presence of this iconic species, which we analyze to find where populations are dwindling so that we can investigate the causes of these changes and understand if local conservation efforts are working. Your support can help to further expand this network of camera traps and analyses across the region to protect jaguar habitats.

Thanks to your support, you are helping us build climate resilience in the Amazon by strengthening healthy and biodiverse wildlife populations and ensuring long-term forest health to withstand the worst impacts of climate change. Your contributions help us continue to improve our programs that protect jaguar habitat and populations, track forest and wildlife health, and host education programs with local communities to train local people in how to safely mitigate human-jaguar conflicts and sustainably manage local forests for healthy jaguar populations.

PLUS, now through the end of the year, your tax-deductible contribution for climate resilience in the Amazon WILL BE MATCHED up to $150,000. This means that YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS ESSENTIALLY DOUBLED, maximizing your impact and our resilience-building efforts on the ground!

Make your end-of-year donation today to protect the jaguar and other iconic Amazon species while also supporting a climate-resilient foundation for the greatest forest on Earth!

Protect Jaguar Habitats and Support Climate Resilience >

 

 

 

This year’s COP28 (United Nations Climate Change Conference), held in Dubai from November 30th to December 12th, brought together more than 190 governments to discuss global climate action. One of our board members, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal who is WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Lead and COP20 President, attended COP28, and noted that this year’s Conference truly showed how nature is the heart of the climate debate. Additionally, numerous conversations at roundtables centered around the planning and development of an integral process to kickstart climate change mitigation efforts.

From what Manuel gathered from the many climate action discussions, a surprising number of countries expressed their concern for conservation and, specifically, highlighted the importance of tackling environmental crimes such as illegal deforestation via nature-based solutions. He explained that nature-based solutions are designed to work with natural processes rather than against them to address threats and challenges to the environment. They aim to utilize and enhance the natural functions of ecosystems, as opposed to previous engineering-based solutions. This problem-solving approach emphasizes the importance of multiple benefits such as mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity and ecosystems, and overall well-being for nature and humanity.

Additionally, multiple countries pledged $700 million to the Loss and Damage Fund aiming to help develop an action plan by assisting vulnerable countries in coping with and recovering from the impacts of climate change. However, this amount falls far short of the estimated $400 billion in losses faced by developing countries each year.

As we take a look at how these topics affect the Amazon, Manuel further elaborated on the importance of collaboration between Amazonian countries to form an agenda that will detail a long-term strategy concerning economic processes, Indigenous land rights, ecological integrity, and overall practices and standards for taking action on the ground. Furthermore, he noted that when it comes to climate action, it is important to emphasize that this is largely an economic process and to fulfill certain goals and standards, each country must contribute and accomplish its own tasks, such as updating and reviewing their strategy processes by 2025. He continued to explain that many South American countries are still in the process of developing their own long-term strategy and action plans, which are key elements that must be thoroughly progressed before creating a nationwide agenda. 

Moreover, Manuel continued to highlight that many South American countries are seeing significant social progress concerning the importance of Indigenous land rights, food security, wildlife conservation, and nature-positive narratives expressed through public opinion. While it seems many action plans remain in development, countries, and global allies are beginning to implement significant changes to further mitigate and adapt to climate change. 

To further contribute to mitigating climate change and building climate resilience, Amazon Conservation is continuing to form partnerships, such as founding the Nature Crime Alliance (NCA) to fight environmental crimes across the globe, and working with local families and communities who are bearing the brunt of extreme climate events. We are constantly taking proactive actions to minimize the impact of future fires, droughts, and other climate-related issues impacting vulnerable communities, and with your support, can urgently work to address the impacts of climate, deforestation, and social and environmental injustices impacting Indigenous peoples and other communities in the Amazon. 

Take action for the Amazon

 

 

 

During this giving season, we ask you to help us as we urgently work to address the impacts of climate, deforestation, and social and environmental injustices impacting Indigenous peoples and other communities in the Amazon.

While we continue our vital work with many on-the-ground communities and organizations, local heroes are taking an active role in helping protect the Amazon and guide others to become climate resilient. Read these inspiring stories below about individuals who are making a big impact when it comes to emphasizing people-first, climate-smart, and science-based conservation solutions that enable local families and communities to more easily adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Manuel Lima

Many communities in the Amazon rely on local products for income, which is why it’s important that they integrate sustainable practices and learn to diversify their goods to improve the local forest-based economy and conserve their resources. Local leader and Brazil nut harvester Manuel Lima from the Porvenir community in Pando, Bolivia is a key representative of Brazil nut harvesters, helping to improve the production, economy, and market for Brazil nuts both regionally and nationally.

Support heroes like Manuel to continue training local producers about the impacts of climate change to become more climate resilient.

 

Pepe Torres

Our satellite monitoring program Monitoring of the Andes Program (MAAP) has tracked deforestation across various Indigenous territories and protected areas, both of which experience half the rate of deforestation as any other type of land.

To help keep these forests standing, individuals like Pepe Torres aim to provide training, staff capacity, technology, and legal support to local communities and individuals to defend their territory and maintain the health of the forest.

Read more about how your support can help people like Pepe make a difference in protecting the Amazon for future generations 

 

Abraham Pache Canchi

In a region with limited training, knowledge, and tools to prevent or combat fires that escape into forests, controlling fires is critical to minimize their damage to the greater forest and local communities. In response to ongoing droughts and illegal deforestation in the Beni Department in Bolivia, Abraham Pache Canchi, an Indigenous park guard is leading local fire prevention workshops to help local communities and governments be better prepared to swiftly respond to fires.

Learn more about how your support can help heroes like Abraham promote fire-free sustainable development

Take Action to Build Climate Resilience for the Amazon

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) has announced that this week’s theme is Environmental Protection! For more than 60 years, the Combined Federal Campaign has been the official workplace-giving campaign for federal employees and retirees. It has raised more than $8.6 billion for charities and people in need, making a real and meaningful difference throughout the world.

Thanks to generous contributions made through CFC, many organizations and charities have been able to significantly make a difference in the well-being of the planet, such as helping communities experiencing structural damage from natural disasters, developing new technologies to rid plastic from the ocean, discovering new ways to remove excess carbon from the air, and more! 

As communities across the globe are experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, the CFC provides an ideal opportunity to join forces and support climate-smart and nature-based solutions to protect critical yet vulnerable places like the Amazon Rainforest.

By donating to Amazon Conservation, your support can help make an impact in the following ways: 

• Provide local communities and governments with the knowledge, resources, and capacity needed to prevent and respond quickly to wildfires
• Raising awareness about the importance of protecting and restoring the habitat of critical species like the jaguar
• Teach local producers and harvesters about the impacts of climate change on their harvest and how to sustainably maintain their income via the local forest-based economy
• Train indigenous communities on the latest technology to better protect their territories

Now through January 15, government employees and retirees can Give Happy through the Combined Federal Campaign and join others looking to have a real collective impact and protect the Amazon and its habitat. Anyone can be a changemaker through the CFC, so Give Happy and be a good steward of the Amazon by donating to Amazon Conservation!

Search for Amazon Conservation on the CFC giving page or by using our CFC #49371 to make protecting the Amazon part of your mission as a changemaker! You can also visit the CFC’s Ways to Give page to see other ways you can make your tax-deductible contribution.

Fire is another major obstacle to local communities’ ability to adapt to climate change and sustain a reliable forest-based economy in the Amazon. We are working hard on the ground to provide local communities and governments in Bolivia with the knowledge, resources, and capacity needed to prevent and respond quickly to fires while promoting fire-free sustainable development and more fire-resilient products.

Your contributions are aiding us in encouraging local residents to opt for economic activities that mitigate the risk of fires and may even contribute to slowing their spread. Deforested areas are prone to fire, and fire can spread faster in less forested areas and areas with less diverse crops. Rather than expansive monocultures, we encourage forest-friendly alternatives to destructive economic activities such as sustainable honey, wild cacao, and high-altitude coffee. Product diversification is also important to build resilience in the region so that local income is less susceptible to damage to crops and forests are more fire resilient by being more robust and biodiverse.

Ongoing droughts and illegal deforestation in the Beni Department in Bolivia that exacerbate the likelihood and impact of fires is a growing area of concern for local people. In a region with limited training, knowledge, and tools to prevent or combat fires that escape into forests, the ability to control fires is critical to minimize their damage on the greater forest and local communities.

In Beni, we partner with local municipalities to help support their fire prevention and firefighting efforts, with training, equipment, and tools. One of our partners on the ground is Abraham Pache Canchi, an Indigenous park guard who is leading local fire prevention workshops to help local communities and governments be better prepared to swiftly respond to fires. 

Without brave leaders like Abraham, fires would continue to jeopardize habitat for critical species like the jaguar, local homes and incomes, and the future of the greater Amazon.

Your gift can help brave heroes like Abraham continue to build resilience through climate-smart and fire-free development and strengthen local capacity for effective fire prevention and response.

Take Action to Build Climate Resilience for the Amazon

As our MAAP analyses continue to show (most recently MAAP #183), Indigenous territories and protected areas are vital tools in the fight to keep the Amazon standing. Our MAAP reports on the topic since 2021 continue to show that these land designations experience half the rate of deforestation as any other type of land use.

Additionally, these forests are major carbon sinks, and keeping them standing is instrumental in winning the global fight against climate change. 

This is why the work you support focuses on working with local partners on the ground to use the latest technology to protect these key conservation areas.

For local people like Pepe Torres, who manages the Community Monitoring and Oversight Program of FENAMAD (the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River Region) in Peru, protecting ancestral lands is vital for Indigenous people. Indigenous leaders need the critical training and resources that we provide to defend their territories from illegal activities and land encroachment. Only once they have autonomy over their territory can Indigenous leaders focus on building climate resilience and protecting their resources for the long term. 

Your support provides leaders like Pepe with the training, staff capacity, technology, and legal support needed to stop environmental crime in its tracks, defend their territory, and keep their forests standing for future generations.

Take Action to Build Climate Resilience for the Amazon

Local families and communities – many Indigenous – are bearing the brunt of extreme climate events, such as drought, floods, and fires, forcing them to adapt fast to changing conditions. At this moment, the Amazon is facing a severe drought that is impacting the health of the forests and local wildlife, increasing fire risk, and limiting access to clean water for local communities. If we do not address these conservation challenges locally, they will escalate to major events impacting not only the entire Amazon but the entire planet. 

For this reason, an integral part of the work you make possible is prioritizing local needs in such emergencies and taking proactive actions to minimize the impact of future fires, droughts, and other climate-related issues. Your contributions strengthen our urgent work to address the impacts of climate, deforestation, and social and environmental injustices impacting Indigenous peoples and other communities in the Amazon. Thanks to these generous contributions from individuals like you, we are able to work on the ground and support these communities through difficult times as they strive to become more adaptive and resilient to climate change through our work in strengthening real-time monitoring, local response efforts, and sustainable forest health.

One way that you are helping meet local needs is by supporting local leader and Brazil nut harvester, Manuel Lima, from the Porvenir community in Pando, Bolivia, who has been a major force in the development of a major inter-institutional platform for producers and buyers called the Inter-Institutional Platform for the Articulation of Amazonian Fruit Production Complexes (or PICFA). PICFA aims to improve local producer incomes and producer associations by bringing together sustainable producers, buyers, governments, and other stakeholders across the Department of Pando in Bolivia. 

PICFA was created following a climate change crisis in 2018 that impacted Brazil nut harvests in the Bolivian Amazon. At the time, local producers struggled to make an income and did not understand what was happening to their harvest nor what measures should be taken. In response to this situation, we supported the creation and strengthening of PICFA so producers and local leaders like Manuel can better understand the impacts of climate change on their harvest and how they can diversify their product, ultimately building climate resilience across the region.

Manuel has played an important role in developing and formalizing the sanitation and land titling processes for local producers. He also is a key representative of PICFA and Brazil nut harvesters, helping to improve the production, economy, and market for Brazil nuts both regionally and nationally. Don Manuel is also working hard to encourage future generations to support PICFA and continue to improve the local forest-based economy as a means to defend their territories and conserve their natural resources. 

Supporting climate-smart and fire-free development in the Amazon helps local communities build sustainable development paths for themselves and provides an incentive to keep forests standing. Your support helps heroes like Manuel and his work with PICFA continue to train local producers about the impacts of climate change on their harvest and how to better diversify their production to become more climate resilient.

Take Action to Build Climate Resilience for the Amazon

 

Our first MAAP report published in March 2015 looked at the escalating gold mining deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon.

Now, over the past 8.5 years, MAAP has continued to examine the most urgent deforestation-related issues across the Amazon, providing vital information to raise awareness and inspire solutions to protect one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems.

MAAP #200 reviews the current major deforestation fronts across the Amazon. Common drivers across countries include roads, agriculture (both small and large-scale), cattle, and gold mining.

From the data collected, the Amazon is nearing two critical deforestation-induced tipping points: the widely feared conversion of moist rainforests to drier savannahs (due to decreased moisture recycling across the Amazon), and the conversion of the Amazon as a critical carbon sink buffering global climate change to a carbon source fueling it.

There is still hope in the possibility of protecting the Amazon long term, as nearly half of the core Amazon is now designated as protected areas and indigenous territories, both of which have much lower deforestation rates than surrounding areas. Additionally, newly available data reveals the Amazon is still home to abundant carbon reserves in these core areas.

Read the full report here.

We deeply thank the following funders for supporting MAAP over the past 10 years:

• International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC)
• Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)
• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• MacArthur Foundation
• Andes Amazon Fund (AAF)
• Wyss Foundation
• Erol Foundation
• Global Forest Watch/World Resources Institute
• Overbrook Foundation
• Global Conservation

As national policymakers begin the global COP28 climate summit in Dubai, we provide here a concise update on the current state of Amazon forest loss and remaining carbon reserves, both based on the latest cutting-edge data.

Here, in MAAP #201, we find that there has been a dramatic reduction (over one-half, 55.8%) in primary forest loss from 2022-2023, with the largest declines in the Brazilian (59%) and Colombian Amazon (67%). Compared to the peak year of 2020, forest lost has dropped by over two-thirds, or 67.7%.

Additionally, we have found that there are over 78 billion metric tons of aboveground biomass across the Amazon biome, which converts to over 37 billion metric tons of carbon.

This work was supported by NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) and ICFC (International Conservation Fund of Canada).

Read the full report here.