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New Amazon-wide analysis of eight El Niño events finds that stronger events are followed by greater primary forest fire loss, and that reducing deforestation now could lower the risk of a major fire crisis in 2027.

As forecasts indicate, a very strong El Niño will develop in the last three months of 2026 (from October to December). Headlines around the world have focused on rising ocean temperatures, drought, and extreme weather. But according to a new study from Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP), a key part of the story unfolds after El Niño peaks.

The report finds that the two most severe Amazon fire seasons in recent history, in 2016 and 2024, both occurred immediately after the two strongest El Niño events of the past two decades (2015 and 2023, respectively). Researchers analyzed all eight El Niño events since 2002 and found a consistent pattern: stronger El Niño events were followed by more severe fire seasons in the following year, leading to greater losses of primary forest to wildfires. 

The numbers illustrate the pattern clearly. The very strong El Niño of 2015 (a sea surface temperature anomaly of +2.34°C) was followed by 4.35 million acres (1.76 million hectares) of primary forest lost to fire in 2016. The strong El Niño of 2023 (+1.49°C) was followed by 6.89 million acres (2.79 million hectares) lost in 2024, the worst fire season on record. By comparison, weak El Niño years were followed by losses under 395,000 acres (160,000 hectares). Researchers note the relationship approaches the traditional threshold of statistical significance, a meaningful signal given the limited sample of only eight qualifying El Niño events.

This report’s analysis focuses on primary forest loss rather than total burned area, because primary forests are the Amazon’s most intact ecosystems, storing great concentrations of carbon and sheltering high levels of biodiversity across the basin. Unlike secondary growth or agricultural land, primary forest does not regenerate on human timescales once lost. And because these forests do not burn on their own, any fire-driven loss signals that flames have likely escaped from recently cleared land into untouched forest, making primary forest loss a direct measure of the most irreversible damage occurring in the Amazon.

What makes this analysis distinctive is this scope: rather than focusing on individual countries or total burned area, as previous studies, researchers analyzed the Amazon as a single connected biome and measured primary forest loss from fires across the entire region, offering a basin-wide perspective on one of its most urgent conservation challenges.

“Our critical finding is all about a lagging or delayed impact for the Amazon,” said Dr. Matt Finer, Director of MAAP and Senior Research Specialist at Amazon Conservation. He explains that “20 years of data indicate a very strong El Niño in 2026, which means a very likely intense Amazon fire season in 2027, creating a critical window for governments to act now, before the next major fire season.”

The report emphasizes that El Niño does not directly cause Amazon fires. Unlike many forests around the world, the Amazon Rainforest does not naturally burn because it’s naturally humid. Nearly all fires are caused by human activity. Most begin when recently deforested land is intentionally burned for agricultural expansion, and then escape into surrounding forests under the hotter, drier conditions associated with El Niño. Previous MAAP analyses have shown that more than 70% of major Amazon fires originate in recently cleared areas, making reductions in deforestation a critical tool for preventing wildfires.

The report also reviews how Amazonian countries responded to the record-breaking 2024 fire season. While preparedness has improved in Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia, researchers caution that the lower fire impacts observed in 2025, 3.71 million acres (1.5 million hectares)  burned, versus 6.9 million acres (2.8 million hectares) in 2024, were largely aided by the wetter conditions associated with La Niña (the cooler counterpart to El Niño that often brings more rainfall to the Amazon) rather than institutional readiness alone. Bolivia illustrates the risk of uneven progress most clearly: the country’s fines for illegal burning remain roughly 2% of Brazil’s, and a land-reform measure that would have accelerated deforestation in the hardest-hit departments of Santa Cruz and Beni was enacted in early 2026 before being repealed amid public protest. Combined with the country’s deepening economic and political crisis, researchers warn that Bolivia could become the epicenter of the 2027 fire season.

However, the true test of preparedness will come in 2027, when the delayed impacts of El Niño reveal whether the decisions governments make now were enough to reduce fire risks across the Amazon.

Understanding El Niño
El Niño occurs when ocean temperatures rise above normal in an area of the Pacific Ocean that strongly influences weather patterns around the world. Scientists consider an El Niño event to be underway when those temperatures are at least 0.5°C warmer than average. Current forecasts suggest they could rise more than 2°C above average by the end of 2026, which would make this a “Very Strong” El Niño. The last event to reach that level was in 2015, shortly before the devastating 2016 Amazon fire season. Some models suggest temperatures could climb close to 3°C above average, potentially making this one of the strongest El Niño events ever recorded. 

“We can’t stop El Niño, but we can act now to minimize its impacts in the Amazon,” said Finer. “Reducing deforestation in 2026 and the fuel load it becomes, is one of the most effective strategies for minimizing fire impact in 2027.”

Read the full report 

 

 

What Sets Us Apart: Conservation That Lasts

We have been working in the Amazon for over 26 years: long enough to watch partnerships mature, forests recover, young conservationists get inspired, and conservation strategies once considered experimental become standard practice across the region. That kind of relationship with this work and with our local partners is the result of a model carefully built for trust.

August 17 is National Nonprofit Day, a day set aside each year to recognize the organizations working, often quietly, behind the scenes, toward change that does not happen overnight. This dedication to real, lasting impact is why we hold accreditation from the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator, and Candid – “watchdog” organizations that hold nonprofits to a standard of transparency and impact. Today is a fitting day to reflect on why we do this work the way we do it.

What we hear again and again from the partners we work alongside, and what we believe in our hearts, is that how conservation happens matters as much as whether it happens at all.

We believe conservation that lasts must be built from what already exists in a place: the skills, knowledge, institutions, people who have been doing this work long before we arrived and will continue doing it long after any single project ends. Our role is to complement that foundation, not replace it. Success for us does not look like a program that depends on us indefinitely. It looks like local leadership strong enough to carry the work forward on its own.

That same principle shapes not only how our staff conceptualizes and implements our own conservation solutions, but also how we work with the local organizations and communities already leading conservation efforts on the ground. Many of the strongest, most effective actors in Amazonian conservation are small, deeply rooted, and under-resourced. They know their landscapes and their communities better than any outside group ever could, but they often lack access to funding at scale, technical training, or the kind of cross-border connections that let good ideas travel. We see our role as bridging that gap. Amazon Conservation brings resources and training that might otherwise be out of reach. We connect partners working on similar challenges in different regions so that hard-won lessons do not stay siloed. And we do this with an eye toward partnership, not transaction. A single funding cycle lasting one or two years rarely changes a region. A relationship built on shared values, sustained over decades, can.

In addition, we plan our work around the whole picture, rather than a single issue or place. The Amazon is one interconnected system, and the pressures on it are rarely limited to the boundaries of a country or a single issue. A mining operation in one country can shift deforestation patterns in another. A policy win in one region can offer a blueprint for the next. Because we work across the Basin, we can see where local problems are actually driving regional consequences, and we take the time, through the people who know these places best, to understand what each specific context actually needs. No two countries, regions, or communities face the same set of pressures, and no single solution transfers cleanly between them. But we also believe that protecting the Amazon at this scale is what ultimately uplifts every other goal within it: Indigenous land rights, species survival, biodiversity, water systems, climate stability. Get the big picture right, and the rest follows.

These three commitments distinguish how we work:

1. We fill the funding and capacity gaps that many smaller local NGOs and communities cannot bridge on their own. We serve as the connective layer that lets international resources reach the ground, while managing the legal, financial, and administrative requirements that many grassroots groups do not have the capacity to handle directly.

2. We take the time to build real relationships with local partners, meeting them where they are. That investment of time is what allows our work to build long-term, self-sustaining impact that outlives any single project or funding cycle.

3. We conceptualize both the big picture and the local reality together. We weigh what it will take to keep the Amazon thriving at a Basin-wide scale while staying grounded in the specific needs, culture, and context of each community we work alongside.

This work is patient, relationship-driven, and often invisible from the outside. But it is how lasting conservation actually happens, and on National Nonprofit Day, it is the work we are proud to stand behind.

If our approach resonates with you, consider taking a minute to share why on GreatNonprofits. Reviews like yours help other people who care about the Amazon find us and understand what we stand for.

20 Years in the Making: Honoring the Tacana II Victory in Bolivia

Some victories take decades to arrive. This is one of them, and it’s a reminder of what patience, planning, and unwavering commitment can build over time.

For more than twenty years, the Indigenous communities of Puerto Pérez, Las Mercedes, Toromonas, and El Tigre in Bolivia fought tirelessly to receive legal recognition of their ancestral forest home. Just over a year ago in July 2025, that battle was won: the Tacana II Indigenous Territory received a formal legal title, permanently protecting over 670,000 acres of primary forest. This area serves as a vital biological corridor linking protected habitats across Bolivia and Peru and is a major victory for both Indigenous rights and conservation efforts.

Alongside our sister organization, Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA, Amazon Conservation worked alongside the communities of Tacana II for 15 years, providing the technical mapping, funding, and legal support needed to navigate this complex journey. 

This victory is a powerful reminder that real environmental change is a multi-generational commitment. It’s the same principle behind estate planning: the decisions you make today can echo for decades.

In honor of National Make-A-Will Month this August, we invite you to take the same long-term vision with your own plans. Our partnership with FreeWill makes it simple and free to create or update a will that safeguards your family and the causes you love.

As you map out your personal legacy, consider including a legacy gift to Amazon Conservation, helping ensure that the vital work of defending Indigenous land rights and protecting critical ecosystems remains fully funded for decades to come.

Create or update your free will today.

Lasting conservation impact requires long-term vision, patience, and an unshakeable dedication to defending the roots of tomorrow.

 

 

In just eight months illegal gold mining deforestation increased by up to 660% inside protected areas in Brazil’s Juruena River Basin. Rapid expansion of illegal mining inside Juruena National Park highlights persistent challenges for environmental enforcement and protected area governance. Source: MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program), Amazon Conservation.

Cuiabá, Brazil — August 6, 2026 — Illegal gold mining inside Juruena National Park, in the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso, increased dramatically over an eight-month period, with mining-related deforestation expanding by 660%, according to a new analysis released today by Amazon Conservation and the Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV).

The study also examined illegal mining in the neighboring Igarapés do Juruena State Park, where the area affected by mining-related deforestation increased by 408% during the study period.

Together, these protected areas form a critical conservation mosaic in the southern Brazilian Amazon, helping preserve biodiversity, maintain essential ecosystem services, and slow the advance of deforestation across the region.

However, the findings show that the rapid expansion of illegal mining is placing increasing pressure on these protected areas, threatening both their ecological integrity and the effectiveness of existing legal protection and enforcement mechanisms.

The analysis is based on mining deforestation alerts generated by MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program), an initiative of Amazon Conservation, using the interpretation of very high-resolution satellite imagery. These alerts were then combined with publicly available geospatial datasets, according to Vinícius Silgueiro, Coordinator of the Territorial Intelligence Center at ICV. “Mining deforestation alerts are validated using satellite imagery with an extremely high level of detail, allowing impacted areas to be accurately mapped and measured. These locations are then cross-referenced with environmental violation records and embargoes issued by IBAMA, ICMBio, and Mato Grosso’s State Environmental Secretariat (SEMA-MT), making it possible to identify where enforcement actions have taken place against illegal mining operations,” said Silgueiro.

 

 

Illegal mining deforestation continues to rise

In Juruena National Park, illegal mining activity is concentrated primarily in the park’s southwestern region. Between August 2025 and April 2026, the area deforested by illegal mining increased from 10.5 hectares to 79.5 hectares. The 660% increase in just eight months reflects an intense and rapid expansion of mining operations, including the use of heavy machinery, construction of access roads, and establishment of mining camps. A similar trend was observed in Igarapés do Juruena State Park, where illegal mining is concentrated in the central-southern portion of the protected area. Between June 2025 and March 2026, mining-related deforestation increased from 8.6 hectares to 43.7 hectares. These activities have severe environmental consequences, including forest loss, river sedimentation, increased sediment and organic matter loads in waterways, and the potential contamination of aquatic ecosystems by mercury, threatening biodiversity as well as the food security of local communities.

Repeated enforcement, continued expansion

The increase in illegal mining has not occurred unnoticed by public authorities. Data from Brazil’s Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) show that 15 enforcement operations targeting illegal mining have been conducted inside Juruena National Park since 2010.

Meanwhile, Mato Grosso’s State Environmental Secretariat (SEMA-MT) carried out enforcement actions related to environmental crimes in Igarapés do Juruena State Park in 2020, 2025, and 2026. “Satellite monitoring is already an essential tool in the fight against illegal gold mining. The next step is to connect these alerts with up-to-date information on mining concessions and protected area boundaries, strengthening authorities’ ability to respond and making enforcement actions even more effective,” said Matt Finer, Director of MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Project) and Senior Research Specialist at Amazon Conservation.

Read the full report

https://www.maapprogram.org/illegal-mining-juruena-brazil/ 

Available in English and Portuguese.

Press contact: communications@amazonconservation.org

 

 

Written by: Emma Rada – Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA, Bolivia

When the boat engine falls silent in the middle of a river that serves as both road and lifeline, nature seems to reclaim the landscape. The water becomes still again, a heron soars across the sky, the wind stirs the crowns of towering trees. And for a fleeting moment, everything seems to breathe without hurry. Jefferson watches. Then smiles.

Long before he ever donned a park ranger’s uniform, Jefferson Gonzales was just a boy who would accompany his father on fishing trips along these rivers. As he watched his father deftly navigate the waterways, he imagined that one day, he would be steering the boat. But he never expected that this childhood daydream would ultimately define his life, leading him to devote his career, his life, to protecting some of Bolivia’s best-preserved natural landscape.

Eleven years ago, Jefferson secured a job as a park ranger for the Manuripi National Wildlife Reserve in Pando, Bolivia. He was only twenty years old, naive, yet perceptive enough to grasp this fundamental truth about himself: he belonged in the forest.

“Being a park ranger isn’t a job,” he says with a knowing smile. “It’s an adventure.”

It only takes a few minutes of conversation to realize he isn’t exaggerating.

The Reserve protects nearly 747,000 hectares (over 1.8 million acres) of forests, rivers, and wetlands that host an extraordinary diversity of wildlife. Overseeing a territory of this scale means hours spent navigating rivers, hiking long forest trails, guiding and managing visitors, and responding swiftly whenever an activity threatens the forest’s integrity. And it all rests on the shoulders of a small team of rangers, whose daily commitment preserves one of the most valuable landscapes in the Bolivian Amazon.

Yet when asked about the hardest part of being a ranger, Jefferson never mentions the rain, the mosquitoes, the snake bites, the strenuous hikes, or the conflicts that arise during the Brazil nut harvest season.

Instead, he talks about his family. 

About the birthdays he has missed. About the special occasions that inevitably pass while he remains stationed at a remote outpost, far from home. “That is the hardest part,” he admits, his voice tightening with emotion.

And so he has come to understand that conserving the forest means accepting the quiet sacrifices of his chosen life: giving up the everyday luxuries most people take for granted.

Protecting nature is not only about preventing illegal logging or safeguarding vulnerable species. It is also about choosing to stay, even when that commitment means missing irreplaceable moments with the people you love most.

And yet, somehow, the forest always finds a way to give that time back.

Jefferson remembers every colleague with whom he has shared a patrol. Some have retired; others have followed different paths. Yet every trail, every tree, every river holds a memory of those years spent together. Now it is his turn to carry that legacy forward, helping new rangers understand that love for a protected area does not appear overnight. It grows with every patrol, every sunrise reflected on the river, and every day spent deep in the forest.

Today, the boy who once admired his father’s harmony with nature is in his second year of environmental engineering studies. After more than a decade of learning the forest through experience, he wanted to see it through yet another lens.

His studies have revealed to him a whole new framework for interpreting the forest: that beneath the water lies an invisible world teeming with microorganisms; that plants such as water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes) naturally help purify freshwater ecosystems; and that every species plays an essential role in maintaining the balance of the Amazon. What he once understood intuitively, he can now explain.

But perhaps the most important lesson a park ranger can learn takes place neither in the forest nor at school. It happens at home.

Jefferson proudly shares that his children already speak regularly about conservation, pick up any litter they spot on the ground, and care for nature as part of their everyday lives. These small acts were born from watching their father leave, time and again, for the forest, unwavering in his conviction that protecting the Amazon is worth every sacrifice.

In his children, Jefferson witnesses a quiet but essential truth. The spirit of conservation can and must be passed down through generations. An intact forest requires so much more than legal protections and park rangers; it depends on the willingness of those who love it deeply to teach and spread that love.

On International Ranger Day, we celebrate these selfless men and women who walk remote trails, patrol rivers, and protect biodiversity. But rarely do we stop to think about everything that lies behind the uniform: childhood dreams realized, families forced to learn to love across distance, tricks of the trade whispered from one colleague to another. And a man who, even after eleven years of difficult work, looks at the river with the same sense of wonder as the child who once dreamt of mastering the art of navigating its flowing waters.

Thank you, Jefferson.

And thank you to every park ranger who teaches us that once you truly learn to love a forest, you can’t help but dedicate your life, in countless ways, to protecting it.

 

Just like the Amazon’s canopy depends on careful structure to hold up an entire ecosystem, our personal lives depend on careful structure, foresight, and protection to thrive. This August marks National Make-A-Will Month, a nationwide effort to help adults take one of the most important, and most often postponed, steps in planning for the future.

What is National Make-A-Will Month? 

It’s easy to put off writing a will. Many people assume it’s expensive, complicated, or something to deal with “someday.” But having a plan in place is one of the simplest ways to protect your family, your assets, and your peace of mind. It ensures your wishes are honored, removes uncertainty and unnecessary stress for the people you love, and puts you firmly in control of your future choices.

To support our community of conservationists, Amazon Conservation partners with FreeWill. This user-friendly platform guides you step by step through the process of writing a will in just 20 minutes, completely free. Whether you are looking to protect your loved ones, organize your assets, or simply check a major item off your summer to-do list, we invite you to claim your peace of mind today. 

Take the next step in securing your family’s future today.

A will is also a chance to think about the causes that matter most to you. Every gift, today or planned for the future, helps us protect more of the Amazon’s forests and the communities who call them home.

Whether you’re protecting your loved ones, organizing your affairs, or simply checking a meaningful item off your summer to-do list, we invite you to take 20 minutes today and secure that peace of mind.

Click on the headlines to read the full story.

    

Opinion Piece by Blaise Bodin, Amazon Conservation’s Director of Strategy and Policy

On July 3, we mark the anniversary of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT), signed in 1978 by the eight Amazonian nations and institutionalized in 1995 as the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO/OTCA). Nearly five decades later, ACTO remains the only intergovernmental body built specifically to coordinate action across the whole Amazon Basin. Our work at Amazon Conservation, halting illegal mining, deforestation, fires, and Nature crime monitoring, keeps confirming the same lesson: the Amazon functions as an integrated ecosystem with little regard for borders, yet most of the tools we have to protect it are still designed and applied nationally.

This lesson is more pressing than ever as the Amazon is under pressure from several compounding threats. A very strong El Niño is forecast for late 2026, raising the risk of another record-breaking fire season, similar to the one of 2024. Illegal gold mining continues to expand under record-high gold prices, degrading forests and rivers. Criminal networks behind mining, logging, and wildlife trafficking shift their activities to whichever jurisdiction has weaker controls, so the region’s environmental security is only as strong as its weakest link. Yet,  the response has remained overwhelmingly national. ACTO is the only truly Amazon-wide platform positioned to propose a regionally coordinated response.

On this anniversary, we offer the following wishes for ACTO’s future, drawn directly from our recent research across the region:

1. Govern the Amazon as a single “precipitationshed,” not just a river basin. Our recent research, “Keeping the flying rivers flowing: How deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon threatens rainfall in Peru and Bolivia” focused on atmospheric moisture transport shows that forest loss in one country can suppress rainfall hundreds of kilometers away in another; Brazil’s forest cover, for instance, is a primary driver of the “flying rivers” that sustain the wet season in Peru and Bolivia. Effective governance needs to account for both the terrestrial and atmospheric river systems, with differentiated responsibilities for countries whose forests sustain moisture transport for their neighbors. A similar approach is already used to jointly manage transboundary river basins in other parts of the world.
2. Treat fire and drought as basin-wide, not national, emergencies. With a major El Niño approaching, ACTO’s fire management guidelines could translate into coordinated early-warning and pre-season preparedness across borders. This means protecting the forests that sustain the region’s moisture pathways, recognizing they are essential not only for reducing fire risk, but also for maintaining rainfall and water supplies far beyond the Amazon itself.
3. Push harmonization, not just cooperation, on illegal mining. Our governance scoreboard shows that every Amazonian country has adopted at least one strong policy that its neighbors lack. ACTO is well placed to strengthen national frameworks through stronger regional governance and coordination. New ministerial resolutions could help spread replicable regulations on issues such as heavy machinery tracking, gold traceability and mercury controls, to close the regulatory gaps that allow criminal networks to simply shift their operations to jurisdictions with weaker controls. 
4. Strengthen ACTO by recognizing and integrating independent monitoring. Civil society platforms, including our own MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program) and Amazon Mining Watch, alongside MapBiomas Amazonía and RAISG — already provide basin-wide monitoring capabilities that complement official national data. ACTO’s new public security commission (CESPIT) offers an opportunity to establish shared regional standards for incorporating these data into decision-making, moving from fragmented, country-by-country arrangements toward a more regional and coordinated framework.
5. Protect the people who protect the forest. Environmental defenders across the region face serious risk. As cooperation between civil society and enforcement bodies grows, real exposure concerns continue to rise. CESPIT is well positioned to lead the development of a common regional protocol for evidence-sharing and confidentiality with clear safeguards to protect those who provide information.

The Amazon’s challenges have outgrown any single government’s capacity to manage them alone. ACTO already provides the institutional foundation for regional cooperation. Strengthening it, broadening its vision, and bringing more voices to the table such as: independent science, civil society, and Indigenous peoples, along governments, is one of the clearest paths toward matching the scale of the response to the scale of the challenge.

 

Blaise Bodin

Director of Strategy and Policy

 

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.

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 (both on 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.

Doug Sarno has focused on bringing people together to solve complex challenges. Trained as a civil and environmental engineer, he soon discovered that lasting environmental solutions depend not only on science and technology, but also on collaboration, trust, and shared vision. Over the years, he became a recognized facilitator and strategic planner, helping governments, nonprofits, and communities navigate some of the most difficult environmental issues of our time.

That passion for building partnerships eventually led him to Amazon Conservation. What began as a consulting role supporting strategic planning and board development evolved into a deeper commitment to the organization’s mission. Today, as Board Chair, Doug brings decades of experience in stakeholder engagement and consensus-building to help strengthen regional collaboration across the Amazon.

In this Q&A, Doug reflects on his path to conservation, the importance of creating trusted partnerships, and why he believes collaborative action is essential to protecting one of the planet’s most critical ecosystems.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am originally a civil and environmental engineer, but have spent the majority of my career as a facilitator and strategic planner. Much of my work has been to convene and facilitate diverse stakeholders to create consensus on how to address the types of complex and controversial environmental issues I had worked on as an engineer. My real passion has always been planning and process. In the late 1990’s I had the opportunity to serve as Executive Director of the International Association for Public Participation where I oversaw the development of a number of seminal tools and foundational training in establishing the formal practice of Public Participation. Since then I have worked with government agencies and nonprofits as a consultant, facilitator, trainer, and strategic planner in a wide range of issues related to strategic planning, organizational effectiveness, and stakeholder collaboration.

What sparked your interest in conservation?

I have always been interested in environmental issues. In engineering school I sought to focus on environmental engineering at a time when it barely existed as a discipline. This allowed me to begin my career working for environmental consulting firms, environmental nonprofits and the Environmental Protection Agency before starting my own environmentally-focused consulting firm. Much of my work has been for agencies and nonprofits focused on conservation, environmental protection, and environmental remediation. The more I worked in this field exploring solutions to hazardous and radioactive waste disposal, recycling, and the protection of natural resources, the more I witnessed the incredible damage caused by our careless attitudes toward nature. This resulted in my commitment to be part of the solution. I look for opportunities to find balance between human activity and ensuring a sustainable environment both in my work and in my volunteer activities.

How did you first connect with Amazon Conservation? 

A former client was hired by Amazon Conservation and was looking for a consultant to support strategic planning and Board Effectiveness activities. It was a good fit and I worked with Amazon Conservation on a variety of initiatives over a number of years. In the middle of one facilitation, the Board Chair asked me if I would like to join the board. I of course said yes. We joked that it was a clever way to get my services for free, but that was a deal I was more than happy to make.

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

We are a convener and collaborator of the organizations, tools, and science needed to help tackle this enormous and enormously important challenge. In that role we are able to work across political borders without any specific agenda, and without the constraints that country-specific organizations might face. This collaborative regional approach is the only way to get impact at scale. I truly believe that Amazon Conservation is committed to our work to protect and preserve the Amazon without trying to draw attention to ourselves or build the organization with any functions other than what is essential for the mission. This allows us to make sure the vast majority of all money raised goes directly to conservation efforts. 

What have you learned from your Board service thus far?

I think the passion of board members for the Amazon Conservation mission is what makes this board special. There is genuine excitement to learn about the work that is happening and it is always a pleasure to be working with such a diverse group of talented people. Working with partners throughout the region provides us with a big picture view of the causes and challenges of deforestation which allows us to contemplate holistic solutions. On this board we get a front row seat to the challenges and solutions to one of the most important conservation initiatives on the planet.

Why is our mission of protecting the Amazon so important?

Beyond the oceans, the Amazon is perhaps the single largest and most important ecosystem in helping to regulate the earth’s climate. There are so many reasons to protect this diverse wild space, but it’s service as a carbon sink is especially important to maintaining a human-friendly planet. The more we see of large areas of the Amazon shifting from a carbon sink to carbon release, the more essential it becomes to find sustainable solutions to managing deforestation in our lifetime.

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

I think many of us are struggling with the immensity of the world’s challenges right now. We want to see a fairer, more humane, and greener planet but struggle to know how to be part of the solution. As so many of our institutions struggle to evolve to meet the technologies and challenges of the 21st Century, I have become more convinced that many of the solutions will fall to civil society. I am reminded of the Margaret Mead quote “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” We need to shift our energy from doomscrolling about what a mess things are to taking some action, no matter how small, toward a future that you want to see. It does not matter what issue or how overwhelming the problem might seem. Find an organization that matches your passion and ask what you can do to help.

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

I was recently in Africa and spent some time with former poachers who are now part of the teams helping to protect wildlife. They explained that poaching was never something they wanted to do, but what was available to them to feed their families. They were paid little while others made a fortune on the tusks and horns that were sold for high prices. It reminded me that the solution to conservation is not brute force protection, punishing the small players while the true perpetrators continue their activities. Indeed, much of the gold mining currently destroying large areas of forest is happening in protected areas, by poor people working in terrible conditions. Catching and punishing those people might stop that mine but will not solve the problem itself. The answers are rooted in creating approaches and systems that allow the forest and humans to sustainably co-exist. I think this holistic and sustainable approach to conservation is at the heart of how Amazon Conservation works and is built into our regional partnership approach to all of our activities.

Based on your area of expertise, how would you describe the importance of creating collaborative and participatory spaces in conservation, and how do you think Amazon Conservation contributes to this? 

I think that I have touched on this throughout but will add one more essential piece of the puzzle. Just as the environmental issues we are seeking to address are almost entirely the result of human action, the success of the solutions we need to build are entirely dependent on human inter-action. It is the human element that must be solved to allow nature to do its thing. To allow conservation to take place, we first need to build the understanding, trust, and relationships to change human behavior in a permanent and sustainable way. That can only occur through ongoing collaboration to address the wide range of needs and conditions that result in deforestation. In my very biased opinion as a lifelong facilitator, meaningful and sustainable collaboration can only occur within a meaningful process and with the support a trustworthy facilitation. I believe that Amazon Conservation has been demonstrating its ability to create and facilitate those collaborative spaces in its ability to convene cross border partnerships and provide the overall facilitation of parties to achieve successful outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

“To allow conservation to take place, we first need to build the understanding, trust, and relationships to change human behavior in a permanent and sustainable way.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How one UK entrepreneur is helping businesses find a conservation story worth telling.

When Pam Moore founded Plant Protect, she had one clear conviction: that businesses deserved a conservation partnership they could actually feel proud of, not a compliance checkbox or a one-off transaction. Growing up in Liverpool surrounded by little greenery, she learned early that access to nature matters. Now a grandmother, she channels that lifelong belief into connecting UK businesses to verified, traceable impact in the Amazon and in Malawi.

Plant Protect works with businesses of every size, from founders taking their first step into sustainability to large organizations operating across multiple countries. Through Amazon Conservation’s business partnership program, each client receives specific, traceable impact numbers, a genuine conservation story to share, and regular updates from the field in Peru and Bolivia. It’s the kind of connection that travels through an organization, not just a line in a sustainability report, but something clients and staff talk about, share with their families, and genuinely feel proud of.

For Pam, the decision to build her model around causes like Amazon Conservation came from research and conviction in equal measure. She wanted to work with an organization that never overclaims, that grounds its communications in evidence, and that takes seriously both the protection of the forest and the rights of the indigenous communities who have been its greatest stewards for generations. We recently connected with Pam to hear more about the business she built, why the Amazon holds such a special place for her, and what she would say to any business owner still waiting to take that first step.

If your business is ready to do something real for the Amazon, explore our partnerships page or reach out to us at development@amazonconservation.org to start the conversation.

Read on to learn more about how Pam supports Amazon Conservation’s work as a Business Partner and what keeps her and her clients motivated. 

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Can you tell us about your background and your business, Plant Protect?

My name is Pam Moore and I’m the founder of Plant Protect. I was born in Liverpool in 1967 and grew up through the seventies in a city I love deeply, though the areas I moved through as a child were often quite deprived, with little greenery to speak of. What I noticed early on, and this stayed with me for the rest of my life, was that the places with trees, flowers and open green spaces were always the beautiful areas, the ones with lovely houses and thriving shops. In my young mind people who lived around big open spaces with lots of trees and greenery were happy and had lots of money.

Pam’s granddaughter, Ava.

I’m a grandmother now. My granddaughter Ava is fourteen and she is honestly the reason I do everything I do. When I look at her I think about the world she is going to inherit, and that thought doesn’t leave you alone once it takes hold.

Plant Protect is a UK-based conservation partnership that connects businesses to real, verified environmental impact. We work with two extraordinary organisations, Ripple Africa in Malawi, planting trees and fruit trees that feed families and keep children in school, and Amazon Conservation in Peru and Bolivia, protecting some of the most precious rainforest on the planet. Every business that joins us gets specific, traceable numbers, not estimates or vague promises, and a genuine story to tell. We work with businesses of every size, from smaller businesses taking their first proper step into sustainability, to larger organisations who want a named conservation partnership their people can genuinely feel proud of and share with the world.

Could you explain about how your business model works, as well as how and why it incorporates charitable giving?

The model is built around something I felt was missing when I first started looking at sustainability for businesses. Most options available to a business were either very complex, full of frameworks and audits and compliance language, or very transactional, a one-off contribution with little ongoing connection to the impact it created. I wanted to build something different. Something that didn’t just take a payment and move on, but stayed present, kept the story alive, and gave businesses something they could genuinely point to and feel proud of over time. Something real, structured and human.

For smaller businesses, Plant Protect works as a membership. They join at a tier that suits their size, and a portion of every membership goes directly to conservation, funding trees planted and forests preserved in Malawi, and supporting Amazon Conservation’s work in Peru and Bolivia. Alongside the conservation impact, they get a practical sustainability framework, a questionnaire, a personalised action plan and regular check-ins, so the membership gives them both something to feel and something to build on.

For larger businesses, the model is different. These are organisations that often already have sustainability covered on paper. What they are missing is a human story, something their teams across multiple countries can connect with and feel proud of rather than another policy sitting in a document nobody reads. For these clients we create a named Conservation Partnership, with specific verified impact numbers, quarterly reports featuring real photographs and stories from the field, and a fully managed relationship so they receive content and connection rather than another thing to administer.

What Plant Protect does for larger businesses goes far beyond packaging the work of our conservation partners. We create, manage and deliver a named, verified conservation partnership that belongs entirely to the client. Their specific impact numbers, their certificate, their story. We maintain the relationships with both Amazon Conservation and Ripple Africa on their behalf, we commission and structure the quarterly reports, we write the context and narrative that connects the field updates to the client’s own people and purpose, and we ensure that the extraordinary work happening on the ground in Peru, Bolivia and Malawi is translated into something a company’s people can hold, share and feel genuinely proud of. The photographs, the stories, the verified numbers, packaged and presented in a way that travels through an organisation and keeps the partnership alive and visible, not just at the moment of joining, but every single quarter for as long as the partnership continues.

In doing that, Plant Protect becomes the voice that tells the world what a business truly stands for. We showcase their empathy, their commitment to the planet, its people and its wildlife, in a way that reaches far beyond a policy document or a sustainability report. We help create real cultural change inside organisations, because when a member of staff sees that their CEO has chosen to plant trees in Malawi, to protect the Amazon, to feed families and support indigenous communities, something shifts. They don’t just work for a company anymore. They work for something worth talking about.

What initially inspired you to support environmental causes through your business?

Honestly, I never thought my passion for hugging trees and being in nature could become a business. I have always been that person, the one who stops to look at the trees, who feels genuinely restored by time outdoors, who has walked through green spaces since I was a child and felt something shift inside. But turning that into something commercially viable felt like a stretch for a long time.

What changed everything was a chance meeting with someone who was doing something similar, building a business with conservation at its heart. That conversation opened a door I hadn’t known was there. I thought, if they can do this, maybe I can too, but in my own way, in a way that fits who I am and what I genuinely believe.

And underneath all of it was Ava. My granddaughter is fourteen now and she is the emotional anchor for everything I build. I grew up in an era before we understood what we were doing to the planet. I think about my generation’s footprint, and I feel a real responsibility to spend whatever working years I have left doing something that matters for her future. Plant Protect is my answer to that feeling.

For you, why is it important to protect the Amazon?

Pam in the rainforests of Cambodia

I have always had a passion for the Amazon, ever since I can remember, and one of my genuine dreams is to visit it one day. There is something about the sheer scale and aliveness of it that has always moved me, even from a distance.

When I originally set up Plant Protect, I was working exclusively with Ripple Africa in Malawi. About two months in, I felt strongly that I wanted to do more, that the Amazon had to be part of the picture. So, I did my research, looked carefully at who was doing the most credible and serious work protecting it, and that research led me to Amazon Conservation. I am so glad it did.

Because once the Amazon is gone, it’s gone. That’s not a dramatic statement, it is simply true, and I think we need to say the plain truth more often rather than dressing it up in frameworks and targets. The Amazon is home to around ten percent of all species on Earth, it regulates our climate, shelters indigenous communities who have been its greatest protectors for generations, and supports biodiversity at a scale nothing else on the planet can replicate. Protecting it is not one option among many. It is essential.

What stands out about Amazon Conservation compared to other organizations and why did you choose to support their work?

I have to start by saying how much I love working with Nikki and Heather. They are both so genuinely helpful, warm and committed to what they do, and that matters enormously when you are building a partnership that you want to feel real rather than transactional. I very much hope one day to visit, to meet them both in person and to see for myself the extraordinary work this organisation is doing on the ground.

What drew me to Amazon Conservation above other organisations goes right to the heart of what I care about most deeply, and that is the indigenous communities and the wildlife. I get genuinely frustrated when I hear about the pressure on indigenous peoples to leave or change the way they have lived for generations. These communities are not obstacles to progress, they are the Amazon’s greatest protectors, and they deserve to have their territorial rights defended, not eroded. And the wildlife, the extraordinary, irreplaceable wildlife that exists nowhere else on Earth, the thought of losing species that have evolved over millions of years simply because we failed to act in time genuinely distresses me. What Amazon Conservation is doing on both of these issues, standing firmly alongside indigenous communities and using science and technology to protect the habitats that wildlife depends on, is exactly the kind of serious, committed, long term work that gives me real hope. That’s why I chose this organisation above all others, and why I am so proud to call this a genuine partnership.

I also love that Amazon Conservation never overclaims. The communication is honest, evidence-based and grounded in reality. For a business like Plant Protect, where integrity in everything we say is completely central to what we stand for, that alignment of values is not something I take for granted.

How have your business’s community and clients responded to this partnership?

With genuine emotion, which still surprises me sometimes even though it probably shouldn’t. When businesses receive their first update from the field with real photographs of the Amazon and the families in Malawi, something shifts. It stops being a line item or a badge on a website and becomes something their people actually talk about. I’ve had clients tell me their staff brought it up unprompted in a team meeting. One client told me their Managing Director shared it with his family over dinner.

That’s the thing about real stories. People remember them. A carbon reduction percentage doesn’t travel through an organization the way a photograph of a child standing next to a fruit tree their company funded does.

Our Circet partnership has been a particularly meaningful example of this. Circet is one of the UK and Ireland’s leading telecoms and infrastructure companies, operating across six countries, and their teams across all those countries are now connected to the same Amazon Conservation story. That reach, that breadth of human connection through one partnership, is exactly what Plant Protect was built to make possible.

Is there a favorite program or initiative that has stood out to you or your clients most?

For me it has to be the work Amazon Conservation does alongside indigenous communities. The combination of respecting and protecting the territorial rights of people who have called the Amazon home for generations, while at the same time using that deep local knowledge to strengthen conservation efforts, feels like exactly the right approach. These communities are not separate from the forest, they are part of it and supporting them is inseparable from protecting it.

The use of science and technology to monitor threats to the forest also genuinely excites me every time I learn more about it. The idea that deforestation and illegal activity can be tracked and responded to in near real time, that the people working to protect the Amazon have access to tools that give them a fighting chance against the forces that would destroy it, feels like the kind of innovation the planet desperately needs more of.

For our clients, the thing that tends to resonate most is simply knowing the scale of what Amazon Conservation protects, over ten million acres of the most biodiverse forest on Earth. When that number lands in a quarterly report alongside a photograph of the forest and the communities living within it, people feel the weight of it. It stops being an abstract statistic and becomes something worth fighting for.

What would you say to other environmentally-conscious people and businesses about how they can help make a difference and help conserve the Amazon and the planet?

Start. Just start. Don’t wait until you have a net zero strategy and a sustainability director and a perfectly formed ESG framework. Don’t wait until you feel qualified enough or informed enough or big enough. None of that is a prerequisite for doing something real.

The businesses that have moved me most since I started Plant Protect are not the ones with the biggest budgets or the most sophisticated sustainability strategies. They are the ones where someone, a founder, a CEO, a person with influence, decided they wanted their business to mean something beyond its balance sheet, and then took a step. One step. And then another.

The Amazon needs that. Malawi needs that. The planet needs that. And honestly, your people need it too, because there is something that happens inside a business when it connects to something larger than itself. People show up differently. They talk about their work differently. They feel proud.

Pam Moore, Founder of Plant Protect 

www.plantprotect.co.uk | pam@plantprotect.co.uk | +44 7872 330788

If your business is ready to do something real for the Amazon, explore our partnerships page or reach out to us at development@amazonconservation.org to start the conversation.