The T’simane Mosetene Regional Council continues an ambitious project with the support of Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and WCS Bolivia, aiming to reduce threats to biodiversity across 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) and empower Indigenous women as forest guardians. To achieve this, this initiative seeks to strengthen shared territorial management, empower women and youth, and promote financial sustainability and communication.

In the heart of Bolivia, where the snow-capped Andes Mountains merge with the Amazon, the Indigenous T’simane, Mosetene, and Tacana peoples face a constant struggle to defend their territory: the Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Native Community Territory.

This territory holds the dual designation of Biosphere Reserve, managed by the National Service of Protected Areas (SERNAP), and Indigenous Territory, managed by the T’simane Mosetene Regional Council (CRTM). It encompasses nearly 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) of well-preserved forests and is home to unique biodiversity and cultures deeply connected to nature.

However, this natural and cultural wealth is under threat. Illegal mining, forest fires, infrastructure expansion, and unauthorized development endanger not only the ecosystem, but also the livelihoods and identity of its inhabitants.

Faced with these challenges, the T’simane Mosetene Regional Council has taken a leading role in defending its territory through an ambitious project with the support of CEPF and in partnership with WCS Bolivia, aiming to reduce threats to biodiversity and empower Indigenous women, strengthening territorial governance, and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

A Comprehensive Approach to Conservation

The project is structured around three strategic pillars: strengthening shared territorial management; empowering women and youth; and ensuring financial sustainability and communication.

The first pillar involves close coordination between SERNAP and CRTM. Through this pillar, patrols done by a security force composed of park rangers and community representatives, have been intensified. In addition, training workshops are being organized to improve their capacity to respond to forest fires and to monitor and report illegal activities, such as gold mining.

The second focus area prioritizes training in leadership, Indigenous rights, and sustainability. Women from four communities have launched productive enterprises. Some produce essential oils and dehydrated Amazonian fruits, while others provide food services to tourists. This generates income and improves local food security.

The third focus area is identifying and adapting sustainable financing instruments and ensuring the equitable distribution of benefits. Additionally, the CRTM’s communication capacities are being strengthened, integrating a gender perspective into its operations.

Women at the Frontlines of Conservation

One of the project’s most inspiring achievements is the leading role assumed by Indigenous women. The CRTM is currently led by a strong female leader, Magaly Tipuni.

With the support of their communities, the community’s women have built artisanal facilities for extracting essential oils to produce high-quality products that are already being sold. This process improves local family economies and, at the same time, reinforces the role of these women as guardians of the forest and their territory.

These initiatives are aligned with the “Management Plan and Life Plan of the Reserve.” This is a strategic document developed by the CRTM and SERNAP, which guides the sustainable management of the territory and the conservation of its biodiversity.

Regional and Global Impact of a Model for Hope

The project’s focus extends beyond the local level. By conserving the forests of Pilón Lajas, it protects one of the planet’s largest carbon sinks and freshwater sources. Furthermore, it promotes the responsible consumption of Indigenous and sustainable products, raising awareness about the importance of preserving these forests.

This initiative also demonstrates that effective conservation is possible when Indigenous leadership, especially that of women, is recognized and strengthened. When faced with multiple threats, the T’simane, Mosetene, and Tacana peoples are building a development model in harmony with nature, based on ancestral knowledge, community organization, and local innovation.

 

 

From the roots of an açaí palm to the canopy where monkeys swing and toucans call, the Amazon is alive with food — not just for the animals that call it home, but for people around the world.

On World Rainforest Day (June 22nd), we’re honoring the vital connection between forests and food. In the Amazon, this connection is woven into every tree, animal, and community.

Açaí berries, pollinated by bees and beetles, nourish families and fuel local economies. The towering palma real trees feed tapirs, deer, and rodents, who return the favor by spreading its seeds. Brazil nuts take over a year to ripen and rely on bees and agoutis for their survival in a delicate, ancient partnership. And the cacao and cupuaçu palm trees, cared for by generations of Indigenous and forest communities, offer us cacao and chocolate in flavors as rich as the forest they come from.

These foods are more than just products. They’re part of a living system that supports over 16,000 tree species, 390 million individual trees, and countless lives.

But that system is under threat.

Deforestation and climate change are unraveling the delicate web that makes the Amazon the world’s greatest rainforest and one of its greatest food sources. When we lose the forest, we don’t just lose trees. We lose pollinators. We lose livelihoods. We lose nourishment. We lose balance.

This World Rainforest Day, take action to protect the forest that unites and feeds us.

Your support helps us defend forests from illegal mining, fires, and deforestation while uplifting the communities who care for them. Together, we can ensure that the Amazon continues to thrive, not just for its own sake, but for the future of food, climate, and life itself.

[Donate now] to keep the Amazon thriving and resilient.

 

 

We’re proud to announce that we’ve earned the 2025 Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency, the highest level of recognition for nonprofit accountability and openness!

At Amazon Conservation, we believe that protecting the Amazon rainforest goes hand in hand with building trust. That’s why we make it a priority to share clear, comprehensive information about who we are, how we work, and the impact we’re making across the Amazon basin.

This Platinum Seal from Candid – the leading source of nonprofit data, previously GuideStar – reflects our ongoing commitment to transparency. From our program outcomes and leadership to financial information and strategic goals, our profile gives you an open window into how your donations drive real impact on the ground.

As we face growing environmental challenges and shifts in global weather patterns, we know that transparency, collaboration, and trust are more important than ever. This recognition is a testament to the collective effort of our team, donors, partners, and supporters – and to our dedication to making our mission visible, impactful, and measurable, every step of the way.

Thank you for standing with us in protecting the Amazon.

Learn more: https://app.candid.org/profile/7790364/amazon-conservation-association-52-2211305 

Last week, staff members from our Alliance, comprised of Amazon Conservation, Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, and Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA attended the 15th Annual meeting of the Governors’ Climate & Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force) in Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil. The event this year set up essential  discussions regarding the co-construction of a New Forest Economy that strengthens forest protection, supports land restoration, and fosters sustainable economic growth and job opportunities across the region.

The GCF Task Force was established in 2008 to bring together a coalition of states and provinces across 11 countries to safeguard tropical forests and advance practical approaches to rural development that preserve these forests. Today, it’s the world’s largest platform for this type of subnational collaboration dedicated to tropical forest protection, consolidating a network of entities to support strong environmental governance, green financing, protection of territorial rights, and the well-being of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to strategize effective subnational, national, and international pathways for sustainable economic development that supports livelihoods and reduces deforestation.

Similar to our community-integrated approach to conservation that empowers local people, our Alliance has been working to build a forest-based economy in Peru and Bolivia for the past 10+ years, and is currently working on expanding these efforts into Brazil. We consider this approach to be one of the most effective ways to avoid forest conversion in the long term by providing economic opportunities that rely on standing forests. 

This year’s annual meeting marked an important step forward for Amazon Conservation, as our Alliance hosted a special side event called “People at the Center of Bioeconomic Transitions: Uniting Small Producers, Indigenous Peoples, and Local Communities,” to share progress updates on the development of the bioeconomy and facilitate dialogues between local producers in the Madre de Dios (Peru), Acre (Brazil), and Pando (Bolivia) regions of the Amazon. “My family lives inside the Chico Mendes Reserve here in Acre. Mother Nature feeds us, so we must treat her with care. What we need now are credit lines that actually reach our cooperatives. We discussed that capital is one of the missing pieces for communities like ours”, emphasized Vanusa Ferreira, one of the leaders at Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve. 

The exchange of experiences among producers of these countries sparked fresh hope and a collaborative spirit grounded in shared missions. As Manoel de Jesus, President of the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve Association, said, “We’re going home energized. The proposals shaped here, together with partners from Peru, Bolivia, and beyond, show that when we stand united, we have a bright future.” 

Marcos Terán, Executive Director of Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA in Bolivia, added that “bringing producers from Peru and Bolivia to share lessons in Brazil charts a common road toward a forest-based bioeconomy. The southwestern Amazon is not just productive land, it’s a climate engine. Solutions must start with local actors to get them scaled up.”

This session also included engagement from private sector company representatives and investors who have integrated investing in Amazonian organizations and/or communities that harvest forest-based products, connecting small-scale producers and Indigenous communities with potential business partners. As discussions progressed, participants reflected on the challenges of investing in cross-border supply chains and climate adaptation, exploring strategic opportunities for joint impact, and implementing best practices to strengthen sustainable development for the bioeconomy. As we aim to expand these efforts into the productive forests of Brazil, this side event acted as a key space to further boost and support local initiatives that can bolster local producers’ entrance into the global non-timber forest product market. 

“A key insight from these dialogues is that increasing the value of Amazonian forest products, through integrated, internationally recognized supply chains, is vital for long-term forest conservation and for livelihoods that truly value and empower local communities,” concluded Blaise Bodin, Director of Strategy & Policy at Amazon Conservation.

Last week, Amazon Conservation Co-Founder Dr. Adrian Forsyth joined our Peruvian sister organization, Conservación Amazónica-ACCA, for a special event to celebrate the launch of the Spanish edition of his book, Tropical Nature (Naturaleza Tropical), which transforms the ecological complexity of tropical forests into captivating stories about nature that Forsyth witnessed himself during various expeditions throughout the Amazon biome. As a scientist, writer, and conservation leader, Forsyth has inspired generations of conservationists through his vivid vision and unwavering dedication to the Amazon and the Neotropics—regions that are vital to understanding our planet’s ecological health and shaping global conservation strategies. 

Tropical Nature offers a unique perspective on the intricate ecological functions of the Neotropics, meant to inspire generations of biologists and naturalists to learn more about the interconnectedness of plant and animal species with human welfare. Forsyth writes in the book’s introduction, “Our purpose is not merely to set down a compendium of interesting facts about tropical nature, but to provoke curiosity about how such a complex world might function and how it might have evolved.” He later wrote, “We felt a need for a book addressing the natural history of tropical rainforests that would be accessible to the legion of naturalists and interested laymen in the temperate zone who might wish to learn something of this remarkable world today.” Now, the Spanish edition of this iconic book can reach a new audience of conservationists located in and around one of the world’s most significant Neotropical regions. 

The event “An Afternoon For Conservation with Adrian Forsyth,” hosted in Lima, Peru, celebrated the official launch of Naturaleza Tropical, and recognized Forsyth’s more than forty years of dedication to exploring and conserving this vital region that inspired this book. The event began with welcoming remarks from María Elena Gutiérrez, Executive Director of Conservación Amazónica-ACCA, who highlighted Forsyth’s profound impact on the protection of tropical forests and the formation of a global community of scientists and conservationists committed to the Amazon. She also extended special thanks to The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, whose generous support made it possible to publish this renowned work in Spanish. Key figures of the conservation world, including Amazon Conservation Co-Founder Enrique Ortiz; Avecita Chicchón and Aileen Lee of The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; and prominent international scientists such as Miles Silman, Michael Goulding, Russell Mittermeier, and John Terborgh, also shared moving accounts of Forsyth’s prolific accomplishments and his influence on their lives and careers.

Corine Vriesendorp, Conservacion Amazonica-ACCA’s Director of Science, led the presentation of Naturaleza Tropical, followed by a special appearance by photographer and editor Walter Wust, who highlighted how Forsyth invites us, through his written lines, to marvel at the simple things in life and nature. The event also featured a panel with Peruvian university professors who discussed the book’s relevance to the current challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as its impact on new generations of conservationists. 

“This book is a masterpiece. The way it describes dung beetles is fascinating, and I found the chapter on canyons of light fantastic. The epiphytes, the small details… everything is told with unique sensibility,” remarked Marc Dourojeanni, Professor Emeritus at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, during the event. “Not much is written at this level in Spanish; this edition will allow many technocrats, students, park rangers, and guides to better understand what they observe. It is the universe of the minuscule, of patient observation. There are many imprecise interpretations out there, and this work helps restore wonder and respect for tropical nature.” 

Forsyth shared how a National Geographic article from the 1960s about the Vilcabamba mountain range in Peru that he read at the age of 13 shaped his desire to pursue a career in conservation. He recalled how that first encounter with the Amazon eventually drew him deep into its heart – trekking in muddy boots, with no map or fixed plan, guided only by a single purpose: to protect it. He spoke of his deep devotion to Peru, describing how a place that once felt like a distant dream became the center of his life thanks to the support of people, such as Peruvian environmentalist Carlos Ponce del Prado, among many others who accompanied him along his journey. Forsyth also highlighted the importance of Peru’s system of natural protected areas, a unique model for conservation that the world should follow. 

In his closing remarks at the event, Forsyth issued an important call to action: “In a world where new generations are growing up increasingly disconnected from nature, if this book inspires even one more person to explore the tropics and fight for their protection, then it will have been worthwhile.” In recognition of his legacy, Forsyth received a sculpture of the “Blue Beast of Death,” or dung beetle, one of the species he studied the most throughout his life. As the largest coprophagous beetle in South America, the dung beetle plays a crucial role in recycling nutrients and thus symbolizes the health of forests.

We at Amazon Conservation are extremely proud to celebrate the vision that our Co-Founders, Dr. Adrian Forsyth and Enrique Ortiz, planted more than 25 years ago: to create an organization dedicated to protecting the planet’s most diverse landscapes, training new conservation leaders, and working alongside communities for a sustainable future. Today, we, along with our sister organizations, Conservación Amazonica–ACCA and Conservación Amazonica–ACEAA, continue to work towards making this dream a reality by promoting high-level scientific research and fostering ways of living in harmony with the Amazon ecosystem. Our vision for a prosperous,  resilient, and thriving Amazon remains resolute, and the inspiration of leaders like Dr. Adrian Forsyth paves our path towards effective conservation solutions with hope, commitment, and determination. 

Watch the recording for “An Afternoon for Conservation with Adrian Forsyth.”

As gold prices continue to increase, small-scale gold mining activity continues to be one of the major deforestation drivers across the Amazon, often targeting remote areas and impacting carbon-rich primary forests. These mining activities are presumed to be illegal based on their location in conservation areas (such as protected areas and Indigenous territories) and outside mining concessions.

Given the Amazon’s vastness, it has been challenging to monitor mining deforestation accurately and regularly across all nine countries to better inform related policies in a timely manner. To address this challenge, Amazon Conservation, in partnership with Earth Genome and the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network, created Amazon Mining Watch: an AI-powered dashboard to address this challenge. This online tool analyzes satellite imagery to estimate annual and cumulative mining deforestation across the entire Amazon, providing actionable data for management and conservation purposes in near real-time at national and regional levels.

In a previous report on the Amazon Mining Watch dashboard, MAAP #212,  we presented the initial results of mining activities from  2018 to 2024. Our newest report, MAAP #226, presents an update focused on the newly added 2024 data.

This report highlights several major findings:

• Gold mining is actively causing deforestation in all nine countries of the Amazon. This impact is concentrated in three major areas: southeast Brazil, the Guyana Shield, and southern Peru. In addition, mining in Ecuador is escalating.
• The cumulative mining deforestation footprint in 2024 was over 2 million hectares (nearly 5 million acres) and has increased by over 50% in the past six years.
• Over half of all Amazon mining deforestation occurred in Brazil, followed by Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, and Peru.
• While the cumulative footprint continues to grow, the rate of increase slowed in 2024 after peaking in 2022, likely due to increased enforcement in Brazil. In 2024, we documented the new gold mining deforestation of 111,603 hectares (275,777 acres). This total represents a decrease of 45% relative to the peak year 2022.
• Over one-third of the mining deforestation has occurred within protected areas and Indigenous territories, where much of it is likely illegal. The top nine most impacted protected areas are all in Brazil, led by the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area. The three most impacted Indigenous territories are also in Brazil (Kayapó, Mundurucu, and Yanomami), followed by territories in Venezuela and southern Peru.
• These results have important policy implications, and we discuss examples in Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador.

Read the full report.

Seeing the drastic effects that deforestation has had on the Amazon, many Amazonian nations have begun to coordinate responses for stronger environmental protection, resulting in increased political and financial commitments for conservation initiatives in the Amazon. In 2023’s Belém Declaration (an agreement signed by leaders across 8 Amazonian countries to promote regional cooperation and strengthen environmental governance to protect the Amazon), these nations agreed to “combine the efforts of their governments […] to avoid the point of no return in the Amazon.” However, the challenges to sustain these developments under extractive, and often unsustainable, economies have raised a new question: how can we evaluate and track the progress of these initiatives and their impacts to ensure conservation goals are being met? 

As the international community’s attention turns to the Amazon once again leading up to this year’s COP30 in Belém, Brazil, many civil society organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for an evaluation method to assess the gap between scientific recommendations to avoid a tipping point, the ambitions stated by regional governments, and the actual policies implemented to garner solutions at national and sub-national levels. Through the Amazon Conservation Alliance (comprised of Amazon Conservation, Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, and Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA) and its vast network of partners, we have developed a unique concept: creating an ‘Amazon Gap Report’ to assess how the policies and regulations in place align with specific conservation objectives. From these reports, civil society and NGOs can help devise recommendations on how to fill any potential gaps in achieving these goals. Essentially, this gap report can act as a ‘scorecard’ for various Amazonian nations, and could evolve into a regular annual exercise to track progress and link science, policy, and improvements over time. 

Earlier this month, our Director of Strategy and Policy Blaise Bodin, attended a meeting in Rondônia, Brazil, with our partners Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV), to discuss the potential of this scorecard system and its implementation leading up to COP30. The organization had previously been working on a localized observatory in the state of Mato Grasso, which would act as a communication platform for civil society, NGOs, and local people to exchange data on deforestation happening in the Amazon. Upon hearing of a potential Amazon-wide version of this, and seeing successes from platforms of similar use such as the Amazon Mining Watch and Clean Air NDC Scorecard, members of ICV brought together partners across the region to assess the relevance of this scorecard system for state-level action, evaluate how existing initiatives to can contribute to new methodologies and input data for this system, and define the priorities and processes for developing evaluation criteria. Furthermore, as Amazon Conservation anticipates its expansion of our iconic landscapes into the productive forests of Brazil to widen the scale of our forest-based economy efforts, partnering with these NGOs can help establish our regional presence in Brazil as a leading conservation organization, increasing our impacts on the ground across the Amazon.

When it comes to developing conservation solutions for the Amazon, creating common methodologies can often be difficult given the complex political contexts across different Amazonian countries. “A central component of these ‘scorecards’ is developing a standardized framework to evaluate the ambition and effectiveness of governments at all levels across the Amazon, which must be both comparable across multiple jurisdictions and capable of generating insights at the regional scale,” explains Blaise. To ensure that the exercise is relevant to local contexts, this project will draw on a vast network of civil society organizations across the Amazon, both for formulating the criteria used for the evaluation and their application to each national and sub-national context.

By implementing these gap reports, we aim to develop these ‘scorecards’ with their application methodologies by this year’s COP30, a globally significant conservation event that can act as a space to present the results and deliver the scores to  identified leaders in the region, as well as national and sub-national governments. Amazon Conservation will host a regional workshop with civil society partners at the subnational level in the States of the Brazilian Amazon, along with those in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia to develop common criteria for assessing the action of governments in terms of: 

• Setting of targets related to the Amazon, such as reducing deforestation, emissions from forests, other impacts e.g., mercury pollution, in addition to forest restoration and investments in building forest-based economies
• Policies taken to implement these targets, such as land-use designation and infrastructure planning, and fiscal incentives (both negative and positive)
• Effectiveness of interventions against illegal deforestation and other environmental crimes, assessed through indicators of forest and forest carbon loss, and responsiveness of enforcement authorities to notifications of illegal deforestation cases
• Efforts to secure international funding by assessing preparedness for different types of financing 

As we move forward, we anticipate our participation at this year’s COP30 to communicate on the results and call attention to remaining policy gaps, helping ensure long-term conservation in the Amazon and convening all partners contributing to the reports, as well as amplifying indigenous representations. 

A special thank you to our partners who are helping us with this initiative: 

• Instituto Centro de Vida – ICV (Brazil)
• Science Panel for the Amazon 
• Conservación Amazónica – ACCA (Peru) 
• Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA (Bolivia) 
• Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Colombia – FCDS (Colombia) 
• Fundación EcoCiencia (Ecuador)
• SOS Amazônia (Acre)
• Ecoporé (Rondônia)
• Fepipa (Pará)
• ObservaMT (Mato Grosso)
• Observatório da 163 – Idesam (Amazonas) 

Earlier this month, our Director of Strategy and Policy Blaise Bodin attended Brazil’s 2025 Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL), an annual mobilization of Indigenous leaders, representatives, and allies advocating for Indigenous peoples’ land demarcation and sovereignty. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the organizers of the event, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), who established this year’s theme “We Are All APIB: In Defense of the Constitution and Life,” which calls attention to the struggles of maintaining Indigenous people’s constitutional rights to their territories, essential for environmental conservation and justice in Brazil. With over 7,000 attendees, this year’s ATL hosted several panels, plenaries, and marches over a 4-day period on the lawn in front of Brazil’s national congress building in Brasília, in a symbolic gesture to highlight the need for stronger Indigenous representation in legislature. 

At the event, Blaise was invited by our Brazilian partners at Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), who in turn, had been invited participate in a round table session hosted by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), in which numerous Indigenous leaders of the Yanomami, Munduruku and Kayapó Indigenous groups expressed concerns for ongoing mining invasions and mercury contamination in their territories, which have drastically affected the health and safety of these communities. Although efforts by the government to remove miners from their territories have shown success, activities still persist, and Indigenous communities in Brazil continue to face challenges in effectively monitoring their territories to enforce the law. 

In light of the continued efforts by the government and civil society organizations to mitigate mining activities, geographer Estevão Benfica Senra from Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) highlighted that remote-sensing data shared with these communities resulted in a significant reduction of various illegal activities across the entire Amazon, reinforcing joint action needed for this among Indigenous leaders, civil society organizations, and monitoring authorities.  Estevão also highlighted the use of data from Amazon Mining Watch (AMW), a digital platform that uses machine learning to report mining activities across the Amazon, which we helped create in 2022 via partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network and Earth Genome. Amazon Conservation is currently working alongside Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) to strengthen Indigenous communities’ efforts in developing an early warning system for mining activities in their territories using information from the Amazon Mining Watch.

In response to seeing this information shared at such a prominent event, Blaise shares, “it was impressive to see [Estevão] amongst a panel of distinguished indigenous leaders. We hope that this data can help in the conversation between the indigenous peoples and the federal government agencies in charge of enforcement.” Blaise also mentioned how Indigenous groups are historically very distrustful of information generated by the government, and hopes that the Amazon Mining Watch can be a key tool for these groups “by providing independent figures that paint an objective view of the reality at the scale of the entire Amazon: one of undeniable progress that will require continued efforts to root out both destruction on the ground and the extensive criminal networks that drive [gold mining deforestation].” 

This year’s ATL 2025 was successful in sparking dialogue among Indigenous leaders that proposed joint strategies in collaboration with government agencies and ministries to effectively monitor their territories and develop stronger, more sustainable solutions for the long term. Following a conversation with Estevão from ISA, Blaise expressed interest in representing Amazon Conservation at next year’s Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL). He details how Amazon Conservation can work through our partnership with ISA, stating that “for next year, we will prepare ahead of the ATL and, through ISA, consolidate our presence at any panels or roundtables on illegal gold mining to present the Amazon Mining Watch platform in more detail and explain its functionalities and relevance for indigenous leaders in their relationship with enforcement authorities.”

Healthy, standing forests directly affect these communities’ food security, health, livelihoods, and overall long-term survival, which continues to be threatened by various harmful and often illegal activities such as gold mining and logging. Data from our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP) has shown that Indigenous territories, which cover almost 20% of the entire Amazon basin, are proven to be effective against unlawful and unchecked deforestation, reducing the primary forest loss rate by 3x compared to areas outside of these designations. Given these results, supporting Indigenous rights and autonomy is a centerpiece of our strategy to empower people. 

To amplify our work, Amazon Conservation will be taking a much more active role in major global conservation forums to bolster the way we influence policy that affects the lives of Indigenous people. It is vital that Indigenous groups continue to be represented among climate and conservation policy discussions to gain more visibility for their invaluable role in achieving national and international climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development goals.

In 2023, we published a MAAP report detailing the effectiveness of protected areas and Indigenous territories across the Amazon, which have shown a 3-fold reduction in deforestation rates compared to areas outside these land designations. While the establishment of these areas proves to be effective, some regions continue to remain vulnerable to illegal deforestation activities. 

For the past decade, roughly 60% of deforestation in Colombia has occurred in its Amazonian regions. To help address this growing issue, we established a partnership with the Colombian organization, the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible – FCDS), in 2023 to provide MAAP’s real-time deforestation tracking capabilities, enabling swift action against illegal deforestation. 

Our newest report, MAAP #224, was created in collaboration with FCDS, following an announcement by the Colombian Ministry of the Environment that detailed the increase in forest clearing rates in 2024, after the country experienced its lowest deforestation in over 20 years. Nearly 1.2 million hectares (approximately 296,500 acres) of the Colombian Amazon have already been deforested (much of it likely illegal) within the past 10 years, occurring in protected areas and Indigenous territories. 

MAAP #224 highlights recent deforestation taking place from late 2024 to early 2025 in two key areas of the Colombian Amazon: Chiribiquete National Park (Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de Chiribiquete) and the adjacent Llanos del Yarí–Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve (Resguardo Indígena Llanos del Yarí–Yaguará II).  The expansion of road infrastructure, extensive livestock farming, pasture expansion, land grabbing, and illicit crops (coca), have been a identified as the main divers of deforestation in these areas, leading to the loss of over 7,100 hectares (about 17,500 acres) in Chiribiquete National Park alone since its most recent expansion in 2018. 

Within the 2024-2024 time period, 525 hectares (about 1,297 acres) of deforestation were estimated in Chiribiquete National Park and an additional 856 (about 2,115 acres) hectares in Llanos del Yarí–Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve.

This report illustrates these key cases of deforestation in both areas through a series of high-resolution satellite imagery and overflight photos to provide greater insight and analysis into the cause of this recent deforestation. 

 

Read the full report here.

If you’ve been following us on our Earth Day countdown this past month, you’ve seen some of the highlights of what Amazon Conservation has been able to accomplish and contribute over the past 25 years! We’re thrilled that Earth Day is finally here, and as we celebrate all the wonderful ways nature has nurtured us, we can’t help but reminisce on how our community of conservationists has supported vital conservation efforts in the Amazon that keep our planet thriving. 

As we look back on our 25 years as conservation pioneers, we are honored to have received an overwhelming amount of support since our founding. Thanks to supporters like you, we have made groundbreaking achievements that have paved the way for effective conservation solutions, protecting one of the world’s most globally significant ecosystems. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane, reflecting on how your support has helped us flourish into who we are today. Together, we’re making a difference for people, wildlife, and the world as a whole. 

Thank you for all you’ve helped us accomplish for the Amazon! 

 

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Amazon Conservation’s Founding

1999

In the 1980s, burning rainforests in Brazil drew worldwide attention to the plight of the Amazon Basin. Without a solidified plan for development and conservation, many international organizations rushed to develop plans for the conservation and development of the lower Amazon. In the late 1990s, a small group of conservationists looked higher, to the source of the Amazon. Our Co-Founders, Adrian Forsyth and Enrique Ortiz, developed our founding program that provided support for Brazil nut harvesters in Peru as an incentive for protecting the forest, one of the first of many locally driven, pragmatic conservation solutions that have become the hallmark of our organization. 

 

 

 

 

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Beginning of Our Flagship Brazil Nuts Conservation Program

1999

Our flagship Brazil nuts conservation program begins, providing incentives for forest users to keep their forests healthy and standing through sustainably harvesting and selling raw Brazil nuts.

 

 

 

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Los Amigos Conservation Concession Created

2000

Los Amigos Conservation Concession is established as the world’s first conservation concession utilizing a public-private partnership model, developing a new blueprint for forest conservation that remains in use to this day. Covering 360,000 acres of critical terrestrial and aquatic habitats, Los Amigos continues to provide long-term protection for wildlife and hosts fundamental scientific research, technical workshops, and monitoring initiatives that promote the sustainable management and overall importance of the concession for conservation.

Read more about the Los Amigos Conservation Concession

 

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Our First Biological Station Established

2000

Our Los Amigos Biological Station is inaugurated in the Madre de Dios region of southwestern Peru based on the conviction that the world’s greatest forest deserves the best research centers in the world. This biological research station sits on 1,119 acres of pristine forest; hosts a diverse array of research, training, and educational courses; and offers scientists access to advanced tools and technology for wildlife tracking, conservation genomics, and monitoring key species throughout the region.

 

 

 

 

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First Atlas of the Amazon Published

2002

We support the creation of the first watershed-based atlas of the Amazon, developed by staff scientists in partnership with the Smithsonian.

Learn more about the Atlas of the Amazon here.

 

 

 

 

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Expanded our Work on the Ground to Bolivia

2004

We establish an on-the-ground permanent presence in the Bolivian Amazon to study and conserve the unique Pampas del Heath (rainforest savanna) ecosystem. See how our sister organization Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA has grown over the years.

 

 

 

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Wayqecha Cloud Forest Biological Station Established

2005

We construct Wayqecha Biological Station, our second research station in Peru and the country’s first permanent field station focused on cloud forests.

 

 

 

 

 

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Flagship Indigenous Conservation Area Created

2008

We support the Wachiperi Indigenous community of Haramba Queros in developing the world’s first conservation concession managed by an Indigenous community, putting the power in the hands of those at the forefront of protecting forests.

 

 

 

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Manu Biological Station Established

2010

Taking advantage of the impressive elevational gradient of 1,700-4,400 feet above sea level at the foothills of the Andes Mountains, we establish Manu Biological Station, one of the tropics’ most premier research stations.

 

 

 

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Discovered the 7,000th Frog

2012

Our support for research at our Wayqecha Biological Station contributes to the scientific discovery of the Wayqecha Centrolene sabini (Sabin’s glassfrog), the 7,000th amphibian species in the world.

 

 

 

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Started to Promote New Forest-Friendly Livelihoods

2013

We begin to promote other alternative livelihoods for local communities in Peru to earn a living without harming their forests, including ecotourism, agroforestry, and fish farms.

 

 

 

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Planted 250,000 Trees to Date

2014

The early stages of our reforestation efforts begin through local partnerships with communities and Indigenous groups to restore deforested or degraded areas, planting a quarter of a million trees. 

 

 

 

 

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Real-Time Deforestation Monitoring Became a Reality Through MAAP

2015

We launch an innovative deforestation monitoring and analysis system called Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP), which uses the latest in satellite imagery and radar technology to find, track, and expose deforestation happening in Peru in real time.
Learn more about MAAP here.

 

 

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Inaugurated the Southwest Amazon Drone Center

2016

Amazon’s first drone training and monitoring center is established through a pilot program at our Los Amigos Biological Station to provide local people with training and technology to detect deforestation in their forests

 

 

 

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Connected Birdwatching and Conservation with Bird Observatory

2017

Located at our Los Amigos Biological Station, our Bird Observatory provides scholarships for upcoming ornithologists doing critical avian research and gives ecotourists a way to support conservation

 

 

 

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Supported Bolivia in Creating its Biggest Conservation Area Ever

2019

We provide technical support for the Ixiamas municipal government to create the Bajo Madidi conservation area, which protects an area 3 times the size of the Grand Canyon (3.8M acres)

 

 

 

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Aided Efforts to Stop Illegal Mining Deforestation

2019

We aid Operation Mercury–Peru’s most successful effort to stop illegal gold mining via our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP). Stopping illegal deforestation using technology has since become central to all of our conservation efforts. 

 

 

 

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Invented Novel Fire Tracking App

2020

To detect and predict major fires across the Amazon, we developed a novel real-time fire tracker app that pinpoints the exact location of fires so that local people can prioritize prevention and containment efforts.

 

 

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Devised the Amazonian Fruit Observatory

2022

We inaugurated the Amazonian Fruit Observatory, a platform for local forest producers in Bolivia to improve sustainable production and build resilience.

 

 

 

 

 

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Planted over 750,000 Trees

2023

Our community reforestation efforts over the years reached the threshold of almost 1 million trees planted to reforest degraded or damaged land in Peru and Bolivia.

 

 

 

 

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Reached 10.5 million Acres of Protected Forests

2024

Following the creation of two new conservation areas in Bolivia, we safeguarded 10.5 million acres of wild places to date through the creation of 37 conservation areas across Peru and Bolivia, ensuring protected areas and Indigenous territories are defended and well-managed for the 21st century.

 

 

 

 

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Grew Real-time Monitoring Technology and Action to Wider Amazon – 2025

Throughout the years, we added new technology and technical capacity to MAAP, extending its impact to Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela through increased monitoring and action with local partners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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