Innovating for Conservation: Stopping Illegal Deforestation
December 19, 2024
Amazon Conservation has an extensive history of tracking deforestation and other threats to the forest–including illegal gold mining and logging, the construction of roads, and the expanding agricultural frontier–via our real-time satellite monitoring program, Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP). Over the years, we have continuously expanded our scope across all 9 countries of the Amazon, partnering with numerous local NGOs and civil society organizations who often utilize this information to take legal action against illegal gold mining and other harmful deforestation activities.
This partnership model is an innovative approach to satellite monitoring and conservation in a number of ways, from the high-tech tools and algorithms used to produce real-time data and analyses about the state of the Amazon to working alongside local groups and communities to build their capacity to use this high-tech monitoring in the future and empower them to protect their territory.
Amazon Conservation’s growing partnership with FENAMAD (the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River Region) in Peru is the most recent example of how this innovative approach means long-term wins for conservation and Indigenous communities in Peru’s Madre de Dios region.
As our MAAP analyses continue to show (most recently MAAP #183), Indigenous territories and protected areas are vital tools in the fight to keep the Amazon standing. Our MAAP reports on the topic since 2021 continue to show that these land designations experience half the rate of deforestation as any other type of land use.
For local people like Pepe Torres, who manages the Community Monitoring and Oversight Program with FENAMAD, the goals of MAAP “aligns with the [Indigenous] community’s concept of forest, of protecting the forest and using it sustainably. Protecting their forests enables them to conserve their culture and way of life as Native communities in Madre de Dios.”
With the support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), we are providing FENAMAD with real-time satellite monitoring of Indigenous territories while building their capacity to use this high-tech monitoring in the future to connect real-time deforestation monitoring and reporting with policy action. This partnership marks the first time we are directly sharing our satellite information with Indigenous communities and working to strengthen their existing surveillance systems, inform their on-the-ground patrolling, and help take action to stop illegal deforestation and degradation in their ancestral homelands.
Your support helps elevate the needs of Indigenous communities like those in Peru’s Madre de Dios region for innovative satellite technology and real-time analysis. With the skills, technology, and knowledge gained through our partnership with FENAMAD, you are helping empower these communities to assert autonomy over their territories, sustainably manage their resources and livelihoods, and ultimately preserve their culture and way of life.
Support Innovation to Stop Illegal Deforestation Today
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