Launching 2025: Reflecting on Our 2024 Accomplishments

January 9, 2025

As we begin a new year filled with celebrations of our 25th Anniversary, this is the perfect moment to reflect on the strides we made in 2024 toward conserving and protecting the Amazon. 2024 was a year of incredible progress, collaborative action, and resilience in the face of global environmental challenges. From groundbreaking science that is helping to better understand and protect biodiversity to expanding protection for wild places while using our real-time monitoring capabilities to track and report illegal deforestation in existing protected areas.

Together, we’ve demonstrated the power of unity and unwavering commitment to preserving the greatest wild forest on Earth. Here’s to celebrating what we’ve achieved together, and setting our sights on even greater progress in the year ahead!

Take a moment to reflect with us on some of the most inspiring accomplishments of 2024 that are shaping a more sustainable and thriving Amazon.

1. New Species Discovery at our Manu Biological Station

Right at the tail end of 2024, a team of researchers at our Manu Biological Station made a groundbreaking discovery: a new species of sandfly: Trichophoromyia macrisae.

Sandflies carry a parasite called Leishmania that can transmit leishmaniasis, a disease known to raise significant public health concerns in tropical regions. Studying this new species has the potential to provide critical insights into disease transmission and help develop effective prevention strategies that can save lives.

2. Amazon Conservation hosted an Exclusive Side Event at COP16

We were honored to participate in last year’s Biodiversity COP16 in Cali, Colombia. As part of our participation, we hosted an exclusive side event, The Power of Partnerships and Technology to Stop Illegal Gold Mining in the Amazon, to emphasize the urgent action needed to prevent the Amazon from reaching its tipping point and converting from a self-sustaining rainforest to a dry savanna ecosystem.

Data collected through our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP) show that the severe environmental and social consequences of illegal gold mining are among the leading threats to areas with high biodiversity and ecological integrity, which are vital for maintaining the world’s most biodiverse ecosystem.

We were delighted to receive high praise for this side event and are thrilled to have made connections with other organizations with similar objectives.

3. MAAP Report Reveals Effective Results of Mining Intervention Atop a Sacred Tepui in the Venezuelan Amazon

In December 2022, the Washington Post published an article highlighting a MAAP report about illegal mining on top of a sacred tepui in the heart of Yapacana National Park in the Venezuelan Amazon (MAAP #169). In response, the Venezuelan government conducted a military operation against the illegal mining activity on the tepui, dismantling illegal mining camps and equipment.

In April of last year, we published a MAAP report containing satellite images atop the tepui following this intervention, revealing that all illegal mining camps and equipment on top of the tepui have been effectively cleared. All 425 visible illegal mining camps and heavy equipment in December 2022 fell to zero in January 2024. This marks a major victory for Amazon conservation in Venezuela, keeping Indigenous people and important biodiversity safe and protected.

4. National Geographic Featured Work from our Andean Bear Conservation Project

In National Geographic’s special October issue of “Into the Amazon,” the work of biologist Ruthmery Pillco, lead coordinator of our Andean Bear Conservation Project, and her research team at our Wayqecha Biological Station was featured in its own section of the issue titled “Bears of the Cloud Forests.” The highlighted work emphasizes the importance of Andean bears to Peruvian culture, as well as how their behavior and populations can help us better understand wildlife responses to environmental change and the functional diversity of ecosystems.

We take immense pride in the dedication and hard work of Ruthmery and her research team and extend our congratulations on their well-earned recognition.

5. Two New Conservation Areas and Counting

One of our biggest accomplishments of 2024 comes in the form of over 1.2 million acres of newly protected areas in the Bolivian Amazon. In combination with your generous contributions, support from the Andes Amazon Fund, and technical support from our Bolivian sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA, the following two new conservation areas were established in some of the most critical areas of the Amazon:

The Arroyo Guarichona Conservation Area in the Beni Department was established in July and now protects 492,815 acres of vital natural spaces with savannas, lowland forests, and high biodiversity as part of the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP).
The Tahuamanu-Orthon Conservation Area in the Pando Department was established just last month to preserve biodiversity and safeguard resources across 762,248 acres.

Additionally, we also saw progress with a new potential conservation area in Peru, with our Peruvian sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACCA receiving approval for the first phase of establishing a new conservation area in in the buffer zone of the Bahuaja Sonene National Park in the Puno region.

Protected areas are critical for conserving vital ecosystems and biodiversity, which can help communities secure clean water and ample food resources. In total, 2024 helped us cross the finish line of protecting 10.5 million acres of the Amazon! We are extremely grateful for the hard work put forth by our sister organization, as well as the generous funds provided by our supporters.

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