Directly address major threats that endanger biodiversity and people’s well-being, including illegal gold mining and logging, unsustainable road development projects, and climate change impacts, such as fires, flooding and species extinction.
Support governments and communities to establish new protected areas and indigenous reserves, including areas dedicated to sustainable resource use.
Work to protect the territorial rights of uncontacted indigenous groups and the wild lands on which they depend for their survival.
Innovate the management of conservation areas by providing the science and technology needed to make better decisions, detect deforestation, and monitor the health of forests.
Ensure connectivity among key protected areas to keep vast forests intact and enable wildlife to have the space they need to thrive.
Build the resilience and adaptation capacity needed in still-intact ecosystems to reinforce their conservation in the face of climate change.
In 2000, we created the world’s first conservation concession — Los Amigos — which protects more than 360,500 acres of Amazonian forests in Peru. Strategically located on the borders of the Madre de Dios River, a region severely affected by illegal gold mining and logging, Los Amigos provides a crucial buffer for key uncontacted indigenous territories and one of the largest and most biodiverse national parks in the world, Manu. This innovative conservation model establishes a public-private partnership for managing public lands for the purpose of conservation. This unique way of partnering with governments to safeguard forests continues to be replicated across the Amazon and around the world today!
Just in 2019, we supported the local government in Bolivia to establish the Municipal Conservation Area of Bajo Madidi, which spans across 3.7 million acres (1.5 M ha) of pristine savannas, wetlands, and rainforests. Bajo Madidi now protects an area three times the size of the Grand Canyon! This area of major biological significance holds some of the most ecologically-intact savannas in the world and is home to vulnerable species like the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), Orinoco goose (Neochen jubata), and the marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus). By providing the technical expertise needed for the establishment of this protected area, we helped the government and local communities gather information on the conservation needs of this landscape, develop a plan to protect this land, support the legal process for establishing a new protected area, and now aiding in the sustainable use and management of Bajo Madidi.
In 2019, we reported record high levels of gold mining deforestation in the southern Peruvian Amazon, with the Camanti area in the Cusco region representing one of the top three most threatened areas after La Pampa and Upper Malinowski. But this past week the protected area was officially established as the Camanti Sostenible Conservation Concession, […]
Apolo is the second largest municipality in the Bolivian department of La Paz and overlaps with nationally important protected areas, including the Madidi National Park (7,320 sq mi, 18,960 sq km) and Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve. Our sister organization on the ground in Bolivia has worked with this community since 2015 to protect critical water […]
Ruthmery Pillco, who leads field activities for our Andean Bear Conservation Project, was recently announced as one of fifteen Disney Conservation Heroes, recognized for their efforts to protect the planet. She joins a diverse global community of indigenous conservationists protecting critically endangered and threatened species such as Grauer’s gorillas, golden lion tamarin monkeys, and leatherback […]