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.
This February saw the installment of a fish farm that will help generate sustainable livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon and act as an important food source for local people. Located in the small district of Inambari, Madre de Dios near major conservation areas like the extensive National Tambopata Reserve, this initiative contributes to the development […]
Due to a misstep coming down the tree with a heavy branch of açaí in hand, Omar Espinoza, an açaí harvester, fell from a height of about 40 feet head first. He was gathering fruits to support his family and like many açaí harvesters, was climbing 10-15 açaí trees a day with heights reaching up […]
Our camera trap program has been implemented in our areas of work in Bolivia since 2015. We have camera traps placed in: TCO Tacana II, an indigenous territory we’ve worked with for decades in the North of the Department of La Paz, Santa Rosa del Abuná Integral Model Area, a conservation area we helped create […]