Better Protection for Chiribiquete, Northwest Amazon’s Most Important Protected Area

On July 12, 2017, the Colombian National Land Agency approved the expansions of the Puerto Sábalo Los Monos Indigenous Reserve by 413,110 hectares and of the Monochoa Indigenous Reserve by 154,790 hectares. The twin expansions effectively connect the largest national park in the country, the Chiribiquete National Park, with the largest reserve, the Predio Putumayo Indigenous Reserve, creating a vast conservation corridor in the Amazon region linking near 10 million hectares of protected lands.

Read More

A Sweet Future for Southern Suriname (video)

Last year, in the rainforests of Suriname, ACT commenced a sustainable stingless beekeeping initiative with indigenous and Maroon communities. Through this project, ACT is promoting sustainable and organic honey harvesting, preserving the forest habitat of bees, strengthening traditional knowledge and enhancing alternative livelihood opportunities in remote communities.

Read More

UNDP Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership Project co-funds Renewable Solar Energy Project in Suriname

The Amazon Conservation Team Suriname (ACT-S) is helping local community members Ms. Aparaka and Ms. Nantawi bring Solar Energy to their village of Tepu, Suriname. The Amazon Conservation Team, a local non-government organisation, has just signed a grant agreement to receive $50,000 to support the installation of solar panels in 50 homes in the community.

Read More

In digital defence of the Sarayaku community

In the Kichwa de Sarayaku community, technology and the natural world are joining forces to create a powerful coalition. Digital tools have become a weapon in the fight to protect the living forest which is home to this indigenous community, one of the oldest and most traditional settlements in Ecuador’s Amazon.

Read More

ACT Board Member Dr. Thomas Lovejoy Named President of the US branch of IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)

The Board of Directors of the International Union for Conservation of Nature—United States (IUCN-US) voted ACT Board Member Thomas E. Lovejoy its new president at their March 24, 2017, Board Meeting. Lovejoy assumes the post previously held by John G. Robinson, Chief Conservation Officer, Wildlife Conservation Society.

Read More

Elías García, the Guardian of Native Seeds

On the banks of the Caquetá River, in Colombia, lives Elías García Ruíz, a member of the Murui Muina indigenous group who collects and cultivates native seeds such as that of the cacay tree (Caryodendron orinocense), which is disappearing from their territory because of selective logging of trees of high commercial value and an alarming advance of deforestation.

Read More