News
Colombia Earthquake Response: Supporting 1,500 Families Across Five Departments
August 27, 2026 Following the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on August 10, the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in Colombia has been working with Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations and territorial authorities to identify needs and coordinate an initial humanitarian response. To date, 1,500 beneficiary families have been confirmed for support across Valle del Cauca,…
Read MoreHow maps reveal a changing Amazon
Mapping threats in the Amazon Maps imply some form of permanence and recognition. If something has been “put on the map”, it means that it will get noticed, and be there for years to come. For the Amazon Conservation Team’s (ACT’s) conservation work in the Amazon and along coastlines, getting places in the official geographic…
Read MoreSupporting Our Partner Communities Affected by the Earthquake in Colombia
On August 10, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia. It was the largest earthquake the country has seen in more than a decade, according to the Colombian Geological Survey. Some of the hardest hit areas from the quake overlap with Indigenous and local afro-descendant communities that the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) has partnered with over many…
Read MoreMapping with Indigenous and local communities to help protect the Amazon
Brian Hettler, a geographer and cartographer with the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), works with Indigenous communities in South America on participatory mapping initiatives that support indigenous land rights and rainforest conservation. Maps are more than collections of geographic coordinates or lines representing roads or country borders. They can be an expression of a community’s culture, territory, and…
Read MoreAn Amazonian Food Atlas Is Shared with the Communities That Nourished It
Over the last two years, fourteen communities across the Amazon have participated in a collaborative initiative to share the foods that have sustained life and cultures in their territories for generations. Their stories, knowledge, and traditional recipes were woven together into an atlas designed by the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) as part of the World…
Read MoreCelebrating 30 Years: A Path That Began in the Amazon Continues to Expand
This year, the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is celebrating 30 years of biocultural conservation, an approach that recognizes the protection of local and Indigenous knowledge and culture go hand in hand with protecting the Earth’s most critical ecosystems. And the conservation solutions led by these communities are as diverse as the cultures and geographic regions…
Read MoreMongabay: Suriname will not be saved by soybeans (commentary)
In a new commentary for Mongabay, Dr. Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and President of the Amazon Conservation Team, argues that large-scale foreign agribusiness — Brazilian, Mennonite, or otherwise — won’t modernize Suriname’s economy and bring shared prosperity, as promised. Instead, drawing on patterns seen throughout tropical America, he argues it will do the opposite: clearing forest,…
Read MoreThe Indigenous women protecting the Colombian Amazon by boat
In the Indigenous community of Manacaro in the Colombian Amazon, women are helping to lead the work of territorial protection. Several times a week, Delia Gittoma, an Indigenous leader of the Carijóna people, sets out in a small, motorized boat to record animal species and human activity, and document threats to the forest. One person operates the motor, and the other collects data in…
Read MoreThe Invisible Pollinators of the Amazon
How stingless bees are helping communities protect forests, preserve knowledge, and build sustainable futures When people think of bees, they usually imagine the common honeybee. But across the Amazon, hundreds of native stingless bee species quietly sustain forests, food systems, and cultural traditions, often without being noticed at all. Hidden inside hollow trees and deep…
Read MoreDr. Mark Plotkin Speaks to WWLTV on Indigenous Plant Medicine and Psychedelic Research
As a new executive order fast-tracks psychedelic research for veteran mental health treatment, WWLTV turned to Dr. Mark Plotkin, co-founder and president of the Amazon Conservation Team, for perspective. Drawing on nearly four decades of fieldwork with Amazonian community leaders, Dr. Plotkin speaks to the deep traditional roots of these plant-based medicines and the importance…
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