United States
Richard Kahn: Sparking the Amazon Conservation Team
Richard Kahn was one of those quiet visionaries—a brilliant lawyer and activist with a profound sense of social and environmental justice and a believer in the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics in healing. Truly, a man ahead of his time. At the end of 1995, Richard, who at the time was a trustee of a family foundation, called to…
Read MoreBiocultural restoration at Jaba Tañiwashkaka
Understand how the Kogui people reclaimed access to the sea and restored nature at a coastal sacred site through our new blog about Jaba Tañiwashkaka.
Read MoreThe Amazon Conservation Team at United Business Fair-2024
A field-based conservation organization that partners with indigenous and other local communities to protect tropical forests and strengthen traditional culture. Visit our booth at at the United Business Fair-2024, to learn about our unique model of Amazon rainforest management in Suriname. For over 25 years, ACT has co-created new methods of conservation with our partners…
Read MoreThe Amazon Conservation Team at the Floriade 2022
A Field-based conservation organization that partners with indigenous and other local communities to protect tropical forests and strengthen traditional culture. Visit our booth at the 2022 Floriade, to learn about our unique model of Amazon rainforest management in Suriname. For over 25 years, ACT has co-created new methods of conservation with our partners that honor…
Read MoreThe Shamans and Apprentices Program: A Promise to Kwamalasamutu
The success of the Shamans and Apprentices program was just the beginning of the pioneering biocultural conservation work that ACT has gone on to do. In the spirit of supporting communities in their own efforts — as opposed to implementing foreign, top-down initiatives — ACT sought to secure culturally appropriate means for human and environmental wellbeing, and increase recognition of indigenous culture and self-determination. In this way, we were able to merge the strengths and tools of the Western world in a way that complements but doesn’t dominate the ideals and goals of the local community.
Read More25 Years Ago: Why We Founded the Amazon Conservation Team
Liliana Madrigal, ACT co-founder, recounts what inspired her to leave the world of conventional environmental conservation and create a new and innovative conservation organization that works for and with the indigenous peoples of critical ecosystems in the Amazon.
Read MoreFor the first time, Colombian Constitutional Court rulings are being translated into indigenous languages
The Amazon Conservation Team and the Colombian Constitutional Court have joined forces to culturally and idiomatically interpret the most significant rulings of the Colombian Constitutional Court with respect to the protection of the nation’s ethnic communities. In a first project phase, the partners and indigenous community members adapted these rulings to 26 of the nation’s 65 languages.
Read MoreIndigenous Women Achieve “Mamakunapa” Civil Society Nature Reserve
On December 2, 2020, a species-rich stand of Andes-Amazon rainforest stewarded by indigenous women of ASOMI achieved legal designation as a Civil Society Nature Reserve, “Mamakunapa”.
Read MoreOur COVID-19 Response: Update
The pandemic is hitting indigenous communities of the Amazon from all sides. They are in dire need of support to ward off the virus and save human lives right now, and to protect their cultures and forests from mounting ecological threats and economic pressures.
ACT is continuing to scale our efforts to support communities in tackling this critical issue from within in alliance with local organizations and government agencies. In areas where aid is simply not available or public services lack the capacity or will to independently reach communities in need, our work has been indispensable.
Read MoreCountering Emerging Crises in the Amazon: Covid-19 & Fires
In the following report, the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) highlights some of its on-the-ground efforts in response to the two tragedies that have defined the last year in the Amazon: the fires of 2019, and the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. To view the report, please click on the image:
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