Growing the Next Generation of Indigenous Leaders in Colombia
When Indigenous students leave their communities to pursue higher education, they often face a difficult question: How can they gain new knowledge and opportunities without losing connection to the territories, cultures, and communities that shaped them? For us, the answer lies in investing in Indigenous youth while strengthening their ties to home. Through ACT’s Fellowship Program, Indigenous students from…
Read MoreSea Turtle Week: 7 Species, One Ocean, One Shared Future
Sea turtles have traveled the world’s oceans for millions of years. They connect marine ecosystems across vast distances, helping maintain the health of coral reefs, seagrass meadows, coastal habitats, and open oceans. Today, all seven species of sea turtle face growing threats, including habitat loss, plastic pollution, fisheries bycatch, climate change, and coastal development. Yet each species…
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 MoreFrom Territory to Global Dialogue: “One Health” Connects Indigenous Knowledge and Public Policy
Global discussions on climate, health, and development have increasingly pointed to the need to recognize knowledge systems that already exist within territories and communities. International spaces such as the Skoll World Forum, held from April 21–24, 2026, in England, brought together leaders, organizations, and initiatives from around the world to share solutions to complex social and environmental challenges. Today, the…
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…
Read MoreAward-Winning Map Advocates for the Protection of Isolated Indigenous Peoples of South America
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is proud to announce that A Fight for Survival: Isolated Indigenous Peoples of South America, created in partnership with the International Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI), has been named the Winner in the Environment category of the 2025 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition, hosted by Esri.…
Read MoreEsri highlights ACT mapping work with Indigenous communities
The Amazon Conservation Team works closely with Indigenous communities to create cultural maps that record and preserve traditional knowledge and support the conservation of ecosystems. Brian Hettler, Director of Mapping for the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), recently spoke with Esri’s StoryScape magazine about using Esri’s GIS software to build maps with local communities. He also explains more…
Read MoreThe Amazon Conservation Team joins call for academia to support Indigenous science and equitable conservation
In a recent letter published in Earth Stewardship Journal, the Amazon Conservation Team, along with Indigenous and non-Indigenous colleagues from research institutions and nongovernmental organizations, called on academia to meaningfully support biocultural conservation. “Too often, relationships between academia and Indigenous peoples and nations remain extractive and asymmetrical, and without meaningful recognition or restitution of harm done…
Read MoreOceanography Podcast: Biocultural Coastal Conservation with Ancestral Tides
Juan Carlos Cruz, Manager of Science and Conservation with the Amazon Conservation Team’s Ancestral Tides initiative, recently joined the Oceanography podcast from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He spoke about how conservation on land and sea is connected — including the surprising relationship between jaguars and sea turtles — and how Ancestral Tides combines Indigenous knowledge…
Read MoreÃwa People Strengthen Environmental Restoration on Bananal Island
More than 800 seedlings are currently being planted across the territory through the collective work of the entire community. On Bananal Island (Tocantins, Brazil), the Ãwa people are taking new steps toward environmental restoration in their territory. Planting and forest management activities are gaining momentum through the Kawú Nursery, an initiative supported by ACT-Brasil and funded by the Overbrook Foundation and the Scheidel Foundation. Planting Advances in Flooded Areas, with Preparations for Forest…
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