Mongabay: 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,…

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Peru Fails to Seize Critical Opportunity to Create World’s Largest Reserve for Isolated Peoples

As the General Secretariat of the International Working Group of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI), the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) has worked alongside Indigenous partners to establish more than 7 million acres of reserves and buffer zones for isolated Indigenous peoples across the Amazon. Yesterday, however, Peru’s Multisectoral Commission voted against the…

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The Jaguar: Guardian of the Amazon 

Jaguar

In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, one elusive and powerful creature reigns supreme—the jaguar. Known as el tigre in much of South America, the jaguar is more than just an apex predator. Jaguar conservation in the Amazon is essential for the health and resilience of Amazonian ecosystems. The jaguar is also a sacred being…

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Conservation victory in Colombia’s deforestation hotspot 

On the shores of the Caquetá River, among tall Amazonian palms and fast flowing waters brown with silt, are three indigenous reserves– Huitorá, Coropoyá and Jericó Consaya. These reserves are home to 138 families of the Murui Muina and Korebajʉ people, who have long assumed responsibility for caring for the life within their biodiverse territory.  

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