Posts Tagged ‘news’
Colombian Court Upholds Landmark Ruling for Indigenous Rights
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) welcomes the Constitutional Court’s decision last week to uphold Decree 1275 of 2024, a national framework that strengthens and legitimizes the role of Indigenous authorities in leading environmental management across their territories. For nearly 30 years, ACT has worked alongside Indigenous peoples to protect the Amazon through community-led, culturally grounded conservation. The Court’s decision validates the…
Read MoreProtecting a Global Food Staple: Statement on Cassava Disease
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is monitoring the potential spread of Witches’ Broom disease in cassava crops across the Guianas. The fungal pathogen Ceratobasidium causes broom-like shoots and can sharply reduce yields of one of the world’s most important staple foods. “Cassava is the major food crop in these regions imagine what crop failure would mean,” Dr. Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and ACT president, said. “For millions of families,…
Read MoreOliver-Ximon Mwiinga (Oli) Joins ACT as an Ambassador
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is delighted to welcome Oliver-Ximon Mwiinga, an 11-year-old nature lover and emerging storyteller from The Hague, the Netherlands, as our newest Ambassador. Despite his young age, Oli has a remarkable sense of curiosity and deep empathy for the natural world. He loves football, animals, reading, and exploring — but above…
Read MoreSolving the problems of the Amazon will require serious commitments at COP30
Carolina Gil, regional director for the Amazon Conservation Team, wrote the following op-ed, published in the Colombian digital news outlet La Silla Vacía (“The Empty Chair”). The original, Spanish version of the piece can be found here. The Amazon is not just a territory that must be preserved, but a vital system that sustains the climatic,…
Read MoreMongabay: Indigenous monitoring project helps protect isolated peoples in Colombia’s Amazon
Mongabay, an independent environmental news organization, recently highlighted two communities in the Colombian Amazon, who are working to protect the rainforest and its peoples. Members of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and the community of Manacaro use traditional knowledge and technology alike to monitor threats to their territory and to protect nearby communities living in…
Read MoreAriadna Gutiérrez Becomes Ambassador for the Amazon Conservation Team
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is proud to announce that actress, model, and humanitarian Ariadna Gutiérrez has joined the organization as an Ambassador, lending her voice and platform to the protection of rainforests, Indigenous cultures, and ancestral wisdom across South America. Gutiérrez, who has long been passionate about environmental and cultural preservation, deepened her commitment…
Read MoreMusician Cimafunk Teams Up With the Amazon Conservation Team
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is proud to announce Afro-Cuban musician Cimafunk has joined the organization as an official ambassador. In this role, the internationally acclaimed artist will help spotlight the work ACT is doing to protect the Amazon rainforest and support Indigenous and local communities across South America. Cimafunk, a Grammy-nominated musician whose genre-defying…
Read MoreA Return to Ulupuwene: Indigenous-Led Conservation in Brazil
Ulupuwene, within the Batovi Indigenous Territory of Brazil, has a special place in the heart of ACT. It is a small community of courageous Waura people, led by Chief and Pajé (shaman) Eleukah and his wife Kapi, who is also a powerful shaman. We met a little over two decades ago, and since then, together,…
Read MoreColombian National Land Agency formalizes fourth expansion of the Kogui-Malayo-Arhuaco Indigenous Reserve
The KMA reserve is inhabited by three of the four peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: the Wiwa people (Malayo or Arzario), Kággaba (Kogui) and Ikᵾ (Arhuaco), with jurisdiction in the departments of Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira. 3,575 indigenous families benefit from the 213 new hectares, which are allocated to cultural and environmental protection and recovery between the upper and lower areas of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, increasing the area of the reserve to just over 407,839 hectares.
Read MoreStorytelling empowers indigenous people to conserve their environments
Indigenous storytelling is a powerful tool for preserving biocultural diversity, says Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, an environmental researcher at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Having heard stories in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Kenya and Madagascar, he has now proposed that storytelling could transform how conservationists work with native peoples. The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) embodies this philosophy. ACT partners with South American indigenous communities to preserve rainforests and traditional culture.
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