OurCommitment

The Amazon is the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest on Earth, with the highest density of plant and animal species in the world. The ecosystems of the Amazon play a crucial role on our planet, stabilizing the world’s rainfall patterns and storing massive amounts of carbon, helping to mitigate climate change. These forests are also home to millions of indigenous people.

The Amazon rainforest spreads over the tropics of the South American continent across nine countries: 60% of the Amazon is found in Brazil, 13% in Peru, 10% in Colombia and the rest between Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. 6% of our planet is covered by rainforest and half of it is in the Amazon, an area that stretches over a whopping 2.5 million square miles, roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States.

There are many reasons why it is extremely important to protect the Amazon rainforest and river:

‘Lungs of the World’: more than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest.

Biodiversity:

• 20% of the world's known birds live in the Amazon.
• 10% of the world's known species live in the Amazon.
• The Amazon is home to at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 types of fish, 1,300 bird species, 430 mammals, and a staggering 2.5 million different kinds of insects.
• The Amazon River boasts the most biodiversity of any river system in the world.

• Some 21 million people call the Amazon home, including an estimated 50 remote tribes that have not yet made contact with modern civilization.

• A huge part of the food consumed by humans comes from the Amazon: coffee, chocolate, rice, tomatoes, bananas, black pepper, pineapples and corn.

5. Pharmaceuticals:

• More than 25% of modern pharmaceuticals contain Amazonian ingredients.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A 6.3 MILLION-ACRE CONSERVATION CORRIDOR

IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST (ECUADOR)

Location

In Ecuador´s Pastaza province, only five hours from the capital city of Quito, lies a large tropical humid forest that is not yet compromised by destructive human activity. The area is home to the Shuar, Achuar, Kichwa, Sapara, Andoa, Shiwiar and Waorani indigenous communities that all live in the watershed of the Pastaza River, one of the major tributaries of the Amazon river.

Importance

The area forms a natural corridor south of the Yasuní National Park, one of Ecuador’s most important conservation areas. It is considered one of the world’s most biodiverse areas on Earth, home to jaguars, the South American tapir, the harpy eagle and lots of species of amphibians, reptiles, fish and insects.

Goals

In collaboration with local governments, the Pastaza provincial government and local communities, Nature and Culture sought to protect Pastaza’s forest and its incredible diversity of flora and fauna by creating a sustainable development area and monitoring the use of natural resources. The area would preserve the extent of Pastaza’s tropical humid forest, as well as conserve areas of water and regulate water consumption while fostering the development of indigenous communities. By supporting traditional cultivation techniques, the area would reduce human impact on the ecosystem while providing food security and sustainability for the people.

Achievement

After three years of working with local governments, indigenous communities and Nature and Culture, the Provincial Council of Pastaza established the Pastaza Ecological Area of Sustainable Development in the center of the Ecuadorian Amazon region. The area covers more than 6.2 million acres (about 2.5 million hectares) and occupies about 90 percent of the area of ​​the Pastaza province. Today the local government and indigenous communities manage the reserve and the tropical humid rainforest remains protected.

Learn more about the Pastaza Ecological Area

Cloaking the slopes of the Andes Mountains, the Andean cloud forests of South America are considered one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. A cloud forest is a tropical or subtropical evergreen forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. The Andean cloud forests are home to hundreds of species of hummingbirds and world record numbers of butterflies, moths and amphibians that live among trees laden with bromeliads and orchids.

Collectively, in virtually every category these moist forests contain the greatest number of plant and animal species that are endemic, or restricted to a single ecosystem, on the entire planet. This profusion of life is made possible by abundant amounts of rainfall and sunshine, as the Andean mountains straddle the equator. But geography is also important – because the Andes are so tall, their slopes are divided into numerous life zones that change with the rising altitude, each one with its own variety of species. Many of these species are restricted to a narrow band of elevation or a single mountain range, creating all the more urgency for conservation action.

Cloud forests are found in southern Mexico, Central America, and all countries in tropical South America. On the other side of the globe, cloud forest ecosystems also exist in South East Asia, New Guinea, tropical Africa, Madagascar, and some islands in the South Pacific.

Montane cloud forests are very important for water resources, especially since they occur at high elevations and feed headwater streams. They capture water straight from the air. Water condenses on the leaves of the plants and drips through the canopy to the floor. The water captured is pure and unpolluted and flows through the ground into streams and then rivers.  

Cloud forests support a wide variety of species: their biodiversity is not only stunningly beautiful – it also contains present and future sources of medicines and agricultural products.

They are a vital source of water for nearby communities, villages and cities.

Scientists estimate that each year, 1.1% of the world’s total cloud forest land is cleared for logging.

CREATION OF RIO NEGRO-SOPLADORA NATIONAL PARK (ECUADOR)

Location

Río Negro-Sopladora National Park lies in southern Ecuador’s Morona Santiago and Azuay provinces within the Cordillera Real Oriental mountain range and next to Sangay National Park. The area is dominated by almost-intact Andean páramos – treeless alpine plateaus – and forests that are home to a great variety of animal and plant species.

Goal

Protect a highly diverse mountain ecosystem, establish uninterrupted habitat connectivity that is essential for the long-term survival of such far-ranging and charismatic species such as the spectacled bear (globally threatened), the Andean tapir (critically endangered within Ecuador) and the Andean condor (critically endangered within Ecuador); eliminate a significant unprotected gap in the Sangay Podocarpus Corridor, a bridge of protected mountaintop ecosystems that joins 54 protected areas in Ecuador.

Achievements

After seven years of hard work with local governments, the Ministry of Environment, and local communities, Nature and Culture saw the creation of the Río Negro-Sopladora National Park, Ecuador’s first national park in nearly a decade. The national park protects a diverse ecosystem with dramatic altitude changes over short distances. These altitude gradients encourage the evolution of diverse species and provide what some have called a critical ‘escape valve’ for climate change – an upward migration path to cooler temperatures to help species survive as the Earth warms.

Thanks to the support of people like you, the national park was recently expanded, bringing it to a total size of 83,296 acres. The expansion guarantees the conservation of additional biodiverse habitat and natural resources in central Ecuador.

Learn more about the creation of Rio Negro – Sopladora National Park

Tropical deciduous or ‘dry’ forests are, in many areas, as endangered as tropical rainforests. A deciduous forest is a biome dominated by deciduous trees that lose their leaves seasonally. Tropical deciduous forests are dense during the wet summer, but during the dry winter the leaves fall and the canopy opens up, resulting in a wide array of uniquely adapted species.

In the Americas, these forests are primarily found along the Pacific coasts from Mexico to Chile, but can also be found in inland areas such as the Marañon Valley of Peru and central Brazil, wherever climactic conditions are appropriate.

Tropical deciduous forests are home to an array of unique species that are well-adapted to the area’s extreme conditions, as well as many endemic species that are found nowhere else on the planet. Despite its biological significance, agricultural expansion, logging, hunting and forest fires threaten this ecosystem. What little remains of these forests – barely 5% in some areas – rank among the top conservation priorities in the world.

CREATION OF TWO PROTECTED AREAS IN THE MARAÑON DRY FOREST (PERU)

Location

Nestled between breathtaking Andean peaks, Peru’s Marañon dry forest is one of the richest in the world. Known as the Grand Canyon of South America, it is an incredibly biodiverse area within the tropical Andes hotspot as it boasts hundreds of endemic and threatened species. Its high level of endemism is attributed to its unique microclimate and landscape, as well as the fact that the region served as a refuge for many species during the last ice ages. It is estimated that only around 5 percent of Peru’s dry forest remains today.

Goal

Help to create a Regional Conservation Area and a Community Reserve to protect almost 200 endemic species found nowhere else on the planet and 43,000 acres of dry forest, home to hundreds of unique and threatened species. The areas secure essential natural resources for nearby communities, including clean water sources and local plants with medicinal value.

Achievements

In 2012, residents of nearby towns joined forces with Nature and Culture to protect their home against the impact of hydroelectric dams and further deforestation. With the support of regional governments, the Peruvian Protected Area Service and the Ministry of the Environment, Nature and Culture recently created two protected areas in the ecoregion – the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests of the Marañon Conservation Area in the Amazonas region and the Cujillo Private Conservation Area in Cajamarca.

Learn more about the Maranon Dry Forest Project