THE AMAZON CONSERVATION TEAM

Have you ever had a hunch that Indigenous residents of the Rainforest may have some very important knowledge…knowledge about which you and I do not have even a clue?!  In the video that follows Mark Plotkin, founder and president of the The Amazon Conservation Team explores this key question.

What The People Of The Amazon Know That You Don’t! (16:35)

Recounting the founding of ACT, the organization’s website states:

          “In 1996, ethnobotanist Dr. Mark Plotkin and conservationist Liliana Madriga — previously leading staff of large conservation NGOs — founded the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) to implement a unique and novel strategy: biocultural conservation. At that time, the dominant environmental conservation model entailed creating protected areas that displaced local communities. In contrast, ACT began with the conviction that the viability of Amazonian ecosystems and the integrity of traditional cultures are interdependent aspects of an integrated whole.”

Now in its third decade of service, ACT has achieved the following remarkable accomplishments!

• In partnership with indigenous groups, 70 million acres of the Amazon have been mapped, identifying the location of the various tribal communities for whom the Amazon forest is “Home”.  Of this mapped territory, ACT has assisted in the return of 2.6 million acres to the control of indigenous communities as “Indigenous Reserves”.
• 5,000 acres of land have been purchased to connect protected areas and indigenous reserves.
• A Park Ranger training program has been created resulting in certification of 150 indigenous tribal members as Rangers.
• Legal rights empowerment support has been provided for 20 indigenous groups.
• Large scale gatherings of traditional healers have been sponsored.
• Collaboration with the Columbian national park service and indigenous leaders has been successfully fostered, leading to shared indigenous/government management of multiple protected Rainforest areas, including the Alto Fragua Indi Wasi National Park and the Orito Ingi-Ande Medicinal Plant Sanctuary.
• Partnering with the indigenous Kogi and the Columbian government, a coastal sacred site was purchased.  This site then became the first officially declared “National Cultural Monument”.
• ACT documented in Columbia the presence of uncontacted tribes and supported efforts to protect these tribal communities.
• Education development efforts have been sponsored focused on preservation of traditional knowledge through the Yachaikury Ethno-Educational School.

Achievements like those just listed, while truly ground breaking and transformative, can easily seem distant, and thereby inconsequential, until we see up close their enlivening and transformative impact on the lands and peoples involved. With that goal in mind, here is a brief video that captures both the importance to all of us of ACT’s mission, and some visual detail of how that mission is being implemented.

Two Futures (2:15)

Santuario Orito Ingi Ande 10:55

And now for a closer look at ACT’s supportive relationship with the indigenous Yachaikury community of Columbia – referenced in the last bullet above – link to this story about ACT’s support for the program of the Yachaikury Ethno-Educational School. Even if you are not Spanish speaking, if you view the brief video which follows it will offer you an intimate experience of connection with the Yachaikury community.

Again, even if you are not Spanish speaking, if you view the brief video which follows it will offer you an intimate experience of connection with the Yachaikury community:

Yachaikury School and Community Life (12:48)

Read the full story of ACT’s founding and history at www.amazonteam.org/history.  Then, if you agree with the ACT team and their indigenous allies, when they declare “The Rainforest holds answers to questions that we haven’t even yet asked!”, join the ACT support community by following this link to donate and/or receive the ACT Newsletter.

To explore the work of the Amazon Conservation Team in more detail, spend some time at the ACT Video Gallery. And for an infusion of optimism, while at the Gallery, be sure to view the clip “Hanging In The Balance”.

Next, link here to continue on to the Fundacion OSA page.