Amazon Conservation Team

06/23/2026

The River That Weathers Storms 🌿🌊

Between 2017 and 2021, Indigenous Peoples, traditional communities, and partners continued building pathways of biocultural conservation across the Amazon—protecting forests, expanding Indigenous territories, documenting ancestral knowledge, and building connections between communities and landscapes.

These years also brought new challenges. From supporting the protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation to responding alongside communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, resilience became an essential part of the journey.

Like rivers that continue flowing through changing seasons, the work of protecting territories, cultures, and ways of life carried on—guided by memory, collective action, and a commitment to future generations.

Explore this chapter of ACT’s 30-year journey: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/710dea02c885420594f25ec52a84d729 -n-0TY6RB

06/22/2026

What comes to mind when you hear tropical forest?

Trees? Wildlife? A distant green landscape?

Tropical forests cover less than 10% of Earth’s land surface, yet they are home to more than half of all known species. They help regulate water cycles, store carbon, and sustain life far beyond their borders.

But tropical forests are more than ecosystems.

They are living territories—home to millions of people whose cultures, knowledge, and ways of life have evolved alongside these landscapes for generations.

Forests and people are not separate stories.

When forests thrive, communities thrive. And when communities can care for their territories, forests thrive too.

🌿 On World Rainforest Day, we celebrate not only the biodiversity of tropical forests, but also the cultures, languages, knowledge, and communities that call them home.

Link:

What comes to mind when you hear tropical forest?Trees? Wildlife?...

06/22/2026

Can industrial agriculture strengthen a country's future—or put its most valuable resources at risk?

In a new commentary for Mongabay, Dr. Mark J. Plotkin, ACT's co-founder, examines the potential impacts of large-scale soy and cattle production in Suriname.

Drawing on decades of experience working alongside Indigenous and local communities across tropical America, Dr. Plotkin argues that protecting forests, rivers, food security, and local livelihoods should remain at the center of development decisions—and that the people most connected to these landscapes should have a voice in shaping their future.

Read the full commentary:

Suriname is being presented with a familiar proposition: foreign agribusiness, whether Brazilian, Mennonite, or otherwise, will modernize agriculture, create jobs, and bring prosperity. It is an appealing narrative. It is also one that has played out throughout tropical America, from Mexico to Mato....

06/20/2026

The Indigenous Women Protecting the Colombian Amazon by Boat

In the Indigenous community of Manacaro in the Colombian Amazon, women are helping to lead the work of territorial protection.

Several times a week, Delia Gittoma, an Indigenous leader of the Carijón people, sets out in a peque peque – a small, motorized canoe – to record animal species and human activity, and document threats to the forest.

In her small community of about 25 people, the women are the ones conducting surveillance work to protect their territory for future generations.

Read more about Delia's journey:

Indigenous women in the Colombian Amazon are leading conservation efforts, patrolling rivers by canoe to protect endangered species, uncontacted tribes, and forests.

06/19/2026

Sea Turtle Week: 7 Species, One Ocean, One Shared Future

Sea turtles have traveled the world's oceans for millions of years, helping keep marine ecosystems healthy and connected.

On Sea Turtle Week, we celebrated all seven species of sea turtles and the unique roles they play in supporting coral reefs, seagrass meadows, coastal habitats, and open oceans.

Learn why these ancient navigators matter and how Indigenous-led conservation is helping protect their future.

Read the blog:

Celebrate Sea Turtle Week by exploring all seven sea turtle species, their role in healthy oceans, and how Indigenous-led conservation helps protect them.

06/18/2026

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Receives a New Level of Protection

The Colombian government has designated the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, known to its Indigenous peoples as the Heart of the World, as a Renewable Natural Resources Reserve, protecting more than 1.5 million hectares of critical ecosystems and sacred territories.

This milestone responds to decades of advocacy by the Arhuaco, Kogui, Wiwa, and Kankuamo peoples, and reflects years of collaboration with ACT to strengthen territorial rights, protect sacred sites, and preserve Indigenous knowledge.

Read more about this achievement:

Colombia's Ministry of Environment has permanently designated the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta — over 1.5 million hectares — as a protected reserve, honoring a long-standing request from the regions Indigenous peoples.

06/15/2026

Education, autonomy, territory, and biocultural conservation 🌿

Between 2012 and 2016, Indigenous communities across Brazil and Colombia strengthened pathways rooted in self-determination, territorial protection, and ancestral knowledge. From the recognition of Indigenous schools and sacred sites to the expansion of Indigenous territories, these years marked important milestones for biocultural conservation.

Explore ACT’s 30-Year StoryMap: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/710dea02c885420594f25ec52a84d729 -n-JJLb33

06/13/2026

ACT Featured in Podcast Series on the People and Forces Shaping the Amazon

Members of our staff are featured across multiple episodes of Rewilding Amazonia, an eight-part investigative podcast series from Rewildology examining what it truly takes to protect the Amazon. Hosted by conservation biologist Brooke Mitchell, the series draws on nearly 30 hours of interviews with 22 scientists, practitioners, and community leaders across six Amazonian countries. New episodes release every Tuesday through June 9 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms.

Check it out:

Amazon Conservation Team experts join Rewilding Amazonia, an 8-part podcast exploring what it truly takes to protect the Amazon.

06/11/2026

The Invisible Pollinators of the Amazon

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.

Today, ACT’s stingless bee programs in Suriname and Colombia are helping to strengthen this relationship through community-led conservation, environmental education, and sustainable livelihood initiatives rooted in ancestral knowledge.

Read more:

How stingless bees are helping Amazon communities protect forests, preserve ancestral knowledge, and build sustainable livelihoods.

06/09/2026

From traditional medicine to territorial monitoring and Indigenous ranger programs, these years marked new currents in biocultural conservation across the Amazon 🌿

Between 2007 and 2011, Indigenous and local communities strengthened territorial protection, collaboratively mapped millions of hectares, and expanded initiatives rooted in care for forests, knowledge, and life.

Explore ACT’s 30-Year StoryMap: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/710dea02c885420594f25ec52a84d729 -n-gra0vg