Now that COVID restrictions in Peru have been lifted, we can finally get back to business and use all of your donations from the past two years.
We are currently finalizing land purchases for our jaguar corridor project in the valley between the mountain ranges of the Cordillera Escalera Regional Park. Plus, we are also relaunching our project in Madre de Dios in the lower Amazon basin!
As you may recall, March 2020 saw government lockdowns force the evacuation of ARC personnel from our 616-hectare brazil nut concession in Madre de Dios. Unfortunately, while ARC was being forced to leave, illegal gold miners and loggers flocked to this remote area to operate with impunity. Despite our belief in the importance of protecting this area, there was little we could do.
Since then, the Smithsonian Institute has drawn attention to this region by highlighting it as being critical to the conservation of the Madre de Dios landscape. Awareness is growing that protecting this land and expanding our conservation project is crucial to the connectivity of the rainforest here.
Fuelled by this Smithsonian report, we are rebuilding our team in Madre de Dios and getting back to business here. For starters, we’re looking to buy a new boat and motor (well, “new” to us… our previous one “disappeared” during the pandemic). Our team will use that boat to head back to our land, reclaim it, and restart our conservation project. We will report back with more updates when they return.
By coincidence, we just completed a new video for EARTH (Environmental Activities and Rainforest Teaching Hub) called “THE GIANTS OF THE RAINFOREST”. It’s all about the Brazil nut trees on our concession in Madre de Dios. I hope you enjoy this video and share it – along with the corresponding “Nut Trees” activities – with the young people in your lives.
Finally, as your generous donations of the past two years are now being put to use, please consider helping us rebuild our resources with a donation this month. As a bonus, every dollar donated in June gives ARC an entry to win $20,000 from Canada Helps in the Great Canadian Giving Challenge. We would love to use this prize toward purchasing the aforementioned boat and motor as this is the only way to reach our Brazil nut concession.
As always, thank you for your support. We couldn’t do what we do on the ground without the support of you, the protectors of the Amazon rainforest.
Warmest regards,
Jana & the ARC team