Amazon Conservation Team

ACT works in partnership with indigenous peoples across Amazonia to conserve biodiversity, traditional culture, and human and ecological health. The forest has a voice; but needs you to be heard.

How do you help people in my community?

By helping indigenous peoples to protect their ancestral forest lands, ACT preserves the potential of countless Amazonian medicinal plants whose value as cures are known only to a small group of traditional healers, and others unknown to even them.   Many of these communities have lived sustainably in these forests for thousands of years, hence they can teach us much about how to coexist happily and harmoniously within a world of teeming biodiversity.

Why do you need my support?

ACT has shown a special ability over its eight-year existence to turn moderate donations into significant progress toward the preservation of the Amazon’s remaining ancient rainforests and indigenous cultures.  Our annual budget is dwarfed by the other major conservation organizations, hence we rely greatly on the contributions of individuals to meet the comparatively very modest needs of our three country programs.  The larger grants we receive are tightly budgeted, therefore even a small amount of so-called “unrestricted” money gives us the flexibility we greatly need to provide emergency financial assistance to unfunded components of our programs.  And because we work in direct collaboration with our indigenous partners, our projects often enjoy the “free” participation of hundreds of intensely dedicated individuals who simply wish to promote their tribal interest.

Our current vision, which extends through 2009, defines consolidating our current efforts in Suriname, Brazil, and Colombia and, using those reference points as catalysts, replicating our successes in Ecuador, Venezuela, and French Guiana.  Toward this end, we hope to help our indigenous colleagues manage and protect an enormous corridor of tropical wilderness covering 750,000 square miles in the northern Amazon, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the foothills of the Northern Andes. 

ACT is different because our decision-making is done at three levels: at the level of the communities we serve, at the regional level, and at the headquarters level.  ACT will carry out no work that does not carry explicit and wholehearted support from communities and their leaders, and by the same token, there must be an accord between the regional and US headquarters offices before such work will be implemented.  Our indigenous colleagues participate in Board meetings and strategy sessions to ensure that their voice is heard and their opinions and desires help steer the overall direction and conservation strategy of the Amazon Conservation Team.  Indeed, consensus-building is a large component of ACT’s work as a whole.  On a related note, ideas for project advancement and new projects are actively solicited from all three spokes of the “decision wheel.”

Our successes in the field can be attributed to five broad principles:

• ACT drives concrete conservation successes where donors can see the direct products of their investment.
  
• ACT demands that all projects are cost effective and concentrates funding on field projects while keeping a small, efficient headquarters in the United States.
  
• ACT has established long-term relationships based on mutual trust with indigenous groups.
  
• ACT approaches conservation from a grassroots perspective where our indigenous partners play an active role in project planning and execution.

How can I be sure that you will use my money wisely and won't waste it?

ACT maintains an annual overhead of less than 20%, keeps salaries to the minimum necessary to retain talented staff, and is audited annually.  Our board, composed of forward-thinking corporate leaders, philanthropists, and scientists, is divided into leadership groups that regularly advise ACT’s executive staff on governance, finance, and development, and that are provided with financial data on a quarterly basis.   This fall, ACT will wrap up work on a comprehensive five-year strategic planning document to replace the previous document that has been superceded due to ACT’s remarkable programmatic growth.

By collaborating with the Indians themselves, ACT can count on the manpower resources of the very people most invested in the goals of our projects, so much of our project budgets go directly to training, transportation and basic support for our indigenous partners.  Similarly, where possible, ACT chooses to train its own personnel in multiple areas (and seeks to employ those with multiple skills) rather than take on additional staff.

Can I Volunteer? How?

ACT has no volunteer programs in the Amazon Basin.  However, our headquarters office in Arlington, VA occasionally needs assistance with fundraising appeals, graphic design, and general development work.