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Amazon AmigosHope for the Rainforest and its PeopleMake an impact on the lives of the people of the Amazon today! People who live in river villages in the Amazon rainforest depend on resources of their environment for their survival. Most are subsistence slash-and-burn farmers, unregulated hunters or fisherman, or workers in the exploitive logging industry. Preservation of the Amazon Rainforest is dependent on people of the Amazon finding sustainable economic alternatives. By supporting self-sustaining micro-enterprise, community development, and environmental education, Amazon Amigos makes a direct impact on the lives of the people in the upper Amazon basin of northern Peru through a variety of exciting project choices.
Gift Purchases - Donations to Amazon Amigos are made by way of gift purchases in the name of colleagues, friends, or family. Each gift donation represents a share in a choice of a number of community and sustainable development projects. Gift Brochure Request - For each gift of $10 or more, contributors may request a beautiful Gift Brochure to personalize for gift recipients. Gift Order Form - Order by printing out and either mailing, faxing, or scanning and emailing your completed form to Amazon Amigos, 9335 Fraser Avenue, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, Fax 301-585-4899, info@amazonamigos.org. See order form for instructions. Call 800-431-2624 for assistance. Note: Your order form needs to reach Amazon Amigos by December 12 to ensure that you receive your Gift Brochure(s) for Xmas. Thank you for your generous donation! Include check or money order payable to the TREE Foundation with your Gift Order Form or submit your Form to Amazon Amigos and donate online through PayPal by clicking the button below. Your gift purchases are tax deductible and have tremendous leverage here. All administrative services, printing, mailing, and promotions have been donated. Your contribution goes directly to fund the nonprofit Conservación de la Naturaleza Amazónica del Perú, A.C. (CONAPAC), the organization spearheading the Amazon Amigos sponsored projects on the ground in Peru. No bureaucracy, just a cadre of committed individuals wanting to make a change in their communities. CONAPAC (Conservación de la Naturaleza Amazónica del Perú, A.C.) has a remarkable track record. In its 15th year, CONAPAC’s Adopt-a-School program, in cooperation with the Detroit Zoological Society, brought classroom materials and training to over 4,200 children and teachers in 125 schools in 75 river communities. Along with the Adopt-a-School Program, CONAPAC has developed teacher and community workshops to improve the level of education in rural communities along the Amazon and Napo Rivers. The ongoing goodwill created by this program and other service projects organized by CONAPAC provides a network of community leaders to further expand development and assistance efforts. For CONAPAC’s yearly reports, click here for 2007, 2006, and 2005. Marcos Oversluijs, a TREE Foundation intern in 2007, is directing the Amazon Amigos sponsored projects at CONAPAC. His keen understanding of the local culture, network of village contacts, and passion for his work add mightily to the success of CONAPAC’s sustainable development projects. Here is a sampling of Amazon Amigos sponsored project options: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS Family Fish Farm Creating and stocking small fish ponds allows individual families to raise fish for home and market. The cost of food for the fish is nominal as many types of fish eat algae and others eat fruits or insects which can be easily gathered in the forest. Supplies for creating fish ponds are kept by the community. Constructing the ponds is similar to barn raising and can increase the standard of living for many families in a village. Flower Farm Flowers are a treasured gift and symbol of compassion, hope, joy, and love. Growing beautiful tropical flowers for local distribution and export, like the many varieties of Heliconias and Gingers found growing naturally in the forest, is an emerging economic opportunity, offering sustainable income to families and rewarding jobs for young people. Carpentry Center  Loggers are unsustainably extracting the Amazon’s richest forest resources. When villagers selectively add value to timber products through their woodworking skills, they multiply the value of their local trees by 10. A generator, tools, and trainer are needed for a Carpentry Center. Skilled woodworkers market crafted wood products to village schools and local governments as well as provide their homes with basic furniture such as beds, chairs and tables that would otherwise be impossible to purchase. Agouti Herd and Fencing Agoutis are small rabbit-like animals weighing 6-10 pounds. These plant-eating forest dwellers have been over-hunted. Through a micro-livestock approach, agoutis can thrive to provide an excellent, low-impact protein source that Amazonians consider quite tasty. A small herd of agoutis also provides a family with income without destroying the forests to create cattle pastures. Mini Bakery
Camu Camu Patch Camu camu, a fruit with 30 times more Vitamin C than oranges, can be processed into many products including juice and jam and many other products for market. Native to the Amazon, the small riverside bushy camu camu tree can live several decades and be cultivated to produce as much as a ton of fruit per acre. Currently, the over-harvesting of wild camu camu threatens to make it an endangered species. COMMUNITY PROJECTS Water Purification Plant
Community Center A Community Center is an open air communal house for village meetings. Each village has three main authorities, the mayor, municipal agent and Principal of the school. Meetings with the village leaders and community members are important for the organization of activities and projects. Communal buildings also serve as extended classrooms for teachers dividing grades from one room schoolhouses, meeting places for the PTA and women’s clubs, and for workshops held in the villages. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The time to introduce practical ideas of community and sustainable development is now. Peru has not yet suffered the devastating destruction of their rainforests as Brazil and other neighbors. However there are signs of compromise, as we see each year more and more logs floated on barges en route to lumber mills, more land being cleared along the rivers for cattle farms, and more meat of endangered species in the market place. With options in place to counteract these pressures, the Peruvian Amazon stands a better chance of growing a sustainable economy and preserving its vital natural resources. For further information: info@amazonamigos.org |
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HOME | ABOUT | PROJECTS | RESEARCH | RESOURCES | FACTOIDS | MULTIMEDIA ©COPYRIGHT 2004-2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TREE FOUNDATION |
Amazon Amigos is a gift program made possible by the TREE Foundation and Environmental Expeditions, with thanks to the Amazon Explorama Lodges, Widener University, and Ecoprint.
Bread and baked goods are scarce in the Amazon, but are a desirable and nutritional complement to the usual diet of fish and boiled plantains. Investment in a commercial brick oven enables a community bakery to produce bread from corn, manioc, and wheat. Baked goods are sold alongside jams produced from local fruits such as camu camu, papaya, and mango. 
While plentiful, the river water that children drink contains parasites that cause them to become ill and malnourished. During the low water season, water quality decreases even further when rivers, streams, and ponds shrink and often recede distances from villages. Small water treatment centers can produce clean water for small villages and make a significant difference in the community’s health. The use of recyclable bottles makes this an environmentally friendly venture.
