Strategy

"This is one of the last areas on the planet where rainforest peoples still live without trade, money or metal, beyond the consumptive tendrils of modern society."

The ultimate goal of the Amazon Conservation Association is to conserve the maximum amount of Amazonian biodiversity. This requires the following:

maintaining core ecosystem functions such as seed dispersal, pollination, predation, and other co-evolutionary relationships which evolved in large blocks of contiguous forest;
working in areas of complex geology, topography and biogeography where biodiversity is maximized;
conserving headwaters and watersheds because hydrological cycles, Amazonian wetlands and forests are ecologically inseparable and their health is interdependent;
considering the spatial pattern of conservation actions that will maximize connectivity of ecosystems and populations;
assessing strategic conservation opportunities locally, regionally and nationally, along with threats to biodiversity, and the socio-political context for biodiversity conservation;
paying special attention to the impact of infrastructure projects including roads and agricultural colonization.

The Amazon region contains from 10 to 15% of all the bird and butterfly species known on the planet. The foothills harbor the spawning ground for the majority of large migratory fish that supply the bulk of protein for the human populations of the Amazon basin. Populations of top predators such as harpy eagles, giant otters, black caiman, and jaguars, are huge and healthy here. Dozens of indigenous cultures remain in the region living in a largely traditional, low-impact manner.

The Amazon holds the largest area of intact forest remaining on our planet. Fully 20% of the world's supply of fresh water flows through the Amazon basin. The forest and rivers of the Amazon provide vital ecosystem services including food, building materials, pharmaceuticals and water needed by wildlife and humanity alike. The region is correspondingly crucial for maintaining global climate and genetic resources. We know that large blocks of contiguous forest have the highest conservation value. Small forest fragments rapidly lose species, especially those animals that have large spatial requirements. Ecologically balanced ecosystems require the full set of top-level predators, such as jaguars and giant otters, as well as seed dispersers such as spider monkeys and bats, and other providers of ecosystem services. It is these large areas of thinly populated tropical wilderness that afford us the baseline understanding of what constitutes a healthy viable ecosystem.

"Why is Amazonian wilderness a global priority? Quite simply, because these areas hold the greatest number of species on our planet they are an irreplaceable resource for present and future generations of people."

Consideration of these factors suggests maximum returns on investment are to be found along the interface of the eastern Andes and southwest Amazon at the nexus of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. This area has the highest known biodiversity in the world, is relatively free of roads, has few people and is largely intact ecologically. Investments in this area have an excellent prospect of favorably altering the conservation future of a globally significant landscape. To create rational sustainable human development programs a multi-disciplinary skill set is needed. It must include not only ecological science but also the full array of social and economic science skills. Although there are some conservation and scientific institutions that have had programs in the area, the region still lacks an organization that has a critical mass of expertise in the full range of biological, anthropological, social and other disciplines necessary.

This combination of opportunity, need and a vacant niche stimulated the creation of the Amazon Conservation Association (ACA).

Right now we have a unique opportunity in the southwest Amazon/Andes corridor to preserve, understand and conserve large expanses of wilderness forest before they come under assault. We are concentrating on the Andes-Amazon interface that contains a tremendous array of ecosystems, soils, microclimates, and human cultures. We are developing a series of field sites ranging from high elevation cloud forest down into the lowland Amazon. It is this altitudinal gradient that harbors the greatest known richness of species on the planet. Retaining a connection from the vast and relatively flat Amazon basin to the climatic diversity of the Andes will be essential for the survival of millions of species. This gradient provides species with a potential escape route to deal with the climate change being accelerated by global warming. Unlike flat terrain the altitudinal relief affords a means for plants and animals to re-adjust their distribution as the world becomes hotter and drier. As a consequence the headwaters region of the southwestern Amazon is the greatest priority for the conservation of terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity.

Biodiversity conservation in the Andes-Amazon mega-corridor is an achievable goal because the area remains relatively pristine. Interventions and investments made now will have tremendous leverage in directing this region towards a sustainable future with healthy ecosystems and rational development alternatives. This is no time for complacency. Pressure to log and to colonize this region grows daily. The protected areas are weak and in many cases exist only on paper. In order to maintain the biological connectivity and ecological health of the natural environment and to improve the social environment of the people living in the mega-corridor we must build science-based conservation capacity in the region.

Fortunately, much of the southwest Amazon/Andes region now has some protective status. A series of huge national parks and reserved zones extends from the eastern slopes of central Bolivia deep into the Peruvian Andes and down into the lowland regions to Acre, and Rondonia in Brazil. The protected area network includes such world-renowned jewels as Manu and Madidi national parks. Most importantly, these areas remain biologically connected by a sea of forest, tens of millions of acres in extent. This expanse of wilderness owes its existence to the absence of a road network and to the relatively low population pressure on the region. [SEE MAP]

However, large amounts of state-owned habitat remain without protected status and have an uncertain land-use future. Government zoning for habitat protection is thus a crucial first target for investment. To increase protection of tropical wilderness we will:

Develop world-class research centers and model private protected areas
Train a new generation of Latin American ecologists and resource managers
Create sustainable economic and social benefits for the local populace
Develop new watershed conservation models for Amazonian eco-development
Develop new ecosystem management understanding and practices
Monitor and compare the ecological health of pristine ecosystems versus those experiencing logging, mining and agricultural disruption
Maintain the biological connectivity of the mega-corridor
Empower a cadre of people who will act as the long-term guardians, mentors, planners and conservation actors in the region

To achieve these goals ACA works on issues that have broad scale implications in sites that are geographically strategic. Our strategy is to acquire deeds to titled property and concessions where we can build necessary infrastructure and then use these facilities to build watershed-scale conservation projects that are crucial to the connectivity and understanding of the mega-corridor.