Skoll Foundation puts $1M toward indigenous groups, conservation in the Amazon
Skoll Foundation puts $1M toward indigenous groups, conservation in the Amazon
mongabay.com
March 11, 2008
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The Skoll Foundation has awarded the Amazon Conservation Team, an innovative organization the promotes biocultural conservation among indigenous groups in the Amazon, $1,015,000 to map, manage, and protect 100 million acres of rainforest. The award is one of 11 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship presented by the Skoll Foundation in 2008.
“The Amazon Conservation Team is a tremendous addition to the community of Skoll social entrepreneurs who have demonstrated, through their inspiration and creativity, courage and fortitude, that solutions do exist for some of the worldâs most intractable problems,” said Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. “Like all the organizations in our portfolio, ACT is successfully tackling complex social issues with a sustainable, scalable solution. We believe their work has the potential for transformational benefit to indigenous cultures and forests of the Amazon and we’re honored to support their continued commitment to systemic change at the grassroots level.”
 GPS data gathering on a mapping expedition in the Amazon. Image courtesy of ACT. |
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) works with indigenous groups across the Amazon to conserve biodiversity, traditional culture, and health. ACT has provided 28 tribes with the tools necessary to map, manage, and protect their territories—totaling more than 40 million acres of rainforest. ACT has also launched enduring Shamans and Apprentices programs that preserve, strengthen, and promote indigenous knowledge of the Amazon’s medicinal plants, and provide training to tribal leaders in sustainable agriculture and economic development.
“Indigenous peoples know, manage and protect the rainforest far better than we do,” said Dr. Plotkin, President of the Amazon Conservation Team. “If you want to protect the rainforest, why not enlist the assistance of the people who actually live there? This is the only way that equilibrium change can be brought about in terms of protecting the greatest expression of life on earth.”
“The only way to truly bring equilibrium change in efforts to preserve the rainforests of the Amazon—including both their rich biodiversity and indigenous culture – is if the voice of the indigenous people who inhabit the remaining forests is heard and their legal rights respected and enforced,” added Liliana Madrigal, co-founder of ACT.
The award will be presented by Skoll Foundation Chairman Jeff Skoll, Skoll Foundation President and CEO, Sally Osberg and special guest former President Jimmy Carter, at a special ceremony on March 27 at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University.
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