An incomparable wilderness that spans eight countries and one territory, the Amazon stretches from the eastern slopes of the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. It provides one-fifth of the world’s fresh water and is home to the planet’s most diverse collection of birds, mammals, freshwater fish and plants. Its forests help mitigate global climate change.
Over the past decade, sustainable management of protected areas and indigenous lands, as well as land-use policies, have dramatically slowed the rate of deforestation. But significant threats remain. Nearly 20 percent of Amazonian forest cover has already been lost to logging, mining, hydrocarbon and infrastructure development, cattle ranching and agriculture.
Local and national governments, the private sector, indigenous communities and NGOs are working independently and in partnership with each other to conserve the forests of the Amazon. We support work to scale up three types of conservation strategies applied by these institutions in targeted geographies:
- Improve monitoring and management of protected area systems and establish sustainable finance structures;
- Integrate protected areas into regional land-use planning and develop their economic potential; and
- Increase management effectiveness of targeted individual protected areas and indigenous territories.