Our Mission

Our mission is to assist in the preservation of the Amazon Rainforest, implement conservation practices, and provide a method to allow the people of the Amazon to succeed and flourish. We provide local villages with the education to practice sustainable farming within their communities, and promote sustainable tourism as a framework for the implementation of this environmentally conscious farming.

We have a Sustainable Garden Project in the village of San Rafael Peru. Typically the Amazon rainforest diet is starch-dependent with very few vegetables. Plantains and cassava are the staples and most farming plots are cleared to grow these crops. The goal of the Sustainable Garden Project is to serve as an example to the community of how to organically grow a variety of vegetables as well as medicinal plants, without the need for chemical fertilizer or pesticides. We purchase humus from San Raphael village which is enriched entirely by earthworms and make our own compost. The pesticide we use is a combination of extracts of several medicinal plants indigenous to the primary forest and now cultivated for this purpose.

In the Sustainable Garden we have planted a variety of medicinal plants which serve as medicine from curing colds to aiding with childbirth. The Shaman or curandero of San Rafael, Julio Siri, is responsible for the cultivation of the medicinal garden and documenting the curative properties of the plants. We also have a Camu Camu Plantation of over 1000 plants. The camu camu is a Amazon fruit with the highest known source of vitamin C.

We recently purchased 294 acres of primary forest in the Village of Santa Maria and established the Santa Maria Primary Forest Reserve. The creation of the forest reserve with supervision of the Santa Maria Village will insure that no hunting or tree cutting will occur on this land. Work is being done to establish hiking trails, bridges, and a overnight campsite. Local guides from Santa Maria Village will be employed to serve as field guides for tours through the Santa Maria Primary Forest Reserve.

We are working with the Village of Santa Victoria to cultivate 10 foot (3m) diameter Amazon water lilies (Victoria Amazonica) and employ the villagers as field guides on excursions. These night blooming lilies produce a 17.5 inch (40cm) white blooming flower the first night and turns pink on the second night, for its final performance.

Many villages have no access to clean water and obtain their drinking water straight from the Amazon River or its tributaries. Our operation Clean Water Effort aims to provide safe drinking water by drilling wells and providing hand pumps to villages in need.

We also implemented a Medical Mission providing anti-parasitic medicine and vitamins to children in the neighboring villages. We will begin our fist Medical Mission to the Matses Community near the Brazilian border September 2008 with Dr. Dan Pantone. If you want more information about indigenous tribes please visit www.amazon-indians.org. If you want to learn more about the Movement in the Amazon for Tribal Subsistence and Economic Sustainability M.A.S.T.E.S. please visit www.matses.org.