Acaté perched on branch ©Acaté Help Fund and Support Acaté!
A fundamental question we ask ourselves is what world are we leaving for our children? Is it a better world than the one we inherited from our parents or a world that has been profoundly depreciated and degraded? A world where entire ecosystems have been destroyed and uncounted species stamped out of existence for a commercial banana plantation or a hydroelectric dam to power mining operations?
In our schools, we are taught how indigenous peoples were marginalized and displaced. Many were destroyed through genocide and their cultures minimized even as our societies sought to record every aspect of their culture and salvage artifacts for museums before their demise.
The indigenous situation in the Amazon evokes hauntingly tragic parallels to the United States’ displacement of Native Americans a little over a century ago. Time-lapse video short on theft of indigenous lands in the United States
Today, in the 21 century, the actors have changed to an extent but indigenous peoples worldwide continue to face relentless land and resource grabs from national governments, agriculture, and large-scale extractive industries. In the short term, they foot the bill for the true costs of environmental destruction driven by global overconsumption. Yet, ultimately everyone will feel the severe consequences of the environmental crisis.
There is hope. The past three decades have seen the emergence of an extraordinary global awakening on the paramount importance of rainforest conservation and indigenous empowerment in the struggle against climate change, species loss and profound inequities.
Despite this growing collective awareness and conservation ethos, the truth today is most indigenous peoples continue to live on the knife’s edge, struggling against overwhelming odds, with the most limited external resources. They ask for your help to support their struggle. Unfortunately, awareness of the problems is insufficient alone to realize change. What is needed most – and the rarest type of conservation – are on-the-ground initiatives that directly address the threats and challenges that indigenous peoples face every day as they struggle to protect their ancestral lands and culture.
Each donation to our on-the-ground projects contributes to making initiatives possible that will help support a threatened tribe and sustain the “Lungs of the Planet”. Every gift is valued and will be applied where it will have the highest impact and with the full transparency and accountability that you should expect from a non-profit organization. Please take a moment to read our field reports over the past decade to see the unparalleled level of accountability and reporting of our work and their outcomes. Acaté does not exist for the sake of sitting on the sidelines. We are here to make a true impact and we welcome your support.
Acaté is a Non-Profit
Acaté Amazon Conservation is a registered United States non-profit with 501(c)(3) status and our allied organization Acaté Amazon Conservacion is a registered non-profit in Peru. We operate in full legal compliance with governmental law and accounting. Our projects operate through the most minimal overhead and headquarters infrastructure.
Jungle refreshed after recent rain storm ©Acaté