Better late than never, a re-post of a fan favorite blog!

In Leticia – on the way back to Amacayacu after a month in US, with bits in Bogotá coming and going. Buying monster food to take back to the monsters and URGENT – a new baby bottle for Pauli, the reddish sea monkey; going to the bank, running around, and greeting/ debriefing/updating intensely before catching the public fast boat early this afternoon. This’ll be quick.

Leoncio called yesterday and said Surba, the adult woolly who has the most seniority in the troop (she was confiscated in the Leticia airport as a baby) has disappeared. I wasn’t worried; she’s reached the age of dispersal and has clearly been restless. Too bad she couldn’t have waited until we could give her a boost into the interior of the park where the wild woollies won’t be quite so remote, pero bueno. Last night, I find out that he called another friend with a heads-up about somebody who’d been in Macedonia (one of the communities near Amacayacu), looking for monkeys to sell…or something….the jungle telegraph leaves a lot to the imagination. Ack. She’s not a cute little baby, but a nice fat adult – as in, “tastes a lot like chicken!”

I go to the port to check out the balsas where people from the communities tie up and bump into a friend from Macedonia, whom I ask for information. Turns out there’s a baby woolly in Macedonia (where supposedly they don`t hunt woollies any more). This news doesn’t exactly make me happy, but it’s a less dire reading of Leoncio’s message than what I was fearing. Later he calls – forgot to include laundry soap on the list – and I ask what’s going on. He says there’s a guy from the kilómetros (the communities along the road that goes out from Leticia) who’d been looking for monkeys to buy to have on hand for tourists, and that they’d gone back to Leticia through the forest and not on the river.

So… I’ve got to go the bank before it closes or the world will come to an end. Surba is no dummy. I hope she’s avoided them and any stray harpy eagle, and that the baby in Macedonia will survive.

Paradise it ain’t. And I am really glad to be back! As a billboard in the Boston subway put it: “Why be cold and wet, when you can be warm and wet?” Why ever?

Happy Christmas.

-Sara Bennett

Speaking for the Forests - Indigenous Communities & Google Earth Outreach – Partnering in Redd in Copenhagen

The Amazon Conservation Team has teamed with Google Earth Outreach and The Jane Goodall Instituteto create a very cool virtual tour of communities in Tanzania and Brazil who are impacted by, and working innovatively on, deforestation. They have presented Speaking for the Forests - Indigenous Communities Google Earth Outreach – Partnering in Redd in Copenhagen. Narrated by Jane Goodall, the 6-minute virtual journey provides good insights into the issue of deforestation on both continents. You have to have Google Earth on your computer to watch this, but it’s worth downloading. The file is here.

Striking a deal in Copenhagen

As the conference winds down, the countries of the world are scrambling to strike a deal.

The developing nations claim – correctly – that the industrialized nations have generated most of the pollution believed to be causing climate change. These developing countries believe the industrialized world should provide massive funding to mitigate or halt climate change.

The industrialized world claims – correctly – that enormous transfer of wealth guarantee nothing without better safeguards that monies will be spent efficiently and effectively.

Further complicating this dilemma is the fact that some large developing countries are extremely wealthy and are generating enormous amounts of pollutants themselves.

These are major sticking points, but there are many other challenges and nuances. For example, what is the role of indigenous peoples? If an enormous fund is established to protect the rainforests, does a piece of the action go to the Indians, or does all the money go to national government (or state governments? Or NGOS? etc. etc.) Can indigenous people negotiate conservation accords on their own (so-called “subnational rights”) or does everything have to go through national governments?

And what is the role of monitoring? Several governments, still smarting from a legacy of colonialism, loathe the concept of industrialized nations checking to see whether these developing nations are keeping their promises in terms of protecting forests or emitting pollutants. Industrialized nations argue that accepting major funding to modify carbon output or carbon capture means that you must agree to be monitored. The discussion continues…

Some of the best news of the conference comes from the technological world: we can remotely monitor down to the level of a single tree in many forests of the world. Yet agreements need to be reached on the role of monitoring if this technology is to prove as useful as it can be. And enhanced forest monitoring without enhanced forest protection would ultimately prove futile.

-Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.

ACT at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

The nations of the world have assembled in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and the Amazon Conservation Team is honored to be in attendance. The sights, sounds, colors, hues, national dress and emotions combine into a crazy kaleidoscope reminiscent of the cantina scene in “Star Wars”.

Copenhagen is a warm and welcoming city, but is struggling to accommodate so many visitors. The lack of hotel rooms is so severe that some people have had to book accommodations in neighboring Sweden! And lines to register for the conference are so long that some attendees have waited over five hours to check in.

Nevertheless, there is much optimism that so many people have come from all corners of the planet to grapple with one of the greatest issues of our time. That same optimism is balanced by cynicism, nationalism, resentment, hostility and fear – the glass of progress here is both half full and half empty. That this conference is taking place is indeed a tremendous achievement; whether it will result in a sea change towards the issue of climate change is yet to be decided.

Last night, my colleagues and I attended a gathering organized by our friends from the Skoll Foundation. For me, the highlight was listening to a conversation on the future of the forest between former Vice-President Al Gore and Chief Almir of the Suruí tribe in Brazil. The former VP cautioned Chief Almir to be careful, pointing out that forest protection could be a dangerous job. Chief Almir invited the Vice-President to visit the Suruí territory in western Brazil and observe the work firsthand. And the Vice-President congratulated the Chief and his partners at the Amazon Conservation Team for mapping and protecting the forest with the help of Google Earth.

Presently, ACT Brazil Director Vasco van Roosmalen is hard at work with our colleagues at the Jane Goodall Institute to complete a “Rainforest Tour” which will be featured on Google Earth. The tour – which should be posted later this week – will be narrated by Jane Goodall herself. Stay tuned!

Ethnographic maps built using cutting-edge technology may help Amazon tribes win forest carbon payments

The following is adapted from November 29th article by Rhett A. Butler of Mongabay.com.

A new handbook lays out the methodology for cultural mapping, providing indigenous groups with a powerful tool for defending their land and culture, while enabling them to benefit from some 21st century advancements. Cultural mapping may also facilitate indigenous efforts to win recognition and compensation under a proposed scheme to mitigate climate change through forest conservation. The scheme—known as REDD for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation—will be a central topic of discussion at next month's climate talks in Copenhagen, but concerns remain that it could fail to deliver benefits to forest dwellers.

Much of the Amazon rainforest remains occupied by tribal groups. While few of these live as conjured in the imagination, the state of the forests in their territories is a testament to their approach to managing lands. But like the Amazon itself, these groups face new pressures from the outside world. For the indigenous, the lure of urban culture is strong—cities seem to offer the promise of affluence and the conveniences of an easy life. But in leaving their forest homes indigenous peoples are usually met with a stark reality: the skills that serve them so well in the forest don’t translate well to an urban setting. The odds are stacked against them; they arrive near the bottom of the social ladder, often not proficient in the language and customs of city dwellers. The lucky ones may find work in factories or as day laborers and security guards, but many eventually return to the countryside. Some re-integrate into their villages, others return in a completely different capacity than when they departed. They may join the ranks of miners and loggers who trespass on indigenous lands, ferreting out deals that pit members of the same tribe against each other in order to exploit the resources they steward. As tribes are fragmented, and forests fall, indigenous culture—and the profound knowledge contained within—is lost. The world is left a poorer place, culturally and biologically.

But there is new hope, embodied by efforts to enable tribes to become more self reliant through the use of state-of-the-art technology that builds on and leverages their traditional knowledge. These tools can help them better defend their lands and offer the potential for the next generation of Surui, Trio, or Ikpeng to have a future of their determination rather than one dictated to them by a society that values the resources locked in their territories over their forest knowledge and rich cultural history. Through such technology, tribes may be able to avoid a fate in which they become destroyers, rather than protectors, of the basis of their culture—their forest home.

At the forefront of this effort is the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), a Virginia-based group with field offices in Brazil, Suriname, and Colombia. the Amazon Conservation Team has pioneered geographic information system (GIS) training of indigenous groups in the Amazon to enable them to map their land, not only as a means to demarcate it and win title, but to catalog their cultural links to the land. In building these “cultural maps,” tribes construct maps of their territory that go beyond the topography of the terrain, capturing the underlying richness of generations of human experience, including their interaction with the land and other tribes, and the distribution of plants and animals of nutritional, medicinal, and spiritual significance. In other words, in as much as indigenous culture is a product of the land, the maps capture the essence of these tribes.

But creating a cultural map is no easy task. It can take years of work by the tribe, laying out what the map will contain, determining what communities will participate, and coordinating who in the community will do the actual footwork. Other considerations also come into play, including harvesting cycles and seasons—mapping can’t interfere with the ongoing the activities that sustain the tribe—and the treatment of intellectual property contained in the maps, since these can be used for nefarious purposes in the wrong hands, including exploitation of timber, game, and medicinal plants.

The training itself can also be complex. Indigenous mappers must learn the ins and outs of handheld GPS units, GIS systems, computers, and Internet tools like Google Earth before they can construct maps and monitor their territories for threats and encroachment. But the payoff can be well worth the effort: 20 groups in the Brazilian Amazon have created culture and land use maps of their territories. The maps include 7,500 indigenous names, 120 villages, and thousands of area of cultural and historical significance. In Suriname, the maps are being used to help indigenous groups get government recognition of—and eventually title to—their lands. Some of the indigenous mappers have gone on to become certified as park guards, enabling them to earn an income while working to safeguard their lands.

The new handbook, "Methodology of Collaborative Cultural Mapping," walks readers through the process of establishing community meetings between stakeholders, composing the mapping team, setting up training workshops, conducting fieldwork, developing the map, and finally delivering the map. The guide, which is available in both English and Brazilian Portuguese, comes at an opportune time: interest in tropical forest conservation has never been higher. The reason? Tropical forests are seen as critical in combating climate change, both in terms of their value in sequestering carbon and as a political compromise that could serve as the developing world’s contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As long-time stewards of tropical forests, indigenous people are effectively forest carbon guardians. But questions remain as to whether they will be recognized as such. Mapping their lands may help indigenous groups demonstrate their critical role in forest conservation efforts, earning them recognition, compensation, and a stronger voice in determining how their resources are managed.

An example can be found in the Surui tribe's carbon project in Rondônia, Brazil, which aims to protect 250,000 hectares of forest. Prior to establishing the carbon project , the Surui worked closely with the Amazon Conservation Team to develop a cultural map of their lands.

"The Surui ethno-graphic (cultural) map has become the key instrument in integrating their traditional knowledge of the forest with the latest technologies in carbon measuring and monitoring," Vasco van Roosmalen, director of the Amazon Conservation Team-Brazil, told mongabay.com. "It is one of the key instruments in translating the necessities of a carbon project to the community and in ensuring that their perspectives are truly integrated into the project design."

Mark Plotkin, president of the Amazon Conservation Team, adds that having completed their map, the Surui are much better positioned to move ahead on their carbon credit project.

"After the mapping process has been completed, some of the indigenous are trained as internationally accredited park guards—meaning the forest protectors are in place, which is a real hurdle for other carbon projects where nobody lives in and protects these forests," he told mongabay.com.

"Ethnographic mapping represents the perfect marriage of ancient shamanic wisdom and 21st century technology," Plotkin continued. "When done right, it results in better protection of the rainforest and enhanced capacity of the Indians to meet the opportunities and challenges posed by the outside world."

What Ever Happened to the Amazon Rain Forest? -- Did We Save it or what?

Earlier today, Slate.com featured a short, but insightful article from Brendan Borrell on what exactly is going on in the Amazon Rainforest.

Read more: http://www.slate.com/id/2234319/

The Surui, ACT and Google Earth Outreach launch the Surui Layer on Google Earth

Below is a result of what happens when you get the Surui people, the Amazon Conservation Team and Google in a room with no easy exit. :)

Step 1: Download Google Earth: http://bit.ly/1zuvpu
Step 2: Watch the Surui Layer, launched by the Surui, ACT and Google: http://bit.ly/2iQbYv
Step 3: Select "Click To Play This Tour" on the left side of your window, and enjoy!

Email ACT's Communications Associate, Hamza Ghaznavi at Hghaznavi@amazonteam.org if you have any questions or comments!

Regional Knowledge Exchange in the Colombian Amazon

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

From August 23-28, with ACT support, the first regional knowledge exchange of the Uitoto community of the Colombian department of Caquetá was convened with the participation of 44 indigenous representatives including traditional healers, chieftains and community leaders associated in the ASCAINCA and ORUCAPU organizations.

During this event-which included workshops on the right to intellectual property, the rights of indigenous communities over their traditional knowledge, and current national and international legislation on intellectual property-the participants analyzed and discussed the current state of Uitoto traditional medicine. The meetings were advised by taita Luciano Mutumbajoy, the coordinator of the Union of Traditional Healers of the Colombian Amazon (UMIYAC, an ACT partner), who shared his experience and thoughts on the challenges encountered by practitioners of indigenous traditional medicine.

ACT Holds Sixth Institutional Park Guard Training Course

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

From August 24 - September 12, 2009, in the Brazilian state of Amapá, ACT held its 6th park guard training course for representatives of stakeholder institutions in the Amazon, a course certified by the International Ranger Federation. ACT trained 29 persons including representatives of the Brazilian environmental enforcement agency ICMBio, the Brazilian Army, the Environmental Police of the state of Acre, the Cabo Orange National Park, and Peru's Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. Activities were coordinated by ACT and the Amapá Park Guard Association.

Course modules included ecology and biodiversity; flora; the management of protected areas; geoprocessing; firefighting and fire management; first aid, search & rescue, and survival techniques; trail maintenance; outboard motor repair; radio communications; environmental ethics; environmental legislation; waste management; and public relations.

Beyond its value in spreading conservation knowledge, the course enables actors from a wide variety of backgrounds and locations to share experiences and conservation best practices. ACT has conducted this course bi-annually since 2006, with a 5th course in June 2009. To date, the course has trained over 160 guards. In November, ACT will hold its 5th Indigenous Park Guard Training Course.

Groundbreaking Park Guard Training Manual Published

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

ACT and the Amapá Park Guard Association, together with Brazil's environmental enforcement agency ICMBio and the Federal University of Amapá, have published a park guard training methodology manual. The manual enables ACT to disseminate its pioneering methodology to other indigenous and non-indigenous groups seeking to gain the means to better monitor and conserve protected areas.

To complement the publication, the partners will launch a park guard program website that will contain information regarding the current legal status of park guards in Brazil; information on park guards around the world; a description of the role and objectives of park guards; and information on the availability of training courses in Brazil and in Latin America. The website and manual will be used by ICMBio and the state of Amapá to further the process of official recognition and legalization of the role of park guard.

ACT Commences Collaborative Mapping Project With Brazil's Kaxuyana People

[Continued from the October 2009 newsletter from ACT]

In September, upon the tribe's request, ACT commenced work with the Kaxuyana people of the northern Brazilian Amazon to map millions of acres of their traditional lands. Additional regional groups participating in the project include the Wayana, Wai-Wai and Txikiyana. On-the-ground work was officially initiated on September 25th in the Santidade Village in Pará state.

With GPS handhelds to record waypoints, indigenous researchers are traversing these lands largely on foot and by river. Data collected is uploaded to the laptops of ACT technicians and cartographers, who digitally insert the information into rough maps and subsequently present drafts for revision by the indigenous researchers. Beyond natural features, the maps identify traditional hunting and fishing and other resources areas, areas of potential risk, and culturally sacred sites.

Capacity building topics for the indigenous researchers include utilization and interpretation of satellite data; identification of areas of importance; assessment of risks and threats; confirmation of specific locations using hand-held GPS units; and direct involvement in the legal process.

Once completed, the maps will serve as the basis for land management plans developed by the regional indigenous groups. Both the maps and the plans will enable the Kaxuyana and their neighbors to more effectively monitor their traditional borders against illegal incursions and report such encroachments to state environmental enforcement agencies.

ACT previously worked withed Kaxuyana groups to ethnographically map the adjacent 10-million-acre Tumucumaque Indigenous Park, and Kaxuyana representatives have been trained through ACT's Indigenous Park Guard Training Course, a program certified by the International Ranger Federation.

In Memory Of Silviano Camberos

Silviano Camberos was a Mexican physician and ethnobotanist, much beloved by members of the ethnobotanical community. He was a close personal friend of mine, and he worked with the Huichol tribe for well over 15 years. Silviano passed away last month.

I first met Silviano Camberos at the Juan Santa Maria Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. I was told to be on the lookout for a fellow in his early 30’s with a shock of unruly hair, twinkling eyes and an enormous smile. As soon as I saw him, I knew exactly who he was. It was impossible to mistake Silviano for anyone else.

We spent over a month together traveling throughout Costa Rica. At no time did he ever change: he was unfailingly polite, good humored, kind, generous, and full of wonder. Everyone who met and spent time with him adored him – whether he was helping my mother-in-law bring in the groceries or whether he was providing free medical treatment (and medicines!) to the poorest campesinos, Silviano always had time to help people.

I only saw him annoyed once.

We spent two weeks working with a Shaman in one of the most remote corners of Costa Rica. The terrain was phenomenally difficult: it seemed as if every waking moment was spend climbing or descending – usually hand over hand, as the slopes were so steep. As Silviano said, “it was like doing ethnobotany on a wall.”

The Indians were very poor, yet readily shared their food with us. And, not wanting to take advantage of their hospitality, we brought huge sacks of both rice and beans to feed both them and us. We ate rice and beans every morning before we left for the bush and every night when we returned. It was filling and nutritious, but very monotonous.

On the last night, when presented with yet another plate of rice and beans, Silviano pushed it aside, mumbling to me under his breath in English: “enough gallo pinto - we Mexicans can even make grasshoppers taste better than this!!”

He reached into the bottom of his backpack, pulled out a jar of Mexican mole sauce, dumped in into a pot, heated it over the fire, and then shared his precious cargo with all twelve people in the hut. As soon as we had finished eating, he proceeded to provide free medical care to everyone who wanted it, including a young boy with a badly infected cut and a woman who had travelled for two days so he could treat her sick daughter. Once he had taken care of everyone, he thanked them for coming to see him and went to sleep.

My next adventure with Silviano was in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. As a student of ethnobotanist R.E. Schultes (who had done the original field work that uncovered the secrets of the magic mushroom), I had been reading about and studying the culture of the Mazatec Indians for over two decades. Arriving by bus in Huatla, the capital of Mazatec country, Silviano was greeted with enormous enthusiasm by almost everyone we met. It was clear that he was regarded as a friend and almost a family member by many of the Mazatecs who passed us as we walked through the village.

We spent several weeks there – meeting Shamans, looking at plants, visiting markets, attending ceremonies. Silviano would hold free medical clinics for all the Indians on a regular basis. Because he was so beloved, the Indians announced that they would have a farewell dinner in our honor the night before we departed.

The next evening, the central plaza was filled with chairs and tables. Colored paper streamers had been scattered around to add a festive air. The plaza had candles everywhere, and their flickering fires gave off a ghostly glow.

The Mazatecs entered the plaza and took their seats. We were invited to sit with the Mayor at the table of honor. The Mayor then stood and gave what seemed like a speech of appreciation in Mazatec. As the Guests of Honor, each of us was served a bowl of soup while our fellow guests watched expectantly. Unfortunately, the soup was made from tripe which emitted a foul odor. We both looked up, and saw the Indians watching us still. Ever the good sport and gracious guest, Silviano picked up his spoon, devoured the soup with gusto, and everyone applauded.

Our final expedition together was to Suriname in the northeast Amazon. Working deep in the forest near the Brazilian border, there were no Indians who spoke Spanish, English, French, Huichol or any other language in which Silviano was conversant. I was (frankly) curious to see how Silviano would do in a place where he could not communicate with the Indians.

I guess I should not have been surprised – the failure of a common spoken language proved little in the way of a barrier. Silviano made friends almost immediately, and began teaching the Trio Indians songs and calls in the Huichol language. Ten years after he last set foot in that village, they ask about him still.

Such was the impact of our beloved late friend Silviano Camberos. In one sense he is gone. In a more important one, however, his kindness, generosity, passionate desire to help the less fortunate, and his smile will be with us forever.

By Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Amazon In Colombia

The Colombian Amazon represents one of the world’s most important—and most often overlooked—rainforest regions. While most folks associate the Amazon with Brazil—rightfully so, considering that over 60% of the Amazon forests lies within Brazil’s borders—the size and diversity of Colombia’s corner of Amazonia are staggering. How many people realize that the Colombian Amazon is twice the size of New England? Or that the biodiversity in western Amazonia is much greater than that found in the rest of the Basin? Or that indigenous peoples—thanks to farsighted Colombian government policies enacted by conservation leaders —manage enormous tracts of these forests?

Much of the news regarding Colombia that appears in the western press is unremittingly negative. And the forces of environmental devastation that beset much of the rest of the world; deforestation for industrial agriculture, destructive extractive activities, and the migration of the impoverished—exist in Colombia as well.  Nonetheless, there are ample reasons for hope and optimism regarding the Colombian forests that one seldom reads about in the English-speaking world.


So, when we think about the Amazon, we must extend our visions beyond the borders of Brazil. Brazil certainly plays a key role in the fate of the forest - but there are eight other Amazonian countries. How many of us think of Colombia as a land of hope and good news? It may seem surprising that this will prove to be the case in Colombia, but remember: this is the country that invented magical realism.....

The Healthcare Debate's Missing Ingredient

Healthcare impacts much more than just national policy and economics.  A major shortcoming of the ongoing debate is that it largely overlooks the whole concept of prevention: a better life and better living by addressing root causes. 


A fundamental pillar of Shamanic healthcare in the Amazon is spirituality, a belief that deep healing happens in the invisible realm, or otherwise happens in the realm of the placebo – that is, between your ears.

Shamans are masters of both of these “alternative” types of healing, and logic dictates that the global conservation agenda should focus more on the need to preserve their specialized knowledge and the plants they employ, directly demonstrating why people in our industrialized and often stressed-out society have a stake in these far-off cultures and forests.  Why should we care about the Amazon?  Why should people concern themselves with the fate of the Shamans?  Whether you’re worried about your own health, that of your children, or that of the planet, it’s all tied together.

The urgent global need for the preservation of forests, the preservation of biodiversity and the preservation of indigenous forms of healing and diagnosis should be merged into the broader healthcare discussion because we have a personal wellness stake in each of these issues.  The Shamans I have come to know see no personal health without the health of their environment—in the face of increasing resource depletion and climate change, I believe this is an understanding to which we are all now being led.