The Fundacion Amazonica por la Reciprocidad - FAR (English translation - "Foundation for Amazonian Reciprocity") is a non profit organization based in Madre De Dios, located in the south-east Amazon of Perú, established in early 2008 by a group of Peruvian profesionals that, since1995 have worked for the earth, water, culture and sustainable development of the Peruvian Amazon. This team of environmentalists have joined their experiences, thereby strengthening the ability to facilitate the welfare between society and the environment.
¿Where do we act? (Escenario)
The Amazonian rainforest of South America is considered the lungs of the Earth because of its oxygen contribution to life; it is the most important fresh water source of the South American continent, containing the greatest biological diversity of the planet. The forest of Madre De Dios, the Amazonian region in Southeastern Peru, still holds the potential to maintain its biodiversity and cultural potentials.
Since the foundation in 1902 of the regional capital, Puerto Maldonado, the immigrant population has largely involved itself in extractive activities of the regions resources supplying the demands of the western economies. This has devastated great tracts of Amazonian rainforest into degraded land by deforestation and contaminating the rivers with the residuals of gold mining (mercury) and hydrocarbon exploration.
The effects of this environmental damage also affects the Amazonian Indigenous populations, causing a social rupture in the cultural traditions that brings their people to devastate their own natural resources in exchange for ridiculously low prices to supply international markets for wood, taking them into a ‘circle of poverty’ that is very difficult to revert.
For these reasons, our projects are directed to the conservation of biodiversity; to cultural rescue and restoration; to promoting sustainable development - all representing great challenges for the people who are committed to a healthy Amazon.
It is important to be conscious of this degrading environmetal and cultural situation, as it is only from this reality, from which we working as FAR, can develope the projects in coordination with our alliances. Together we can contribute to the solution of this regional emergency, in search of solutions for the environmental and human well-being in the Amazon; and by implication -worldwide.
Philosophy of work
- FAR promotes, through its programs and projects, interactive/integral mechanisms able to reach the task of conserving the biological and cultural diversity of the Amazon. FAR expands this capability to reach the goals by interrelating its strategic alliances and the actors of the field.
- When summarizing the independent experiences of its team (directors and alliances), FAR focuses its energy, resources and total dedication, to find and develop real solutions for the environmental and cultural crisis of the Peruvian Amazon.
- Understanding the difficulties to involve the local people in sustainable management of their natural resources, when presenting them medium and long term resource management and conservation alternatives as viable way to improve their live standars (in a social context of extreme poverty and in front of an increasing corporative pressure over the natural resources), we present programs and projects with a solid social context understanding and an updating scientific base, able to contribute significally to change the attitude of land use into a rentable/sustainable one, whose goal consists in gaining the mutual benefits (reciprocity) between the society and its environment in a real way.
- FAR’s commitment with the Amazon is reflected in our actions, executed with environmental and social basis, improved with updated science advances, and developed by the interaction of our strategic alliances (foraign and local actors).
- We measure our progresses by summarizing the products/results of our activities. We believe in the ability to improve these initial advances into Amazonian development models, by reaching the selve sustainability.
- Since the beginning of FAR as a Foundation, its board directors working team found real alternatives to protect the fragil habitats of important "key species" in the Amazon; to save endangered species from extinction; to conservate the water cuality, and the cultural values, by focusing in protecting great extensions of Amazonian territories, assuring its sustainable management and the welfare of the local people involved in the process. In the following lines we present some successful advances in the protection of the biodiversity that FAR and its strategic alliances a able to make real:
- FAR is the responsable institution for the Peruvian government to be in charge of the sustainable management of the ‘Shihuahuaco (Iron Wood tree) Conservation Concession', an area of 500 hectares designated to protect Mauritia Palm swaps and Shihuahuaco forests.
- FAR is responsable, same wise, to be in charge of the sustainable management of the 'Harpy Eagle Reforestation Concession', an area of 1700 hectares with pristine forests and of Brazilian Nut, Ceiba and Shihuahuaco Trees.
- FAR, in alliance with 'Madre Selva Consultores', works to summarize 4 Reforestation Concessions in Las Piedras River into similar management projects, to be able to conserve a total area of 10000 hectares of pristine Amazonian rainforests.
- FAR is assesing/assembling (asesorando) an amazing association of 50 Brazil Nut productors (50000 hectares, producing 250000 kilos of nuts a year) that because of not finding rentability in their activity (the local prizes for the nut are misserable, as well as their live standars), their reality press them even to log their trees and alloud gold miners to contaminate with mercury (attempting with those wildlife sanctuaries), or finding fair trade markets to increase their rentabilities until they become self sustainable to develop their own industries.
- For each working area we have designed projects able to aloud the sustainable development and the local people's welfare when being involved in the process. We suggest you to read the programs and projects in the next pages.
- We believe that in order to obtain permanent changes in the relation society - environment, the inhabitants of the forest should find real benefits (economic and welfare) when being directly involved in the management and management of the biodiversity.
- FAR is integrated by people who live in the Amazon and worked in many different regional activities, as a requirement to understand how to design real alternatives for sustainable development among the Peruvian Amazon realities. From here, we interact in good relationships with the civil society of the city and the field, with local governments and institutions.
Our vision and mission:
Even when it is difficult to revert the Amazonian problematic, the Madre De Dios’ forest present still possibilities to be rescued from the imminent danger of loosing its natural potentials. Madre De Dios is able to become a fountain of biological and cultural diversity for the humanity.
In order to heal the problem since its beginning, FAR and its alliances should be able to promote in the local population the development of ecologically viable economic activities, as alternatives for sustainable land use.
The motor of this vision is that it does exist more people in the field interested in practicing alternative land uses to the traditional one (agriculture of foreign crops that involve forest fires and deforestation), whenever these activities have access to commercial markets (Fair trade markets in preference). This group of people constitute, in our understanding, the strongest colum/pilar to realize this change towards the true sustainable development in the Amazon.
FAR makes a call to all the people, institutions and organizations that work for environmental education, culture, conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development, to interrelate our efforts in order to facilitate wining the tasks to these aims.
FAR’s mission is to contribute to the conservation of the biodiversity, the cultural revalorization and the sustainable development in the Peruvian Amazon, until real changes bring back the environmental health and the social welfare. We believe that uniting our believes into a solid vision of reciprocity among the Amazonian inhabitants, then we would have an important key to share with the hole world, for the benefit of our children's children.
I order to make this 'dream' come true, FAR has designed integral programs and projects able to contribute to this cause, that need to be financed for its development. All the projects of FAR are planned to obtain the self-sustainability as one of their goals.