por THE BAJA POST
NEWSROOM
SOURCE: PR MEDIA
Age of Union Alliance, led by tech leader and environmental activist Dax Dasilva, is proud to announce a USD $3.5 million pledge to Junglekeepers over five years. As one of the alliance’s first environmental NGO partners, Junglekeepers works to protect the Las Piedras River located in the Peruvian «capital of biodiversity» Madre de Dios in southeastern Peru. As part of the Amazon Basin, this area hosts a pristine rainforest with some of the world’s most rich and complex biodiverse ecosystems. This will expand Age of Union’s 2021 investment of $625,000 and allow Junglekeepers to create a protected corridor along the river in partnership with other local conservationists and indigenous communities.
Surrounded by three protected national parks and an indigenous reserve, the Lower Las Piedras region is an area of pristine primary rainforest, inhabited by an abundance of rare wildlife and plants, including Shihuahuaco trees dating back over 1,000 years, growing as tall as 50 metres, and home to hundreds of important species such as Macaws. Meanwhile, the region has been under increasing threat of deforestation, with these ancient trees highly sought after by the timber industry. Exacerbated by the region’s proximity to the Interoceanic Highway – a highway created in the early 2000s to further enable extractive ventures such as logging, mining and industrial agriculture – damage in the area has escalated dramatically, severely threatening the health of the rainforest and its wildlife.
Described as the «lungs of the earth», the Amazon rainforest is estimated to produce over 20 per cent of the earth’s oxygen. Without this conservation work, destruction could escalate further, resulting in global impacts on climate change and weather patterns, loss of biodiversity, destruction of indigenous culture, and many more devastating consequences.
«With this announcement, Age of Union will give Junglekeepers the means to oversee and execute joint conservation efforts with local conservationists along the Las Piedras River, sharing the mission to protect an area of global significance,» says Dax Dasilva, Founder of Age of Union Alliance. «As the world’s largest carbon sink, the Amazon rainforest plays an important role in the continued fight against climate change, and we have a responsibility to protect this ecosystem for the future of our planet.»
How Jungleekeepers will Use Age of Union’s Funds:
- Securing Land Concessions: Secure the rights to land concessions and protect the rainforest for future generations.
- Expanded Ranger Program: Develop and expand ranger program infrastructure to support patrol of the additional concessions secured.
- Partnerships with Indigenous Communities: Expand and co-create supportive partnerships with indigenous communities such as Puerto Nuevo and Monte Salvado along the Las Piedras River as the rightful stewards of the land. Junglekeepers will give them the tools they need to fight for their land and gain titles to concessions.
- Regeneration: Revive damaged land (flora and fauna) through reforestation, cultivation of native flora for sustainable cooking, animal conservation, and more.
- Animal Rescue: Mitigate the negative impacts of industry forces on wildlife in the western Amazon by supporting Amazon Shelter, an animal rescue and shelter organization.
- Sustainability Programs: Create programs such as indigenous community-focused food programs that contribute to the overall sustainability of the corridor and neutralize threats/unsustainable activity. This food program «Cocinando y Conservando» will be led by Roy Riquelme, a local chef from the Madre de Dios region of the Amazon.
«Age of Union has played an invaluable role in advancing the work we do here at Junglekeepers,» says Dina Tsouluhas, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Junglekeepers. «With Age of Union’s funding over the next five years, we will be able to permanently create a protected corridor along the Las Piedras River working with indigenous communities and local conservationists. Their incomparable wisdom and knowledge of the rainforest ecosystems will help shape our action plans as we bring new life to the most rich and biodiverse ecosystem in the world.»
2023 will mark year two of an extended five-year commitment between Age of Union and Junglekeepers, which originally spring-boarded Junglekeeper’s land protection strategy to conserve close to 50,000 acres of primary Amazon rainforest in 2022. With Age of Union’s latest donation, Junglekeepers is one step closer to their long-term goal of protecting up to 200,000 acres of land.
