Researching the ecology and sustainable development of rainforest products in benefit of Amazonian communities since 2006
Our research and advocacy branch seeks to further the state of knowledge of economically productive restoration strategies through research and implementation. Toward best practices, we road test replicable models and design the mechanisms to take them to scale.
This program is a collaboration with forest people, other researchers, and institutions to grow our implementation and widely share its results with forest communities, the scientific community, forestry and development practitioners, government agencies and others who may be able to apply our lessons in their work or share our results with others.
What this Program Does
Our research studies key ecological aspects of the species we work with, explores practical ways to restore endangered tree species and degraded landscapes, and helps design best practices to sustainably harvest non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from both wild and cultivated plants. The role of the research is to first develop and test models at a small-scale and later apply and evaluate their results in larger areas with more people and communities.
Through our pioneering research on essential oils in Loreto and Madre de Dios, since 2011 we have created alliances with like-minded organizations and companies to connect well-managed regenerative production to markets that prefer these products.
banner photo thanks to Melanie Kirtland