New Amazon Rainforest conservation project launched

Guest blogger Ellie Cambridge, of NGO Frontier, profiles a new conservation project that takes you to the heart of the Peruvian jungle.

The mighty Amazon rainforest has long been seen as one of the ultimate destinations for adventurers – but with its fragile biodiversity in danger, it needs dedicated teams of conservationists and their volunteers more than ever.

NGO Frontier has launched a new volunteering project – Peru Amazon Rainforest Conservation. By working in a  unique region of the Peruvian Amazon, Frontier and the volunteers work in partnership with leading international universities on the project to carry out research and education, to promote a model for sustainability that could be replicated by other communities throughout South and Central America. And it couldn’t some sooner…

The Amazon Rainforest boasts half of the world’s species of plants, animals and insects, and holds one fifth of the world’s fresh water and produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen. Due to deforestation, the rainforest is losing 137 plant, animals and insect species everyday. This project aims to lead by example and help protect the rainforest as a valuable resource that should be sustainably looked after.

The work – butterfly identification to tree phenology

Volunteers can get involved in several practical tasks and surveys, and take part in community work such as promoting the project’s work, and new sustainable ways to use the rainforest, in local schools. Practical projects may include camera checks, biomass projects, butterfly traps, tree phenology, agroforestry projects and night transects.

Accommodation – a fabulous eco lodge in the heart of the rainforest

Volunteers stay in a fabulous Eco-Lodge which boasts a solar-powered internet connection, an environmentally sound septic system and gravity-fed water pumps; all helping to minimise the centre’s impact on the environment. The lodges consist of six thatched buildings with two single beds in each pod. All food is provided, which includes three meals a day of pancakes, omelettes, fruit, rice, beans, meat, potatoes and cheese. Other food and snacks, if required, can be purchased once a week from a nearby town.

Recommended for… Anyone who wants hands-on conservation work that will help protect a vital and biodiverse rich area of the world; and who wants to see what it’s really like to live and work in the rainforest.

Be aware that… This project means total immersion in the rainforest so volunteers can gain the best possible understanding of conservation, climate change, and poverty. It is for those that want to get stuck in to the conservation effort and do as much as they can to help, and will potentially involve a four day expedition into the rainforest sleeping under the starts if volunteers stay for longer than four weeks.

‘Good’ credentials:

• Base data gathered by volunteers provides the local community with crucial information, helping them grow the local economy, alongside supporting natural resources to protect the environment
  Frontier aims to create international connections linking industries (including agriculture, tourism, timber) to a network of responsible organisations and communities to ensure continued sustainability

For more details, prices and booking visit www.frontier.ac.uk  

About the author: Ellie Cambridge works for Frontier, an NGO dedicated to safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, and building sustainable livelihoods for marginalised communities in the world’s poorest countries. Find out more about Frontier’s volunteer projects, ethical adventure trails and gap year planning

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