Since 2001, the Foundation has supported work in its Andes-Amazon Initiative to increase the size, quality, and durability of the protected area systems of the Basin. More than 90 grants have been awarded, totaling more than $180 million, since the Initiative was launched eight years ago.

2008 Highlights

A sampling of grantee accomplishments in the past year includes the following:

• Andes Amazon Initiative grantees supported local governments in the creation of nearly 7 million hectares of new protected areas. Foundation-supported organizations contributing to this achievement include: Instituto Socioambiental, Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental, World Wildlife Fund (ARPA and Headwaters), World Conservation Society, Cofan Survival Fund, Nature and Culture International, Environmental Defense Fund, Patrimo Natural, and the Amazon Conservation Association.
• In 151 different protected areas stretching across more than 97 million hectares, grantees implemented and improved park and resource management. Grantees include: Amazon Conservation Association, Environmental Defense Fund, Fundación para la Sobrevivencia del Pueblo Cofán, Centro de Conservacion, Investigacion y Manejo de Areas Naturales, Fundación Ecuatoriana de Estudios Ecologicos, Fundación Natura, The Field Museum, Fondo de las Americas, Patrimo Natural, Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazonia,  Instituto Socioambiental, Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel do estado do Amazonas, Centro Internacional de la Papa, University of Texas at Austin - Center for Environmental Studies in Latin America, World Conservation Society, American Bird Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund – ARPA, World Wildlife Fund Peru, World Wildlife Fund Bolivia and World Wildlife Fund Brasil.
• The Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazonia, Conservation Strategy Fund, and Bank Information Center together advanced protected area and indigenous territory policy in Surinam and Peru.

• Through capacity building efforts, undergraduate and graduate programs offered a total of 64 additional scholarships, technical schools and universities administered a total of 50 additional fellowships, in-region training programs generated more than 130 new park guards, and one new MS program was implemented while three existing programs were strengthened. Grantees include: Instituto Floresta Tropical,  Instituto del Bien Común,  Amazon Conservation Team, Organization for Tropical Studies, Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil, World Wildlife Fund-Education for Nature Program,  University of Florida, and Universidad de los Andes. 

• Scientists in Brazil, Europe, and the United States—working at the Woods Hole Research Center, Harvard University, Carnegie Institution of Washington, University of Viçosa, University of Oxford, and the University of Arizona—began refining the Initiative’s climate and biodiversity outcomes and underlying assumptions, and improving forest monitoring through a collaborative effort also supported by Google.org, the Packard Foundation, NASA, and the Japanese Space Agency.

Congratulations to all our grantees and their partners on their successes in 2008. Collectively, their contributions have resulted in significant progress towards a durable, healthy, and functioning Amazon Basin, and we thank them for their continued and outstanding efforts.