Partners

Community Partners

Ampiyacu River

We support artisan development in nine Bora, Huitoto, Ocaina and Yagua native communities in the Ampiyacu watershed in cooperation with the FECONA native federation. They make the widest diversity of crafts of all of our partners. Our project base in the area since 2009 has been the Bora village of Brillo Nuevo where we also did sustainable harvest studies on copal resin and cooperated with our NGO partner Camino Verde to plant, harvest and transform rosewood leaves and branches into essential oil.
Bora artisan from Brillo Nuevo with woven trivet. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Amazon Ecology

Marañon River

We began working with artisans from the campesino village of San Francisco and Cocama native village of Amazonas in 2015.  They excel at making a wide variety of woven birds and other animal ornaments. We now work with several other villages in the area and regularly host artisan and communication workshops near Nauta with our NGO partner Minga Peru.
Artisan Edson from San Francisco with woven birds. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Amazon Ecology

Tahuayo River

We have worked with artisans in the campesino village of Chino on the Tahuayo River since 2008.  These artisans have led the way in forming an effective association, sustainably managing their chambira palm resources, selling their baskets and and other crafts to tourists and wholesale buyers, and responsibly using social support funds from Amazon Ecology to improve education and conservation in their community.
Chino artisan with chambira basket. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Amazon Ecology

Ucayali River

We studied the ecology and sustainable harvest of copal resin at the Jenaro Herrera field station operated by Institute for Investigations of the Peruvian Amazon (IIAP) from 2006 to 2018.  Since 2007, we have also worked with a small but very talented group of artisans who have perfected their woven butterfly and other insect ornaments.  Their leader helps us train other artisans in many other communities. 
Jenaro Herrera artisans and woven butterflies. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Amazon Ecology

Napo River

We have worked with three Maijuna native communities in the region on an intermittent basis since 2009 to explore the commercial feasibility of copal resin harvest. We are now focused on building Maijuna artisan capacity to make woven animal ornaments in cooperation with our NGO partner OnePlanet and native federation FECONAMAI.
Maijuna artisans from Sucusari at Amazon Ecology workshop. Photo by Tulio Davila/Amazon Ecology

Funding Partners

New England Biolabs Foundation

Rufford Small Grant Foundation

Melza M and Frank Theodore Barr Foundation

Alternatives to Violence Project International

Sisters of Mercy - Caribbean, Central America, and South America

Creative Action Institute

 

Carmen from Sisters of Mercy at AVP workshop in Brillo Nuevo.  Photo by Campbell Plowden/Amazon Ecology