Amazon Conservation Team
Arlington, Virginia

The Colombian Amazon is widely regarded as the epicenter of biological and cultural diversity in lowland South America. ACT's Northwest Amazon Program, also called the Instituto de Etnobiología, collaborates with the region's indigenous people on biocultural conservation initiatives that protect both the forests and the cultures that depend on them.ACT works in partnership with local communities to develop integrated programs known as "life plans" (planes de vida). The comprehensive plans address the five fundamental indigenous rights identified in the International Labor Organization's Convention No. 169: identity, participation, territory, autonomy, and autonomous development. The work is carried out both with individual tribes organized in associations or tribal councils and with the larger alliance of the Union of Traditional Healers of the Colombian Amazon.

For more information:
Amazon Conservation Team
4211 N. Fairfax Dr.
Arlington, VA 22203
Phone: 703-522-4684
Fax: 703-522-4464
info@amazonteam.org