Center for Amazon Community Ecology

Mission: The Center for Amazon Community Ecology’s mission is to promote the understanding, conservation, and sustainable development of human and other biological communities in the Amazon region.

Background: The Amazon rainforest has the largest concentration of animal and plant life in the world. It is also home to hundreds of indigenous groups and tens of thousands of other people who make their living in the forest.

The biggest challenge and opportunity for the Amazon is to transform the vision of development that impacts its water, land, plants, animals and people. The current model promotes the production of mass commodities. The new model needs to focus on sustaining diverse human and other biological communities.

One important path to creating a sustainable future for the Amazon is to strengthen its traditional communities. People who have strong cultural identity, secure control of their land, intimate knowledge of their resources, and fair partnerships to develop their local economy will be strong defenders of the rainforest for the benefit of us all.

Programs:

CACE works with 15 native and campesino communities in the northern Peruvian Amazon to develop and market value-added products including handicrafts and essential oils to create sustainable livelihoods, promote forest conservation and improve health and education in their communities.

Our volunteers help us in both the US and Peru to support these programs. Volunteers support research, marketing, community projects with a wide variety of skills including field work, data analysis, photography, videography, graphic design, website design, writing, social media, sales, translation, and accounting. Depending on the project, we work with some volunteers close to our base in central Pennsylvania. Others join us for one to four days at a music festival and some join us for up to two months in the Amazon rainforest.

We look forward to discussing a volunteer opportunity with you that matches our needs and interests. If you have an idea for a volunteer project that you don't see listed, please contact us to discuss it.