All eyes on The Amazon
All Eyes on the Amazon has been awarded £300,000in funding from players of People's Postcode Lottery. This funding will save one million hectares of Brazilian Amazon rainforest through an innovative training programme for local forest ranger teams. This will allow them to use drones, smartphones, and satellite-based monitoring systems to collect images, maps, and stories as evidence against deforestation.
Rainforests are crucial for the future of our planet. They provide oxygen, natural cooling and store billions of tonnes of CO2. But the Amazon rainforest and the people living in it are under pressure like never before. The hunt for natural resources such as timber, oil, minerals, and metals plus expanding soy plantations for livestock production are an enormous threat for our planet.
Hivos, together with Greenpeace and a broad coalition of indigenous, environmental and human rights organizations, run and implement the programme All Eyes on the Amazon. Its aim, ultimately, is to halt deforestation in the Amazon.
All Eyes on the Amazon partners take coordinated action to stop the destruction of the rainforest. This includes working with law enforcement, undertaking international lawsuits, and mobilizing the public through global campaigns.
Together, they protect ten million hectares of forest across nine selected areas of Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru. The cooperation with indigenous communities is crucial, and the power of what the organisations do to tackle deforestation lies in their hands.
Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People's Postcode Lottery, said, 'This is a cutting-edge project that makes use of technology to fight deforestation, but also puts the power in the hands of indigenous people. On behalf of the players of People's Postcode Lottery we are delighted to fund this groundbreaking and critical work.'