Why should we care about the health of rainforest communities in Panama’s Mamoní River valley? We believe that climate change mitigation and adaptation must involve quality community-based initiatives, particularly in forested areas and biodiversity hotspots. We intend Amigos del Bosque to have an outsized impact on biodiversity given its focus on tropical rainforest and biodiversity at the narrowest part of the Mesoamericana biological corridor.

Why start something new? Amigos del Bosque is a direct response to repeated requests from our neighbors in the communities of Madroño and Mamoní (in the Mamoní River valley) to start an independent organization that focuses on the community-based conservation work in which we are already engaged. It fills a critical gap in the region's conservation ecosystem, namely, systematic focus on the wellbeing of people and forest-edge communities as a critical element in conservation, leveraging and cultivating the values and resources that those communities and their leaders bring to the table. We are working on obtaining nonprofit status in Panama. We operate in collaboration with existing conservation organizations and all other parties interested in the wellbeing of the valley and its people. We also have a local advisory committee that is guiding our work.

Do you focus on indigenous people? The Mamoní River valley lies at the crossroads between three cultures: the Guna indigenous peoples to the north (Gunayala), campesino communities within the valley, and national and international scientists and visitors to the Cocobolo Nature Preserve and the Mamoni Valley Preserve. As such, we involve indigenous peoples, and particularly Guna forest rangers, in our initiatives where appropriate. However, most of our interventions focus specifically on the campesinos who own and operate land within the valley.

How are you funding this work? After the accidental death of the cofounders’ son Zev Francisco in 2021 we received donations totaling $16,694 for our work in the community. Our global network of over 600 engaged followers provides opportunities for further donations, and we will seek small scale grants for specific opportunities still to be determined. 

What am I donating to? All funding goes toward programming (including direct payment for conservation, scholarships, capacity building, honorariums to partners on the ground, and transportation). The founders volunteer their time to run the organization. Our year-end reports will detail exactly where funding has been allocated.

How did you select your strategic priorities? The design of the organization is informed by two of the cofounders' experience facilitating community organizing efforts in the valley since 2020, including through Fulbright-funded conservation research and a European Union EUROCLIMA+ project. Funding priorities and opportunities are annually assessed by our advisors, including local leaders, for consistency with our mission and alignment with community needs. We also gather regular input from communities themselves at community meetings, some of which we help to organize.

When was the Mamoní River valley’s rainforest cut down? In the 1960s, the Panamanian homesteading act, which gave land to anyone who could prove to be “using it” by cutting down the forest for cattle, agriculture, timber, etc. led to deforestation. The construction of a road for a temporary military training camp in the 1980s accelerated deforestation for cattle ranching and paved the way for illegal logging. At the turn of the century, the establishment of the Mamoni Valley Preserve slowed deforestation through the purchase of primary rainforest and strategic parcels of cattle pasture that prevented the consolidation of small ranches by large ranching corporations.