We have been operating in the upper Mamoní River valley, Panama since 2021, and are now confirmed as a community-based organization with MiAmbiente Cultura in Panama. Below, we highlight our portfolio of initiatives on the ground, roughly organized by strategic priority.

Stay tuned for more information about our eco-run “Rugido del Mamoní”, which will take place Sunday February 4, 2024 in Madroño, located in Las Margaritas de Chepo, Panama Este, Panama.

~Direct Conservation~

Direct Payment for Conservation

Last year we launched a payment-for-carbon-sequestration program, in which we pay smallholders $165 for every hectare of secondary rainforest they allowed to grow in the previous year (roughly $15/metric ton CO2 sequestered). This offers an economic incentive for rainforest regrowth in a biodiversity hotspot, promoting a codependent relationship between people and the rainforest they steward. In the program’s first year, one family was compensated for 19 hectares of secondary rainforest they allowed to regrow, which sequestered ~198 metric tons of CO2. Take Action to offset your carbon footprint while supporting local communities living in a biodiversity hotspot.

Caracol Basin Restoration Project

An effort to restore a 1-sq-mile area located in Madroño, Panama, at the narrowest part of one of the Top 25 most biodiverse places in the world. Our global community raised $60,000 to purchase the 76-acre Caracol Basin from our neighbors, the Gonzalez family, who used the proceeds to improve their family home in the area. Geoversity Foundation owns the Caracol Basin, which forms part of the Mamoní Valley Preserve. We steward its regrowth, lead biodiversity data collection, and monitor reforestation in partnership with Redlands University’s Panamapping Project.

~Sustainable Economic Opportunity~

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS Incubator

We identify, cultivate, connect, advocate for and with, and invest in the Mamoní River valley’s entrepreneurs, as individuals and as a cohort, as a way to increase sustainable economic opportunity in this resource-rich, talent-rich but under-resourced valley. We launched our first cohort of artist entrepreneurs in the fall of 2022, and are excited to continue to support them along their entrepreneurial journey!

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

We partner with teachers and parents to bolster local educational opportunity in Madroño. Very specifically, we:

• Run a monthly school-based nature observation program and movie-night in three neighboring communities

• Facilitate a book lending program across the valley with the Bibloteca Nacional de Panama

• Coordinate science group and volunteer visits — with our guests, with visitors to nearby preserves, and with scientists — to local communities and schools

• Fund the Zev Francisco Scholarship for high-achieving students

~Environmental & Sustainability Education~

Finca Ficus

Collaboration with “Finca Ficus,” a privately-funded permaculture farm, as a space of testing and innovation, where our rainforest community can troubleshoot more sustainable agriculture and building practices.

~Enabling Infrastructure~

ConnectING MADRONO

In 2021, we worked with three local communities in the Mamoní River valley to install solar and WiFi in three public locations, with funding from the co-funders and Geoversity. Today, we serve as the liaison between these communities and communications infrastructure owner / Wi-Fi provider; support troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance; and also invest in local capacity for local leaders to manage their communication systems more independently in the future.

EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE

We support effective information sharing / decision-making / coordination in and across the five communities of the Mamoní River valley through a combination of governance activities, including designing and co-facilitating community meetings, advising community leaders, keeping records, and supporting the legalization of governing bodies where appropriate. It is our belief that better organized communities have better access to information and economic opportunity, and that they stand to do better climate change mitigation and adaptation work.