Acaté Amazon Conservation is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 by physician-ethnobotanist Christopher Herndon, M.D. and sustainable agriculturist William Park. Acaté Amazon Conservation works with the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon to help protect the Amazon rainforest while providing the indigenous people economic opportunities. Notable initiatives include permaculture methods for sustainable agriculture, generating income through renewable non-timber resources as well as preservation of

traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Organ ...

and culture.

Three Pillars of Acaté

Working directly with the Matsés people, one of the largest indigenous populations in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, Acaté Amazon Conservation is implementing strategic programs that provide much needed revenue without destroying their land and chosen way of life.

Sustainable Economy

Acaté has developed alternative approaches for viable long-term generation of revenue for Matsés communities that provides alternatives for unsustainable and destructive activities. These include the sustainable harvest and marketing of non-timber forest products with medicinal or cosmetic value, such as

copaiba Copaiba is a stimulant oleoresin obtained from the trunk of several pinnate-leaved South American leguminous trees (genus '' Copaifera''). The thick, transparent exudate varies in color from light gold to dark brown, depending on the ratio of re ...

and

sangre de grado ''Croton lechleri'' is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, that is native to northwestern South America. It is commonly known as ''sangre de grado'' (Peruvian Spanish), ''sangre de drago'' (Ecuadorian Spanish) or '' ...

Indigenous Medicine

Acaté Amazon Conservation seeks to maintain self-sufficiency of health care through the promotion of traditional systems of medicine. Acaté provides programmatic support for elder tribal shamans to teach and impart the knowledge of the rainforest to younger generations of Matsés and has successfully completed the first medicinal encyclopedia in the

Matsés language Matsés, also referred to as Mayoruna in Brazil, is an Indigenous language utilized by the inhabitants of the border regions of Brazil-Peru. A term that hailed from Quechua origin, Mayoruna translates in English to mayu = river; runa = people. Co ...

, documenting and thus preserving the use of medicinal plants for the benefit of future generations.

Permaculture Methods for Sustainable Agriculture

Acaté is working with traditional Matsés tribes to build sustainable and resilient living systems that provide food staples for their communities. Acaté is implementing projects with the communities to apply concepts of

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

, the goal being to adapt the Matsés farming practices around their fixed settlements to more sustainable methods thereby increasing the local biodiversity.

History

Etymology

Acaté Amazon Conservation is named after the indigenous term for the giant monkey tree frog, 'Acaté', scientific name ''

Phyllomedusa bicolor ''Phyllomedusa bicolor'', the giant leaf frog, bicolor tree-frog, giant monkey frog, or waxy-monkey treefrog, is a species of leaf frog. It can be found in the Amazon basin of Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, and can also be found in the Gu ...

'' used ceremonially by the

Matsés people The Matsés or Mayoruna are an indigenous people of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon. Their traditional homelands are located between the Javari and Galvez rivers. The Matsés have long guarded their lands from other indigenous tribes and stru ...

Peruvian Amazon Peruvian Amazonia ( es, Amazonía del Perú) is the area of the Amazon rainforest included within the country of Peru, from east of the Andes to the borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. This region comprises 60% of the country ...

. The skin secretions of the Acaté frog have been shown to contain powerful

antimicrobial An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...

and

angiostatic An angiogenesis inhibitor is a substance that inhibits the growth of new blood vessels ( angiogenesis). Some angiogenesis inhibitors are endogenous and a normal part of the body's control and others are obtained exogenously through pharmaceutical d ...

properties.

References

External links

* http://acateamazon.org * http://acateamazon.org/acate/our-team * https://www.facebook.com/acateamazon?fref=ts {{DEFAULTSORT:Acate Amazon Conservation Environmental organisations based in Peru Non-profit organisations based in Peru