Empowering former loggers and miners to become defenders of the Amazon

Poaching and habitat destruction is not a clear-cut issue with definable heroes and villains. Many who hunt animals or chop down trees turn to this out of necessity, driven by poverty and inequality. While completing his Environmental Studies degree, Paul Rosolie travelled to Peru in the western Amazon. In this time, he not only fell in love with the rainforest, but realised the plight of locals being forced to destroy their own homes for survival. Ever since, Rosolie has been working to protect the Madre de Dios region by uplifting communities.

The Amazon is the largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world and is threatened by logging, mining, and urbanisation. “To me, these ancient forests are irreplaceable,” Rosolie says. He started the organisation Junglekeepers to advocate for the preservation of rainforest habitats through the involvement of local communities and indigenous people in the Las Piedras corridor. “We’re taking loggers and gold miners and instead of trying to fight them or persecute them, we’re offering them better jobs in ecotourism or conservation as rangers,” Rosolie says. Given the opportunity to find other sources of income, locals are empowered to protect the rainforest. “From the beginning, all of our efforts have been led by the indigenous people that we learn from,” Rosolie says. The communities of the rainforest know and depend on the ecosystems, and for many of them it is their livelihood. Through the Junglekeepers Rangers Programme, they conduct tours of the Amazon from their perspective and share their knowledge of the forest.

Saving the Amazon is essential to preserving our planet and slowing down climate change. The forest is one of the most important carbon sinks, and holds 10% of the world’s known species. Working with communities to defend this ecosystem, Rosolie is ensuring he’s part of the solution to environmental degradation. “We all depend on the Amazon rainforest, so when we protect a single acre of forest we’re protecting millions and millions of animals,” he says.