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Die Yanomami im Amazonasgebiet

Your Forest. Your Legacy.

The Amazon’s biodiversity sustains life — and needs protection.

While local communities nurture and protect the land, industrial forces close in — lured by the promise of gold, hidden minerals, and the timber towering above.

The forest, alive with centuries of biodiversity and Indigenous wisdom, risks being flattened for profit. Once deforested, the delicate balance collapses — soil washes away, wildlife disappears, waterways are poisoned, and ancestral knowledge is lost.

Ecuador: Where the Battle for Biodiversity Is Being Fought

A forest at the frontline

Forest Ecuador

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse — and threatened — countries on Earth. In the northeast, the Napo Province marks the gateway to the Amazon, where the rainforest meets ancestral Kichwa territory.

This region is a mosaic of lush ecosystems:

  • Primary and secondary forest, wetlands, regenerating lands, and agroforestry plots
  • Over 500 bird species, and 300+ tree species
Map Test Forest Guardians

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse — and threatened — countries on Earth. In the northeast, the Napo Province marks the gateway to the Amazon, where the rainforest meets ancestral Kichwa territory.

This region is a mosaic of lush ecosystems:

  • Primary and secondary forest, wetlands, regenerating lands, and agroforestry plots
  • Over 500 bird species, and 300+ tree species

But it’s also frontline. Illegal mining, deforestation, and roads are closing in — even near protected areas.

Right here, in this tension, lies Sacha Samay Sinchi — 35 hectares of rainforest now being defended and restored by a Kichwa women-led project.

What we defend

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Extreme Biodiversity

A sign of balance, now under threat.

VSF_BLOG_09.25_CANVA_Amazon Rainforest, river, aerial
Water Security

This land hosts springs that flow into the Amazon’s lifeblood.

Sinchi Warmi
Food and Medicine

Fruit, herbs, and native crops grow here, securing sovereignty.

Sinchiwarmi
Dignified Future

The forest sustains a local economy of tourism, education, and harvests — not extraction.

Sinchi kids playing in the forest
Ancestral Wisdom

It’s not just biodiversity — it’s memory, language, and belonging.

Biologists at Sinchi
A Science Lab

Research on carbon and biodiversity marks this forest as vital for Amazon conservation.

Urgent Threat from Gold Mining in the Napo Region

Gold mining in the Amazon destroys big parts of the forest. Deforestation takes away the home to thousands of animals, birds, and plants. The machines and digging tear down trees, while chemicals like mercury poison the rivers, making it hard for fish and other wildlife to survive. Life sustaining water resources get spoiled and don't serve as drinking water any more. Losing its biodiversity, the whole ecosystem becomes weaker.

Gold mining

In the Napo Region of the Ecuadorian Amazon, a mix of events causes additional urgency to act in defense of nature over mining interests. Since 2022, gold prices have surged by more than 80%, fueling a mining boom in Napo Province. One year later, in 2023, concessions were reopened, and new permits for mining, given out by the Ecuadorian government, now overlap with protected forests and Indigenous territories. On top of this, a big portion of mining in the region takes place illegally, often involving heavy machinery and toxic mercury extraction—putting ecosystems, rivers, and local communities at grave risk.

Our Plan

Your contribution helps stop the expansion of gold mining by supporting an alternative model of co-living with the Amazon—where trees, plants, birds, mammals, fish, and people can thrive together, defending the forest frontlines while enabling local communities to shape their lives in harmony with nature.

How we do this

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We bought the forest land so no mining company can take it.

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We joined forces with 24 indigenous guardians who know and care for the forest.

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We transform the land a protected nature reserve, so the law helps keep it safe.

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We give the guardians tools and support to watch over and protect the forest.

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We build nature-friendly jobs (like tourism and agroforestry) so the community can care for the forest forever.

Chose your contribution to Safeguarding the Amazon

Illegal mining is coming. We patrol the land, push for legal protection, study and restore the forest, collect seeds and plant native trees, and keep a close watch on wildlife and rivers. Your support gives us the tools and power to defend this rainforest — step by step. Back the forest. Be a guardian.

Your donation at work

Breaking it down to 10 Euros of support, 3,5 Euro help us to secure land and 6,5 Euro allow us to protect what's in there.

Biodiversity in Sinchi Warmi

Explore the forest you protect

Rainforest Ecuador
Rainforest Ecuador
Rainforest Ecuador

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