Project Amazonas

A non-political, non-sectarian NGO working since 1994 to serve the people of the Amazon and conserve the rainforest.

Each minute the Amazon River discharges 3.4 million gallons of water into the Atlantic, 14 times the discharge of the Mississippi.

More than 2,000 tropical forest plants have been identified as having anti-cancer properties. Most of these have yet to be clinically tested, however.

Before European contact in 1542, it is estimated that as many as 10 million people lived in the Amazon. Today there are less than 200,000 indigenous people. Almost one hundred distinct tribes have disappeared since the early 1900’s due to introduced diseases, persecution, and assimiliation.

A typical four square mile patch of rainforest may contain as many as 1,500 flowering plant species, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies.

Rainforests act as a planetary thermostat by regulating and moderating temperatures and weather patterns. By absorbing carbon and sequestering CO2, rainforest help slow global climate change.

One in five of all bird species in the world can be found in the Amazon Basin. At our four field stations in the Peruvian Amazon, over 550 species of birds have been recorded!

Although rainforests cover less than 2% of the Earth's surface area, they are home to 50% of the Earth's plant and animal species.

Although about 25% of all drugs are derived from rainforest ingredients, scientists have only examined the medicinal properties of around 1% of tropical plants.

During the rainy season the Amazon River overflows its banks and can extend into the forest for a width of 25 miles in some places. Where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon is over 200 miles wide!

The Amazon covers 2.5 million miles, about the size of the USA west of the Mississippi.

Featured Solution & Their Sponsors

Equip a village health promoter with a basic medical kit

Villagers in the rural Amazon rely on the services of a member of their community to provide immediate basic medical care. All communities have a designated health promoter. This unpaid individual has the responsibility of keeping tabs on the health of the community and treating health problems when possible.

All too often, however, these dedicated individuals have nothing to work with other than ingenuity and persistence. $50 will fund a two day training seminar for a health promoter.

Lend A Hand

Help Deliver a Baby

Float the Boat

Hire a Caretaker

Brush Children's Teeth

Nurture a nurse

Recent News

Students for Environmental Action aid the Amazon

The "Students for Environmental Action" (SEA) club at the University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA), recently raised funds to help further the construction of a steel-hull medical boat in the Amazon.

Project Amazonas frogs featured on 2010 calendar!

A 2010 Amazing Frogs calendar by photographer Michael Turco features some of the frogs of the Project Amazonas field stations.