What real actions can we do to help save the Amazon?

What should we know in order to make a difference?

The Special Amazon is a series of posts, that we have first explained the Brazilian Amazon in numbers, pointing out that we cannot ignore our responsibility over the largest rainforest in the World and continued explaining about the 7 main threats to the Amazon and which are the industries behind its deforestation. Then we brought out some examples and experiences about serious projects and NGOs that struggle to keep their projects running for the children´s education and generating local jobs in remote areas.  

In this post, we raise 3 real actions that are within our capabilities to start helping and caring for the Amazon today! But be sure to read the previous posts to better understand the importance of the actions outlined below.

– Buy products and crafts from the communities. There are several foods and handicrafts that are produced and generates jobs and income in remote regions of the Amazon. Supporting the purchase of these products is critical so that families do not have to work in illegal activities. Some examples are the Baniwa indigenous pepper, Yanomami mushrooms, Nakau-branded chocolates that bring together organic cocoa producers, Unini River brazilian nuts from the communities of the Jaú National Park, the rubber tree latex crafts from the communities of Tapajós River and biojewels and objects made with native wood, among many other quality products that need your support to offer conditions of economic sustainability and cultural appreciation of the Amazon communities.

– Support serious projects and NGOs that address causes you believe in. As the examples mentioned, the VivAmazônia School, which acts directly in the education of riverside children and the Almerinda Malaquias Foundation, which works in the environmental education of children and by creating jobs for adults with handicrafts, are supported by the Mirante do Gavião Amazon Lodge, in Novo Airão, 180km from Manaus. But there are many other serious projects that are conducted in the Amazon that need donations to keep changing lifes.

Travel to the Amazon! Gather your family and friends, make an unforgettable boat expedition. Know the local reality and contribute to the generation of jobs and income that tourism provides. According to Professor Ralf Buckley, from Griffith University, Australia, author of several books on ecotourism in the world, “tourism does not yet have the economic scale or political power to replace mass deforestation, which is the reason for the fires in the Amazon. But, once established, tourism is much larger than the timber extraction, agriculture or mining industry in terms of economic scale and job creation. ” Tourism drives a series of direct and indirect activities that generate various jobs, from transportation, hospitality, restaurants, to native guides and receiving visitors in the communities. When you travel to the Amazon, you contribute to each family that depends on this income and come back full of stories about this special place on our planet!

So when you ask yourself what can you do to help save the world’s largest rainforest, so that it continues to play its part in climate regulation on our planet and so that more and more researchers can find answers and scientific knowledge, keep in mind these three actions for the creation of jobs in the communities, bringing better living conditions and alternatives to the illegal jobs that are always knocking at the door of the young people from the Amazon.