Mission

Amigos del Bosque is dedicated to preserving and restoring tropical rainforest and biodiversity in ways that enhance the sustainability and quality-of-life of rural forest-edge communities in the upper Mamoní River valley, a 500-person valley in the Republic of Panama that is among the Top 25 most biodiverse areas in the world.

Theory of change

Our starting point is that local residents of the upper Mamoni River valley want to be good ancestors, keepers of clean water, clean air, and fertile ground, and that nurturing and protecting the area requires the unique understanding that local residents possess.

Further, we believe that effective environmental stewardship requires being sustainably embedded upon the land, and ideally drawing a sustainable livelihood from it. And that “outside” expertise on technical topics like soil conservation, reforestation, watershed management and sustainable development must be conscientiously adapted for relevance with on-site populations, acknowledging special capabilities, constraints, and culture.

While climate change requires urgent action, we understand that this is a long game, and our commitment to it must be the commitment of a lifetime. So. We live, work, celebrate and co-create in Madroño and Mamoní. We seek to harness relevant experience, expertise, and resources for local repurposing.

To that end, we focus both on direct conservation (including payment for carbon sequestration, land purchase, and research & monitoring) and on investment in people and in the community (including sustainable economic opportunity, environmental & sustainability education, and enabling infrastructure). We expect to evolve based on what we see in the valley vis-a-vis rates of deforestation, biodiversity, water and air quality, and the input and feedback we receive from our neighbors.

Values

We are an embedded, community-centric, and collaborative effort to amplify and energize the pre-existing desire to flourish with the land.

Transparency

Amigos del Bosque was registered as a community-based organization (OBC for its acronyms in English) on 14 August 2023, through Resolution DRPE-OBC-229-2023. We were registered with the Public Registry based in San José de Madroño, Las Margaritas, Chepo, Panamá Este on 25 April 2024. For tax purposes, our RUC number is 25056576-3-2024 DV 44. We share our annual reports, including the annual budget, in "RESOURCES".