In April I had the unique opportunity to facilitate a one-week scenario-building workshop on the beautiful island of Yap in the Western Pacific. Yap is one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and lies in the far western part of the Pacific Ocean, close to Guam and Palau. We were invited by the Yap State Chamber of Commerce, who is working to guide and support Yap’s development amidst a sea of uncertainty and change. One of the Chamber’s members, Berna Gorong, attended our Economic Tools for Conservation in Micronesia in Pohnpei in March of 2012.

I am pleased to write an update on the activities and conservation initiatives that I have been working on after attending Conservation Strategy Fund’s 2012 course, Economic Tools for Conservation, in Stanford, CA.

February was a month of non-stop travel for me. Having just started working with CSF I got shipped off on a whirlwind tour of Micronesia and Bali. Not a bad start I suppose!

Under the second phase of the Initiative for Conservation in the Andean Amazon (ICAA) of the United States Agency for International Development and in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Society, CSF is moving forward with the creation of three sustainable business plans for the indigenous Tacana community. The community, located in Bolivia's Amazon region north of La Paz, is home to approximately 5,000 people. Their land is known in Spanish as a Tierra Comunitaria de Origen, and is similar to a Native American reserve in the U.S., designated as a permanent home for the Tacanas to continue their traditions. It is located on the banks of the Beni River in the village of San Miguel del Bala.

Começou movimentado o segundo ano do Projeto Consevação da Biodiversidade em Terras Públicas na Amazônia! Entre 22 de outubro e 04 de novembro ocorreu a segunda visita técnica para o desenvolvimento dos planos de negócios em terras indígenas, relacionados à comercialização da castanha-do-brasil, açaí e do peixe pirarucu. Além disso, foi concluído o levantamento de dados sobre a produção castanheira das famílias indígenas Apurinã. Foram visitadas Associações e Organizações nos municípios de Cacoal, Humaitá e Lábrea como também a Terra Indígena Caititu. Para maiores informações sobre o projeto acesse nossa página sobre Projetos.

ASOARTESANAS, a cooperative of women that collect and prepare plastic bags to be crocheted into eco-bags, were recognized at Rio+20 in June with the Equator Prize by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). ASOARTESANAS was one of the 25 selected out of 800 applicants to receive this $5,000 prize, as well as one of 10 who received an additional $20,000 special recognition award at the conference on sustainable development.