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. ASOARTESANAS create plush cotton-top tamarins in addition to the eco-bags for the foundation Proyecto Tití, a conservation program that works to study cotton-top tamarins in their tropical forest habitat as well as educate local communities about the need to protect the biodiversity of Colombia. The executive director of Proyecto Tití, Rosamira Guillen, is a 2011 graduate of our annual international course, Economic Tools for Conservation. The funding provided by the prize will be used to grow their small business and improve their skills so that they can expand their product offerings to new markets.

To read more about ASOARTESANAS and their recent success, click the link below: http://www.proyectotiti.com/assets/pdf/titi%20tidbits/English/Tidbits-J…

To find out more about Proyecto Tití and the important work they are doing to protect cotton-top tamarins in Colombia, click below:
http://www.proyectotiti.com/

Image courtesy of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service