Hi, I'm Wildlife Ecologist Craig Downer, and I'm reaching out to you to support the Andean Tapir Fund, an organization dedicated to preserving the unique members of the Horse, Tapir, and Rhino families. These remarkable animals play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, yet they face increasing threats in the wild.

Here is the current urgent project which I am collaborating on with my Shipibo native, fellow conservationist Samuel Cauper Pinedo from Pulcallpa, Ucayali, Peru. I have known and worked with him since the mid 1990's and he is a true leader of his community and dedicated nature conservationist.

The conservation area we aim to preserve is home to the Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris) who lives among many other species struggling to survive against the mounting pressures of people whose aim is to maximally exploit but consequently destroy the wonderful, life-preserving forests and rivers found here.

Here's the project description as interpreted from the Spanish:

Hello! My name is Samuel Cauper Pinedo, a biologist, conservationist and leader in my community and nature conservation area. I seek to gather funds to support several Shipibo-Conibo native communities in their programs defending their ancestral rights to maintain the 135,700 hectare (335,315 acres) Regional Conservation Area of IMIRIA (ACR-IMIRIA) in Ucayali in the eastern, Amazonian Ucayali state. They depend upon this nature reserve remaining protected and intact as a naturally balanced and biodiverse ecosystem.

Donated funds will be used for the legal defense of our communities and nature reserve and will include the mobilization of a protest campaign before the Ucayali Regional Government as well as the national Peruvian government where warranted. These funds will be used for transportation costs, particularly by river boats and for the publication of education materials stating our case, listing our legal rights, and explaining the critical importance of preserving the natural Amazonian forest and river ecosystems, including its Lowland Tapirs. These are of critical importance, not only to Peru but to the rest of the world.

A portion of the funds would go towards meeting basic necessities, such as food and lodging where necessary, as when in towns and cities giving presentations and attending meetings. We will emphasize Conservation Justice for Native Peoples in order to resist having our ancestral homelands, including all its biodiverse forests and rivers, being mindlessly exploited for lumber, minerals, fish, ill-suited crops, livestock, etc.

We will deliver our message by various media: radio, television, newspapers, magazines, etc., and also give public talks in rural communities as well as major towns and cities. We will make a public appeal for social assistance for the benefit of our indigenous communities so that they may preserve ancient knowledge, language, wisdom, and lifestyles that concern how to live respectfully and harmoniously with the diverse plants and animals of the interlinked forests and rivers here.

Our campaign will emphasize the strengthening of protection for the extraordinary biodiversity (great variety of species) within the ACR-IMIRIA conservation area. In order to accomplish this, we will offer well-founded and researched knowledge divulgence and practical training to many citizens of Ucayali both in and around the conservation area and further abroad where required. Involved participants will learn about the importance of all the various species found here. This will concern their unique roles in the life community, or ecosystem. They will also learn about the legal basis for the protection of these naturally occurring species as well as for the Native inhabitants of this fabulous, species-rich area.

These are principally the Shipibo as well as the Conibo peoples who possess their own language, which will likewise be preserved by our program, including through the cataloging of diverse species and their ecological importance as well as moderate and humane use to humans.

Our program aims to improve the co-administation and co-management of IMIRIA through dialog and open public meetings and discussions, including questions and comments from the audience. This will allow us to quiet down and overcome conflicts. This will permit us to construct a society based on integrated conservation, harmonizing Nature and Humanity, and integrating all inhabitants of this fabulous region with a higher vision for society involving our human identification with this unique and special place and willingness to treat all its inhabitants respectfully and with mutual cooperation, whether they be plants, animals, or fellow humans of diverse ethnic ancestries.

In our program, we will strongly stress overcoming mounting Global Warming/Heating/Climate Change by emphasizing the critical importance of the Amazonian rainforests and rivers in averting disaster, not only for this area but for all the world! Achieving Climate Stabilization and Justice for All Sectors of Peruvian Society including Native Amazonians will be a paramount goal for our co-governing program. It will aim to neutralize negative environmental, ecological, and social impacts with special emphasis for those people who live in and around the Regional Conservation Area of IMIRIA.

We will make regular monthly reports of our progress for all supporters so that they can judge our progress and, hopefully, consider continuing their support in as much as it is justified. And they are also most welcome to give us feedback and even, hopefully, to come visit and participate in this crucial nature conservation program.