Instituto Juruá

Instituto Juruá Background

Instituto Juruá is a Brazilian non-profit organisation formed by conservationists, researchers and environmental leaders. Working in close partnership with rural communities and local associations, Instituto Juruá provides technical and financial support for sustainable natural resource management initiatives by rural river communities on the Rio Juruá, an isolated tributary of the Amazon River. In this manner Instituto Juruá helps conserve biodiversity and boost food security, health and sustainable income for indigenous and rural non-indigenous people.

Over 200 rural families have benefitted from their work so far. Though a relatively young organisation, Instituto Juruá members have worked on the Rio Juruá for decades.

Ecological Importance

With methods combining cutting-edge scientific research and traditional local knowledge, perfected through years of research, Instituto Juruá projects are proving that community-based conservation initiatives are powerful tools to recover and maintain populations of several historically overexploited species. There are 55x more endangered giant arapaima fish (Arapaima gigas) and 83x more endangered birds in the lakes that Instituto Juruá helps rural communities to manage. There are 58x more South American River Turtle Nests on the fluvial beaches of the Rio Juruá where Instituto Juruá works with river communities. These incredible statistics are testament to the fantastic work of Instituto Juruá and show the promise and potential that our new partnership holds.

The Partnership

In partnership with Rainforest Concern, Instituto Juruá will expand their operations upriver next year, setting up community-based conservation and sustainable management initiatives with unreached communities. Instituto Juruá team members will train and collaborate with 100 rural community members to protect 20 lakes and 20 fluvial beaches to allow arapaima numbers and giant turtle nests to recover. Community members will be trained how to protect the sites and sustainably harvest a scientifically validated quota from them themselves for profit, the quota set to enable the animal populations to continue rapidly growing.

This project will thereby strengthen and expand protection of fluvial beach and floodplain lake habitats, ensuring the conservation (and improvement) of their biodiversity, whilst capacity building for indigenous people and local communities.

Juruá River, Instituto Juruá/Andre Dib
Jaguars caught on camera trap, Xavier Tobin
National Geographic at Juruá, Instituto Juruá/Andre Dib
Puma caught on camera trap, Xavier Tobin
Sunset, Xavier Tobin
Tamandua caught on camera trap, Xavier Tobin

Written by Xavier Tobin, Rainforest Concern Biologist and Dr João Campos-Silva, Instituto Juruá Co-Founder and Director