Camino Verde was established as an NGO in 2007 with the goal of planting trees, and inspiring others to do the same. As an association, our objectives are to protect and understand biodiversity of the Peruvian Amazon; Rescue, protect, and promote the ancestral, cultural wisdom from the Amazon; Develop and promote responsible, sustainable management systems for the region’s natural resources; and to Create viable economic opportunities, especially through the use of non-timber forest products. Indiscriminate deforestation poses a great threat to the tropical biodiversity of the Amazon, and the loss of biodiversity in the Tambopata River Basin is directly related to the decreased ability of farmers to sustain the resources that the forest has to offer. As this occurs, farmers lose interest in maintaining this land, and it (a buffer area for the Tambopata National Reserve) loses the guardians of its primary forest.

Camino Verde was established to create concrete solutions to saving the germplasm of this unique biodiversity, and we have been planting endangered and at-risk tree species in the Tambopata River Basin for the past twenty years. While we hold a private reserve of 100 hectares on the banks of the Tambopata River, the region is still at great threat due to the threat to the farmers that have historically been its guardians. The threat of deforestation pressures and the difficulty of accessing markets for their products has made cultivation difficult for them, lessening their incentive to care for this crucial area. Camino Verde has planted more than 15 thousand trees from about 380 different species, while also forming close relationships with the farmers along the river. Our Reforestation and Sustainable Practices Center has been a center of innovation in agroforestry and reforestation, and, thanks to our experience, we have been able to turn our attention in the last two years to improving the livelihoods of the farmers who care for the forest.

This initiative is possible through the use of non-timber forest products such as essential oils (please see our products page), produced in our reforested agroforestry systems. These essential oils are unique, produced from native forest species from the Peruvian Amazon, using practices with special attention to water and energy use. No trees are harmed through our production, and primary forest is never interfered with. Our practices not only reforest, but regenerate soil in areas previously degraded by destructive agricultural practices.