A long-term partnership that will strengthen the local management, protect biodiversity and address the drivers of deforestation in Bolivia and Peru, for the benefit of people and the weather
La Paz, Bolivia – April 22, 2026.- With the Andes mountains as a stunning backdrop, was launched in the city of La Paz, an ambitious program for the conservation of forests. During the next four years, the initiative will be implemented in ecoregions key of Bolivia and Peru, supporting the protection and sustainable management of areas critical to local communities, biodiversity and the global climate.
The program, called Forest4Life Partnership Programme, is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, through CISU, and is implemented in partnership with the peruvian organization Conservation of the Amazon – ACCA, the bolivian organizations, Foundation for the Preservation of the Chiquitano (FCBC), and Conservation of Amazon – ACEAA, and the Danish NGO Aktion Amazon.
The initiative aims to strengthen the capacities of local actors with an emphasis on indigenous peoples to protect the ecosystems and sustainably manage natural resources. It is conceived as a multiphase program, in which each stage is based on the results obtained previously and allowed its progressive expansion in time.
The focus of the program is structured around three priorities are interconnected: the strengthening of sustainable livelihoods from bioeconomías; the strengthening of the conservation in the territory through the community-based monitoring, spatial planning and the prevention and management of forest fires; as well as the strengthening of local actors in the decision making processes to environmental consensus. A central element of the program is the strengthening of the connectivity ecosystem between these spaces, contributing to the conservation of biodiversity, facilitating the movement of species and helping to maintain ecosystem functions critical.
SAFCA: an international alliance to strengthen the conservation
The program is part of the regional alliance SAFCA (South American Forest Conservation Alliance), which is articulated to partner organizations to advance the conservation of forests in the long term in South America. Through coordinated actions and cross-border, the alliance works to protect and connect some of the world's most important ecosystems in the mid-western region of the continent.
“We are in the midst of a global crisis of the nature and climate that demands much more than isolated interventions. This program is a concrete example of how the alliances of the long term and the management of natural resources led to the local level can address the structural causes of deforestation and generate lasting solutions and cross-border”.
— Toke Nyborg, Director, Aktion Amazon
“The program Forest4Life, complements actions for the management and conservation of natural resources, strengthen capacities of local actors in the landscape of the 5 territorial units in the bolivian Amazon that include indigenous territories and protected areas are focused on the integrated management of the amazon rainforest. This program, and the alliance that backs it up, looking to expand and scale local solutions to address threats to regional and global, generating schemes resilient in the crisis scenario in local, regional, and global.”
— Marcos Teran Valenzuela, Executive Director, Conservation of the Amazon – ACEAA
“We are very happy with the start of the program Forest4Life which will allow us to strengthen the capacities of 14 indigenous communities and associations castañeras, cocoa and aguaje in the amazon region of Madre de Dios. This effort programmatic in the framework of our partnership SAFCA, mark a new way of working for long-term, generate sustainable livelihoods, particularly key in this scenario geopolitical complex, where the instability in our country is the new stability, and precisely for this reason we have to be prepared and committed.”
— Maria Elena Gutierrez, Executive Director, Conservation of the Amazon – ACCA
“Although the Chiquitano Forest suffered in recent years, unprecedented damage by forest fires, the pressure of the deforestation is not stopped. It is a priority to use every means available to ensure the protection of the forest. This alliance, the forests is an urgent necessity because it is impossible to face alone the scale of the threat.”
— Javier Coimbra, Responsible for the Program of Utilization of Forest Resources, Foundation for the Preservation of the Chiquitano (FCBC)
This program represents a shift of focus from interventions from short-term to an approximation of conservation of long-range, phased and systemic in nature, designed to generate lasting impacts on forests, communities and the climate.
For more information, please contact:
Toke Nyborg
Director, Aktion Amazon
Tel: +45 61 33 91 61
Carla Zavala
The head of communications and corporate image, Conservation of the Amazon – ACCA
Tel: +51 962 794 960
Natalia Gil Ostria
Coordinator of Strategic Communication, Conservation of the Amazon ACEAA
Tel: +45 61 33 91 61