Conservation
We focus our efforts where Indigenous stewardship, biodiversity, and policy converge — protecting what works and regenerating what has been damaged.
Amazon Research Internacional
Where science meets the rainforest.
We regenerate fragile Amazonian biodiversity, ecosystems, and cultural heritage by uniting traditional knowledge with modern science — through conservation, research, policy, and empowerment of native communities and leaders.
As featured in
Why we exist
The Amazon is at a tipping point.
Rapid destruction outpaces the work being done to repair it. ARI was founded in Peru to close that gap — pairing modern science with the traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities, and turning research into conservation, policy, and livelihoods that hold across generations.
2025 Law 32235 enacted
4 Programs in the field
25 + Indigenous communities
22M + Bees protected
Programs
Four programs, one Amazon Rainforest
ARI's work is organised across four active programs. Right now, donations go directly to the Stingless Bees program.
Stingless Bees
Safeguarding Amazonian stingless bees through species mapping, honey analysis, female-led beekeeping, and Indigenous-led conservation and regeneration
Rights of Nature
Using science and Indigenous advocacy to recognise rights for ecosystems and species — from legal protections for stingless bees to emerging Rights of Nature frameworks across the Amazon and globally
Medicinal Gardens
Community medicinal gardens that combine traditional ecological knowledge with modern science to restore degraded land and support the first pharmacopeia in Indigenous languages
EDGE Species
Field studies and habitat protection for Evolutionarily Distinct, Globally Endangered species in the Peruvian Amazon — co-led with Ashaninka park rangers and university partners
How we work
Four practices in every program.
Conservation, science, outreach, and storytelling sit at the same table. Each program uses all four — never one without the others.
Science
We design our studies with the people who live in the forest. Modern science and traditional knowledge are integrated through Indigenous co-authorship and collaborative research
Outreach
We invest in women, youth, Indigenous leaders and scientists — building local capacity and bioeconomies that make conservation viable
Storytelling
We collaborate with photographers, filmmakers, and writers to tell the story of the Amazon truthfully and at scale.
In the press
Reported around the world.
- The New York Times · Cover · 2024
The cover story on stingless bees and the Peruvian Amazon.
Read the article - National Geographic Magazine
Stingless bees produce a medicinal honey known locally as the 'miracle liquid'.
Read the article - The Guardian · 2025
Stingless bees from the Amazon granted legal rights in world first.
Read the article - CNN · 2025
Video news on stingless bees and the Peruvian Amazon.
Read the article
Without modern science together with indigenous traditional knowledge, there is no biodiversity.
— Richar Demetrio · Ashaninka scientist and park ranger
Without native bees, there is no Amazon.
— Apu César Ramos · President of EcoAshaninka
Support the work
No contribution is too small.
Help safeguard the Amazon's under-appreciated organisms, the ecosystems they hold up, and the communities that live alongside them. Your gift goes directly to fieldwork, capacity programs, and Indigenous-led research.
Donations are processed in Peru. For US tax-deductible giving via our 501(c)(3) fiscal partner, write to amazon.ri.ong@gmail.com.
Field letters · quarterly
Letters from the field.
Notes from the field, scientific findings, voices from the communities. No urgency, no hard sell — once a quarter.