Amazon Headwaters: Locals Working Toward the Global offers a new positive paradigm in documentary coverage of the rainforest, shining the spotlight on successful conservation programs in Peru’s upper Amazon basin – led by those closest to the land.

Small groups of residents across the inhabited rainforests of the upper Amazon region are leading cutting-edge programs in research, conservation, education and sustainable economies.

Their stories—in images and testimonials—need to be told.  

The goal: Promote Local Conservationists & Local Benefits

All too often, the stories of local, resident conservationists have not been told and, most importantly, their stories have not been told in their own communities where the need to recruit the next generation into conservations is the greatest.  Local communities have not been adequately included in regional planning and sustainability projects.  Amazon Headwaters will illustrate – through visual testimonials – the tangible contributions of rural Peruvians in the conservation of their rainforests, their resources, their livelihoods, and their futures.

Amazon Headwaters: Using Multimedia for Local Audiences

The Amazon Headwaters project is a conservation photography documentary project focusing on seven stories of “conservation conversions” from the heart of the upper Amazon basin in Peru.

The project photographer, Bruce Farnsworth, is a widely-published independent photographer and zoologist who has worked extensively in the upper Amazon basin.  He will be working in high-resolution digital still photography and HD video platforms.  The true value in Bruce’s work lies in the regional exhibitions and public education campaign that will take place during story photography in Peru.

First and foremost, this exhibition campaign will be developed in order to promote local Peruvian conservation heroes to fellow residents of the region. In the early months of the project, major interpretive exhibits will be established in Lima, Cuzco and Puerto Maldonado.  Puerto Maldonado is capital of Peru’s most biological diverse region, the Madre de Dios sector,  and the key river port giving access to the Peru’s Amazon basin. These exhibits will be hosted by local cooperatives, Peruvian NGO’s working in conservation education and groups such as the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and its Tributaries (Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes or FENAMAD).  Bruce has been in contact with these groups and the Amazon Headwaters project budget includes transportation and lodging costs that will enable community representatives to attend.

How You Can Help

A project of this scope and importance is not possible without friendships, partnerships, and support. In order to do justice to these remarkable stories of conservation that have gone largely unnoticed in traditional media outlets, the Amazon Headwaters project needs your help. Please visit the For Donors page to learn more about how a partnership with the Amazon Headwaters project can benefit both Amazon Headwater’s conservation efforts in Peru and your own work.

Mission Statement of the Blue Earth (Seattle, USA)

A dramatic image can change our perception and alter our understanding of a subject. This idea defines the mission of Blue Earth: to raise awareness about endangered cultures, threatened environments and social concerns through photography. By supporting the power of photographic storytelling, we motivate society to make positive change.

Blue Earth projects are featured in books such as The Living Wild by Art Wolfe, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Subhankar Banerjee, and Life on Earth: A Journey Through Time by Frans Lanting.  Our sponsored projects have been at the forefront of issues affecting contemporary society—John Trotter’s No Agua, No Vida investigates the Southwest’s limited water resources;  Florian Schultz’s Yellowstone to Yukon promotes the unification of animal migration routes and habitats across international borders.