Tatiana Espinosa, who works as a conservationist deep in the Madre de Dios rainforest, has been awarded the 2019 Jane Goodall Hope and Inspiration Ranger Award. The annual award is presented every year by Jane Goodall on behalf of The Thin Green Line Foundation to an individual who, against all odds, has carried out a conservation related act that inspires and brings hope to others.
For the past 15 years, Espinosa, a forestry engineer, has been working on 916 hectares deep in the southeast rainforest, carrying out research on trees endangered by illegal logging and also monitoring wildlife. The land, a concession held by Espinosa’s non-profit foundation, Arbio Peru, is a five-hour boat ride along the Las Piedras River from the port of Sabaluyoc, an hour’s drive on the Interoceanic Highway from Puerto Maldonado.
It was the Interoceanic Highway that triggered Espinosa’s work. Data from Brazil shows that within 20 years after roads like this are built, the forests are degraded up to 50 km inland on both sides of the road, stripped to make way for logging, extensive monocultures and grazing land for cattle. The Arbio Peru concession is 20 km from the highway as the crow flies.
Espinosa, who has a master’s degree in tropical forest management from Costa Rica, is not alone in this venture. She founded the organizaion with her sisters, Rocio, who manages the organization from Lima, and Gianella, photographer and website manager, and works closely with Emerito Ruiz, an expert river navigator who has an extensive knowledge of forest plants and Amazonian medicine. Her team also includes fellow researchers and field workers, involving the local communities. Arbio Peru’s fund-raising includes a model widely used in Costa Rica, which invites donors to adopt a tree or a hectare of land within the concession. There are also facilities for visitors.
The Jane Goodall award ceremony will be held in November this year in Nepal.
