Group Hopes to Build Forestry Research Center in Peru

The Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) recently launched a 60-day fundraising campaign to establish a Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) training center in the Peruvian Amazon. TFF will work with communities and government officials to teach SFM practices to harvesting companies in order to sustaining local economies while conserving the tropical forest, according to a press release.

TFF's goal is to raise $100,000 to serve as seed money for the research center. Further, the facility will require $4 million in cash for operations over five years and $500,000 million in in-kind equipment and services. The center in Peru will be TFF's first such research center to teach in Spanish. In March, TFF gained approval for the research center from government agencies in the U.S. and Peru, and it was granted access to a forest concession where the proposed training center will be located.

“When I visited Peru to discuss establishing a sustainable forestry training center, I was received warmly and enthusiastically by the government, conservation NGOs, industry, and international agencies,” said Bob Johnston, executive director of TFF. “They believe that this will help their local communities that depend on the resources of the forests see the benefits to the environment and economy, and also see how government would improve with more knowledge. People in Peru are ready for TFF to begin training as soon as possible.”

TFF has other research facilities located in Brazil, Guyana, Gabon and Indonesia.