ARCAmazon works to increase the value of the Amazon, to conserve and protect it, and to connect people with rainforests.
Who We Are
ARCAmazon is a Peruvian non-profit organization.
Charity No. (SUNARP): 11131166.
501(c)3-equivalent Tax Exoneration No. (SUNAT): 2790050000030.

ARCAmazon’s Board Members

Luis Garcia Neyra J.D.
Luis is a Peruvian environmental lawyer with a Juris Doctorate from Lima University Law School. Luis's carear began in corporate litigation, antitrust and unfair competition law. In 2009, he shifted his focus towards environmental and indigenous issues leading him to move from the capital into the Amazon. His work since has supported the enhancing of environmental policies and regulations of the Regional Government, specifically related to artisanal mining, climate change, and conservation. Luis was key to the entitlement of indigenous lands of the Infierno Native Community and he continues to work with communities across Peru.

Dr. Lucy Jayne Dablin
Lucy holds PhD from University College London. She is a specialist in agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, with a focus on landscape scale rehabilitation and financing mechanisms of natural capital. She is passionate about reconciling biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, improving supply chains to increase the uptake of sustainable resource use and assessing the causes of forest conversion. She serves on the boards of Tambopata Reserve Society, the LEAF foundation and has supported the boards of ARCAmazon and Wild Forests and Fauna since their inception.

David J Johnston
David is a conservation entrepreneur focused on preserving and restoring African and South American wilderness at landscape-level. He is passionate about restoration, community-led conservation, and reconnecting humankind with nature. David co-founded the organization in 2014 and led it through to 2019. He now serves on the board of Junglekeepers and consults for conservation and sustainable business-focused organisations across the globe, including the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and WorkingAbroad.

Ursula Leyva Carbone
Ursula is a Peruvian entrepreneur who specializes in permaculture, agroforestry and environmental education. Ursula has lived in the Peruvian Amazon since 2005 with a focus on educating children and families, facilitating social enterprises for conservation and leading start-up environmental projects. Ursula consults on permaculture design with a rich understanding of landscaping, gardening and sustainable horticulture. She is the Executive Director of Camino Verde, a Peru-USA organization that leads highly successful agroforestry initiatives in the Tambopata Region. She also runs her own reforestation demonstration center within the city of Puerto Maldonado.

Chris Kirkby
Chris is British-Peruvian, a tropical conservation biologist with a PdD in Conservation Biology, focusing on rainforest valuation and private conservation mechanisms. Since 1995, Chris has made the Peruvian Amazon his home and its long-term survival his mission. He leads research on the changing status of wildlife, the impacts and benefits of human activities in and around protected areas, and the relative economic value of competing forest land uses. He runs ongoing volunteer programs, with the aim of bringing down the high cost of field research in this tropical environment.

Dr. Laurel Hanna
Laurel is a British-Peruvian conservation biologist focused on protecting highly threatened rainforest and dedicated to fighting corruption within the land-rights system in Peru. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a first class honors in zoology and then completed a PhD studying the genetic and non-genetic consequences of captive breeding and release of owls. Living in the Peruvian Amazon since 1997, frequent guiding jobs progressed to permanent residency which is when she built and began operating Picaflor Research Centre and setup a 1,300 hectare private conservation area. Laurel is also an organic farmer and green building designer.
Advisors

Dr. Jason James Scullion
Dr. Jason James Scullion is a forest conservationist and Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at McDaniel College, where he teaches courses in environmental policy and management, conservation biology, and sustainability. Jason has a PhD in Environmental and Forest Sciences and master’s degrees in Public Administration and Forest Resources from the University of Washington. His research is focused on conserving frontier forests in the Americas through improving management policies and strategies. Recent publications include studies focused on the effectiveness of payments for ecosystem services programs in Mexico and an analysis of protected area effectiveness and landscape change in the Peruvian Amazon.

Nancy Zamierowski
Nancy is a consultant, coach and powerful connector. She is passionate about designing systems for collaboration and ways we can work together for mutual benefit of people and planet. She facilitates the translation of a collective vision into workable applications in ways that are self-sustaining and activate leadership. Specifically, she seeds projects through co-visioning processes, team design and recruitment, project management, organizational strategy, coaching and collaboration architecture. She is a co-founder of two non-profit impact driven enterprises; Yellow-Seed facilitates connection between farmers at origin and fair markets, and WildFF supports local leadership in conservation of wild forest frontiers.

Douglas Sorin
Doug brings his entrepreneurial spirit and positive attitude to the world of conservation. Originally from New York, he managed UBS Investment Bank’s Mortgage Backed Securities Operations team through the credit crisis. Currently residing in Seattle, Doug’s passions lie in creating profitable business ventures that are deeply rooted in ecological and social justice. He recently completed his MBA in Sustainable Systems with an Energy Certificate at Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI).

Alfredo Arbe Loli
Alfredo is a Peruvian public relations specialist with a degree from the University of San Martin de Porres in Lima. Using PR to publicly share the Amazon and its internal conflicts, he has led work focused on conflict resolution within indigenous and rural communities. Alfredo has led socioeconomic research in key conservation areas throughout Peru resulting in his strong advocacy for rainforest conservation and sustainable development for long-term economic sustainability of remote communities.

Renata Leite Pitman
Renata is a wildlife veterinary doctor and expert in mammalian ecology. She has a Master’s in Forest Science at Federal University of Parana, Brazil, and is a Research Associate with the Center for Tropical Conservation. Renata's passion is to protect the Peruvian Amazon, and was integral to the creation of its largest National Park. Her Impacts of the Interoceanic Highway Project won her an Innovation Award from Rufford. Renata set up the Atlantic Forest Conservation Center and Reserve. She is a member and Natural Born Hero of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and a National Geographic Grantee and Explorer.

Luis Cueto
Luis is a Peruvian biologist and ornithologist from Chachapoyas, driven by a dream to develop his career in the Peruvian Amazon. He has led wildlife research throughout important biological regions including Manu National Park, Los Amigos, Las Piedras, Tambopata, the Manu-Tambopata (MAT) Corridor and Chachapoyas. Luis specializes in cloud forest and lowland rainforest ecosystems, having worked with The Field Museum of Chicago, The Edgar Grey Institute, Oxford University, Kansas University and the Amazon Conservation Association to understand human impacts on rainforest ecosystems. Luis led the in-field setup LPAC and community relations during ARCAmazon's critical first year in Las Piedras.