Community Outreach

While boots on the ground - and on the river - are essential to keep poachers and fires out of our reserves and otter breeding dens safe from disturbance, we are a small local organization with limited legal authority. We cannot succeed without support from the local community.  Instituto Araguaia’s outreach program aims to inform the local community about the value of our region's amazing biodiversity, the serious threat faced by giant otters and other endangered species, and the importance of strictly protected areas like the state park and our Privately Protected Areas (RPPNs), as sanctuaries for a dwindling wilderness, as no-take zones to replenish local fish stocks, and as a resource for the development of nature-based tourism.  This translates directly into respect for the work of our rangers in the field, even when they must ask trespassers to leave.   In the longer term, our permanent work with local community aims to deepen their understanding and appreciation of our local environment, and mold as many of them as we can into informed, responsible citizens for the Anthropocene.