Year after year, the environment faces threats that endanger the planet’s ecological balance. In 2024, the average global temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). This marks the hottest year ever recorded in human history. According to wildfire monitoring by MapBiomas, the Legal Amazon lost 11.8 million hectares of forest, with illegal burning being the primary cause.
Confronting these threats is a daily challenge for SOS Amazônia, which strives to protect the forest, its people, their ways of life, and its biodiversity. Through projects carried out with the support of valuable partners—community members, institutions, and associates—SOS Amazônia is able to maintain and expand its efforts. A record of these results can be found in the 2024 Activities Report.
Miguel Scarcello, General Secretary of SOS Amazônia, affirms that the activities carried out throughout the year have contributed to addressing climate change—particularly extreme events and their environmental consequences. “In the face of this alarming scenario, we aim to strengthen initiatives that ensure the forest remains standing, promote the recovery of degraded areas, conserve biodiversity, and support the valorization of traditional communities,” he states.
Forestal Landscape Restoration Program
The activities of the Forest Landscape Restoration Program are centered around the project Make Forest Flourish, created with the goal of restoring soil cover in degraded areas through the implementation of Agroforestry Systems. This method involves the intercropping of forest, fruit-bearing, and palm tree species, which restores soil while generating social and economic benefits for the participating communities.
More than tree planting, the project generates positive outcomes in several other areas. It includes capacity building for families on agroforestry system models, best practices for seedling production, the promotion of women's and youth participation in productive activities, income generation for participating families, and the construction of community tree nurseries.
Beyond transforming grazing land into forest, the restoration program also enables the recovery of river springs, aiming to increase water availability—especially during the dry season. The planting of agroforestry systems strengthens food security for partner families, while also awakening environmental awareness and engagement among all those involved.
Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation Program
Aiming at conserving and protecting the forests and its ways of life, the program Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation involved projects that include the management of this goal. The initiative includes actions to improve the management of natural resources in protected areas, research on sustainable development, animal protection, environmental education and public policies benefiting Conservation Units. Check the projects executed in this programmatic area.
Project Alliance for the Forests of Acre (Aliança pelas Florestas do Acre):
The Alliance project was born from the need to integrate land management across Indigenous Territories and Conservation Units. Its actions are guided by four main pillars: the institutional strengthening of traditional organizations; environmental and territorial management by forest peoples in defense of their lands; the expansion of agroforestry production; and, finally, the promotion of gender equality, youth engagement, and the valorization of traditional cultures.
To achieve the project’s vision, a variety of activities have been developed. Among them is the Youth Protagonists (Jovens Protagonistas) initiative, which introduces young people from the communities to leadership and participatory processes, strengthening territorial governance. The project also promoted the Workshop for the Presentation and Validation of the Integrated Management Action Plan for Extractivist Reserves, which facilitated the identification of threats and proposed improvements to enhance territorial management.
These are just a few of the many actions carried out that have brought meaningful change to the communities. Youth participants learned to develop communication skills to raise awareness about topics relevant to their territories. New environmental monitors were also trained to support data collection. Additionally, video editing workshops empowered extractivist women to share their stories.
Amuralha Project
The Association of Rural Women Workers for Freedom, Humanity, and Love (Amuralha) was founded in 2005 in the Nova Cintra community, located in Rodrigo Alves, Acre. Its mission is to promote the social and economic inclusion of women living in rural areas.
Since 2015, Amuralha has partnered with SOS Amazônia to strengthen the production and commercialization of its products. Currently, the association focuses on producing soaps and aromatic candles made with essences from Amazonian plants, following a sustainable business model. The vegetable oils used include buriti, murumuru, andiroba, copaíba, patauá, and açaí.
Juruá’s Chelonians Project: I protect!
Chelonian species such as the Six-tubercled Amazon River turtle, the Amazon River turtle, and the Yellow-spotted river turtle inhabit the Juruá River region and its beaches. However, due to human interference, these animals are under constant threat. Since 2003, SOS Amazônia has been promoting community-based management of these species to protect them and increase their populations in the region.
These efforts take place in the Alto Juruá Extractive Reserve, Riozinho da Liberdade, and the Carlota Community. Activities include training in species management and environmental education workshops in local schools, aiming to engage the community, especially its youth, in conservation efforts.
Project Felines Monitoring
As part of our animal monitoring program, the Jaguar Monitoring Project tracks species within Conservation Units, in partnership with local environmental agencies. This initiative is essential for protecting the largest feline in Latin America, identifying risk areas, understanding the species’ behavior, and promoting its conservation. In addition to jaguars, other forest species and their roles within the ecosystem are also documented.
Socioenvironmental Observatory of Acre
With a focus on monitoring public policies related to environmental conservation, the Socioenvironmental Observatory of Acre was established following changes in federal and state governments in 2019, which further weakened local environmental policies. Its actions center on monitoring governmental and private initiatives, congressmen’s proposals, and legislative proposals related to conservation and environmental management. In parallel, the project promotes advocacy by partnering with social movement leaders, supporting youth leadership, and raising awareness and analysis around the climate and environmental agenda.
Guardians of Tomorrow Project (Guardiões do Amanhã)
Focused on a youth audience, the project operates in public schools in Itacoatiara, in the Arari region of the state of Amazonas, providing training for child and youth environmental agents. It promotes environmental awareness and empowers students to take action in their local communities as protectors of the environment.
Values of the Amazon Program (Valores da Amazônia)
Caring for the Amazon means caring for its peoples. The Values of the Amazon program encompasses projects focused on landscape conservation and the well-being of Amazonian communities. Its objectives are socio-environmental and aim to support skill development in socially vulnerable communities by promoting the leadership of women and youth, and strengthening the sociobiodiversity production chain.
Nossabio Project - Conserved Territories
Aligned with the strategy to strengthen land and environmental governance in the Amazon, the Nossabio project enhances the value chains of biodiversity products such as wild cacao, rubber, açaí, woodcrafts, and ecotourism. The initiative includes workshops and capacity-building activities for the families involved, the provision of equipment, construction of physical infrastructure, and services such as market studies and management plans.
One of the project’s highlights was the construction of the Forest Atelier, a space the community had sought for several years to produce handcrafted goods, furniture, artifacts, domestic utensils, and décor made from wood debris found on the forest floor, with an environmental license granted by ICMBio. Located in the Rio Branco Community within the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Xapuri, Acre, the facility was inaugurated in June 2024.
Amazon’s Phytotherapeutic Products
The project was created to support extractivist communities in the production of medicinal plants and their derivatives. Through the Amazon’s Phytotherapeutic Projects, SOS Amazônia engages in the production chain of plants such as andirona, copaíba, and jaborandi. Through diagnosis, training, and promotional activities, the organization’s workers can develop their skills and increase their production.
Rubber’s Women Project (Mulheres da Borracha)
The Rubber’s Women project was conceived in a context dominated by male activity, with the goal of facilitating the empowerment and protagonism of extractivist women. The project operates through community workshops featuring interactive activities that consider the way of living of rubber-producing families. The first cycle took place in municipalities and rural areas of Acre, and the second phase is currently underway in the state of Amazonas.
Campaigns
SOS Recycling (SOS Reciclagem)
Located at the headquarters of SOS Amazônia in Rio Branco, Acre, the Place of Volunteer Delivery offers collaborators, associates, neighbors, and supporters a space to dispose of recyclable solid waste for collection.
Soul Amazônia
To combat deforestation and support both forest conservation and the restoration of degraded areas, we launched the Soul Amazônia campaign. The initiative aims to connect people who want to make a positive impact in the Amazon through biodiversity conservation and the celebration of traditional communities.
The Soul Amazônia platform offers four donation plans, ranging from US$10 to US$25. Each donation guarantees the planting of a native tree in degraded pastureland, contributing to ecological restoration through agroforestry systems.
The campaign was launched on Amazon Day, September 5, and has since gained traction on social media, supported by artists and public figures committed to the environmental cause. Among them are singers Zenaide Parteira and Patrícia Bastos, activists Sergio Marone and Rogério Fernandes, and actresses Giovanna Antonelli, Bruna Linzmeyer, Carolina Kasting, Lucy Alves, and Malu Mader.