Discovering new species in the Amazon

Project goal: strengthening the resilience of the Amazon ecosystem

Implementation: new research and studies are meant to create new protected areas that help the Amazon ecosystem to fight climate change

Size: the Amazon ecosystem stretches over an area of more than 6.7 million square kilometers and across eight countries including Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guyana

Investment: Around 2 million Euros within the framework of Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI) as well as several other additional sources of funding

A few dozen scientists in southern Colombia along the Amazon are on the look out for anything that crawls or flies or moves. From mammals to fish and plants, all species are being carefully documented by the researchers. The aim is to find new species and underline the biological significance of the region. At the same time, the World Wildlife Fund is working in the capital Bogota along with the national parks authorities to impress upon the government the pressing need to protect the Amazon region. It’s a transborder project funded by the German government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI). The aim is to preserve the world’s largest rainforest region across Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.

A film by Katja Döhne