We are excited to announce a new partnership in the Peruvian Amazon with LUSH Cosmetics! Combatting regional deforestation, especially in the remote area of Madre de Dios, requires innovative and multi-faceted approaches. Wild Forests and Fauna is invested in providing capacity building and support for young professionals from local communities and has found a like-minded partner in LUSH.

Though the Future Leaders program, WildFF engages local youth and provides them with business skills and knowledge that support their efforts to bring greater sustainable development to the region. “We believe biological and cultural hotspots can be better protected when the diverse economic needs of local communities are supported,” said Ben Colvin, WildFF Executive Director. This program’s success is due to its multi-faceted approach. Through capacity and network building, Future Leaders aims to educate young professionals so they may develop local constituencies for sustainability and create alternative incomes for themselves and future generations. The approach is innovative and unique – WildFF is the only organization in Madre de Dios that provides this kind of capacity support.   This kind of work requires dedicated partners. LUSH* is our newest collaborator and unabashedly supports these short term projects with long term audacious goals. This partnership between WildFF and LUSH not only empowers local communities in the region, but also successfully connects people outside of Peru to the incredible benefits and wonders of forests – particularly endangered forests and the more than 70% of life on Earth that live in forests. Through social media and network outreach efforts, this partnership will bring forest education and advocacy to people around the globe.WildFF began as a dream to protect a strategically important piece of forested land in the Las Piedras watershed in the department of Madre de Dios, Peru. A network of like-minded scientists, business professionals, and students are working to draw attention to the value of forests and provide ways for people to engage in conservation. By supporting local leaders and organizations who are working to conserve and restore high value forests, the combined forces of WildFF and LUSH Cosmetics are continuing to advance positive change in our world.

*LUSH Charitable Givings Ethics: LUSH believes in the true meaning of authentic giving and that it is what the donor can do for the charity not what the charity can do for the donor. LUSH believes in building good relationships with their partners and finding ways to go beyond monetary giving to support their cause. LUSH believes in the power of campaigning, activism and grassroots to affect long term change. LUSH believes that it’s the hard work, dedication and results that matter, not how the group is registered. Finally, LUSH believes in telling their customers clearly how much of their money will be donated and to whom.

Their charitable giving is not a marketing exercise, and they ask nothing back from the groups they fund. They just want to help those who work tirelessly to make the world a better place, and who play a useful part in the movement to create change.