Theforestguardians

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The Issues

Environmental damage. Deforestation and logging. Aerial photo of forest cut down causing climate change

Losing the Forest

Gold Mining

Vanishing Species

Heritage Under Threat

Our Guardians

Sinchi Warmi Guardians

Forest Guardian Staff

The Travelers Who Protect

Our Forest

Location Matters

The Fauna

The Flora

The Amazon is more than trees. It is medicine, memory and survival. Our protected forest near Tena, Ecuador, enriches soil, provides shade and timber, feeds wildlife, and supplies food and medicinal plants. In the first place, Forest Guardians works to increase the forest’s ecological value by protecting native and endemic species, restoring soil-nourishing plants, enhancing carbon capture, and boosting food sources for wildlife to raise local biodiversity.

At the same time, we link long-term conservation with community wellbeing: preserving cultural knowledge of medicinal, timber, and food trees while improving local livelihoods. Because when a tree falls, we lose more than carbon lost, we lose recipes, remedies and rites. Support Forest Guardians to protect the forest and its living heritage.

100+ plant species identified in first survey

Medicinal, edible, and spiritual uses by Sinchi Warmi

Secondary forest recovering from human disturbance

Different heights and soils (including wet areas) create many habitats

Flora loss equals lost cures, culture, and climate protection

Key Plant Life We Protect

Some plants in our forest are part of daily life for the Sinchi Warmi — used for food, healing, and ceremony. Others are harvested less frequently for building community infrastructure and tourist facilities, always with respect for the forest’s natural recovery time.

Why Flora Is More Than Green

Every tree plays a role. The canopy shields animals. Roots prevent erosion. Leaves feed insects. Flowers support pollinators. Destroying flora breaks this web. And it breaks culture—many rituals, diets, and medicines rely on plants that don’t grow outside this biome. The Amazon holds 80,000 plant species. Many remain undescribed. Some may hold the next breakthrough in cancer treatment, autoimmune therapy, or climate resilience.

Meet The Palms

Palm species feed wildlife, enrich soils, support people, and hold cultural meaning. Discover surprising facts about the Arecaceae palms most common in our forest.

Palm Tree Family: Arecaceae

The Arecaceae family (palms) holds immense ecological value, acting as keystone species that define the structure and function of tropical and subtropical ecosystems. Their ubiquity, high abundance, and diverse functional traits allow them to play a critical role in supporting biodiversity, carbon cycling, and environmental resilience.

Chonta Duro

Palms provide a vital, year-round food supply (fruits, seeds, and nectar), such as the Chontaduro, for a wide variety of wildlife, including birds, mammals, insects, and fish, particularly in the Amazon basin.

Palmito

In addition to their ecological role, they are heavily used by local communities for food, shelter, fuel, and medicine, making their sustainable management critical for both biodiversity and local economies.

Pambil

Pambil Trees hold critical value for construction within Kichwa communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon, particularly in the construction of traditional houses. It is highly valued for being resistant to humidity, fungi, and pests, making it ideal for the humid conditions of the rainforest.

Scientific Work and Ancestral Wisdom

Our biologists catalog species and map their ecological roles. Meanwhile, the Sinchi Warmi document traditional uses, preserving ancestral knowledge. Together, they build a living database, proof that protecting plants means protecting science, culture, and survival systems. Sponsors help fund:

Botanical surveys
Indigenous knowledge documentation
Forest garden restoration
Native seed recovery for ecological restoration
Protection of slow-growing hardwoods
Community education on replanting native species

Nelly, Sinchi Warmi

“Each plant is a healer, a teacher. If we lose the forest, we lose their voices.”

What You Protect with 10 m²

Every sponsored plot contains microhabitats:

Shade trees that anchor soil
Understory herbs used in healing
Vines, fungi, mosses—entire tiny worlds
Seed banks for future forest regrowth

When you sponsor land, you don’t just save what’s growing. You save what could grow next.

100+ plant species identified in first survey

Medicinal, edible, and spiritual uses by Sinchi Warmi

Secondary forest recovering from human disturbance

Different heights and soils (including wet areas) create many habitats

Flora loss equals lost cures, culture, and climate protection