Amigos de Iracambi

The Legend of the Humming Bird

Once upon a time there was a terrible forest fire and all the aniimals were fleeing as fast as they could. Except for the humming bird. She was flying back and forth to the river, carrying drops of water in her beak to quench the flames. "Hey, you silly little bird," cried the eagle "Do you really think you can put the fire out all by yourself?""Not all by myself,`she replied, "but I'll do my part.".

Amigos de Iracambi

Our Aims

Amigos de Iracambi is a Brazilian registered non-profit association that works to promote the conservation of the Atlantic Rainforest. Our aim is to protect the rainforest by working with the community to find ways of making its conservation more attractive than its destruction.

Our specific objectives are

to promote the conservation of the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil, particularly in the region of Rosário da Limeira in the state of Minas Gerais;
to support research at the Iracambi Research and Conservation Center into techniques that permit the sustainable management of forested lands in the area and that will generate income from the forest, thus improving the living standards of the local people and motivating them to preserve it;
to support activities of the Iracambi Research and Conservation Center that raise awareness of the forest conservation issues among local people (especially young people);
to support activities that transfer improved management technology to local farmers; and that disseminate the Center's research findings to the scientific community and the general public.

The directors of Amigos de Iracambi are:

President	Binka Le Breton, Director, Iracambi Recursos Naturais Ltda
Vice President	Fernanda Areal Carizzo from Muriáe: local activist and President of Grupo AMA
Secretary	Aline Araújo Lópes, Veterinarian, Muriaé,.
Treasurer	Vicente Chavez Júnior, of Rosário da Limeira
Advisory panel	Aurelina de Oliveira Campos, Editor, Jornal de Belisário, and former treasurer of the Society
	Dárcio Calais, Associação Mineira de Silvicultura, Belo Horizonte, native of our area;
	Joaquim Ferreira de Laia, community leader, Graminha Community, Rosario da Limeira;
	Profa. Maria Irene Cardoso, Professor of Soils, Febderal University of Viçosa
	Dra. Maria Teresa Leite Young, biologist, advisor to the Vice-Chancelor's Office of PUC Minas;
	Paulo Sérgio Ferreira Neto, formely of CTA, Viçosa and consultant on Community Development
	Dr.Robert Young, professor of zoology at PUC Minas;
	Dra. Rosana Cambraia, professor at the Federal University of Diamantina, and also a native of the area.

Our Friends around the World

Our supporters in the United Kingdom have formed a Society, Amigos de Iracambi (UK) to help us with fund-raising and publicity in the UK.The Society is registered with the Charities Commission.

In the USA, we are supported by Amigos de Iracambi (US) Inc., which has been granted tax exemption status under Section 501 (c) (iii) of the IRS Code.