Project InforAmazon
Vision
InforAmazon is a not-for-profit environmental organization that empowers riverside communities in the Amazon to stop pollution and improve waste management systems. We strive for environmental preservation and education in the Amazon. Our project aims to develop systems for the sustainable disposal of residues generated by small villages along the western tributaries of the Amazon in the state of Pará (Brazil).
We assist with activities geared towards cleaning up pollution and setting up waste management systems along the rivers. By bringing information to the communities that border the Arapiuns, Tapajos and Amazon rivers in an interactive way, we hope to make an impact on the levels of pollution effecting these populations.
InforAmazon aims to raise the level of consciousness, information and practical knowledge on sustainable waste management, consequently improving the quality of life for locals and preserving the environment.
Mission
InforAmazon works in collaboration with community members focusing on projects based on the ecological needs of the area. Our programs focus on building skills and resources for autonomous waste management to be adopted and carried out cooperatively within each household and village. We work with communities that have access to waste generating products but lack the information on how to manage such waste. Most of the communities we work with are only accessible by boat. There are few or no government organized waste collection systems in these villages. Therefore, another of InforAmazon’s goals is to facilitate communication between the locals and government policy makers to expedite waste management. By facilitating management and promoting reduction, reusing and recycling we aim to stop garbage being from dumped into the rivers and to diminish air pollution from burning plastics. We support the realization of community efforts by providing information, legal, financial and labor assistance required to achieve these objectives. Our method is to provide information in a fun and interactive way to raise awareness on issues such as the effects of pollution on child development and the environment, recycling, conservation, family hygiene, and the values of using local products instead of imports.
We work to achieve this by organizing community events at which members of communities and existing information networks can exchange practical, scientific, technical, legal and financial information regarding waste reduction, offsetting, and management. We actively engage in public education, promoting sustainable values and infrastructure improvement.
Crew
Our project staff and advisers have been active in a wide range of ecological activities and campaigns in the Amazon and abroad. For the first year of our collective project effort in 2012, we will be working with a core team of people whose previously individual projects will be combined into one.
By forming a coalition we hope to secure our own collective transportation, a bio-diesel powered boat, by 2014. This will greatly facilitate access to the areas we are working with. Forming a coalition will also facilitate bureaucratic issues and allow us to fund raise with greater ease and efficacy.
