Building back stronger in the Amazon post-COVID
The impact of COVID-19 on the world has been unprecedented and the affect it has had on the lives of Plant Your Future’s subsistence farmers has been severe.
Despite a military-enforced lockdown, the virus spread rapidly in the city of Iquitos in eastern Peru – home to the majority of our farmers and their families.
Swamped with ill patients and lacking medical supplies, the two hospitals in Iquitos have been overwhelmed.
The city’s slum neighbourhoods consist of over-crowded homes with multiple generations forced to share tightly packed rooms.
Access to running water is also scarce, making it extremely difficult for people to wash their hands on a regular basis.
The city also serves as an important centre for thousands of rural communities who trade and stock up on supplies there, including our farmers.
Lockdown has forced these communities to stay at home, and so they are unable to pay for food or generate income through trade.
The Government does not have the systems or resources to deliver food aid to these areas, leaving the people who live there in an extremely vulnerable position.
What Your Support Achieved
Thanks to all of the generous donations from our supporters, Plant Your Future has been able to respond to this crisis. Following our emergency fundraising appeal, which we launched in May, we have been able to raise £15,000.
We have used these funds to deliver emergency food parcels, basic medical supplies and two large oxygen tanks to support rural families in different eight communities across two regions of Peru’s Amazon rainforest from April until now.
This has meant that the families have been able to stay at home and stay safe, as well as put food on the table for their children.
As well as funding the basic supplies that communities need to live, your donations have enabled us to support them to become more resilient to crisis in the future. We have been working with them to create small, productive farmyards and vegetable gardens.
These projects will enable families to diversity their revenue stream, providing them with a wider range of produce that they can sell. They will also be able to eat a large amount of the food that they produce, which is both fresh and healthy.
How We’re Building Back Stronger
We’ve made a positive start in the battle against COVID-19 but in order to continue building back stronger, we require further support. We need to redouble our efforts to help families through this difficult time, but to also ensure that we continue working with them to transform their degraded farmland into thriving forest – Plant Your Future’s main objective and long-term goal.
Rainforest Mask – Thank You Gift
As we face and tackle the challenges presented by COVID-19, we cannot forget to keep up the fight against climate breakdown. That is why we are asking for support through monthly donations.
Anyone who signs up will be empowering a family, helping them to survive this global crisis, as well as reforest and protect their land for generations to come.
In recognition of the generosity of our donors, we have some beautifully designed jungle face masks to giveaway – created by one of our amazing volunteers, Katrin Harding.
The first 20 people to sign up to become a £5 or more monthly donor will be sent one of these masks as a thank you.
What Your Donation Can Achieve
- £5 – Can help buy two kilograms of native tree seeds to sow in our community-run nursery every month.
- £10 – Can help grow five native trees a month in our nursery to give to a family for planting.
- £25 – Can help provide fertiliser for a family each month to create nutrient rich soil for healthy trees and crops.
- £50 – Can help 20 families to control disease and plagues in their agroforestry plots by providing biological pest control
Thank you so much for your support.
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