Program History
In 2022, Global Activators’ founder, Jeffrey Gibbs, visited Brazil and Peru for six weeks. Much of his time was spent in the Amazon rainforest. His trip's purpose was to begin laying the groundwork to develop a new international advocacy project to help protect this ecosystem. He traveled by plane, bus, truck, tuk-tuk, motorcycle, water taxi, canoe, and on foot. His logistically complex visit was supported by the Science Panel for the Amazon, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), Conservación Amazónica (ACCA), and the Paiter Indigenous Peoples. The geographic breadth of his trip spanned from the Amazon River’s headwaters region in the Andes Mountains of Peru to its delta at the Atlantic Ocean near the Brazilian city of Belém. He met with over one hundred key people across fifteen locations ranging from cities to villages to scientific research stations. He conversed with esteemed scientists, Indigenous leaders, Quilombolas, forest-guardian organizations, environmental campaigners, philanthropy advisors, youth groups, Indigenous women’s organizations, and reporters. Everywhere he went he received a very positive response to his visit and proposed project. These conversations and connections helped to develop what has become Global Activators’ Living Forests Program.