EnviroBriefs
Year-end 2007 Edition

Congratulations and special thanks to each of you who contributed to our mid-year fundraisingcampaign! Your donations made it possible for us, over the past months, to establish 3 new initiatives that will define the work of Natural Partners in 2008, namely:


1. Brazil: Atlantic Rainforest Program

To “think globally but act locally”, Natural Partners works with local NGOs in Brazil to develop and manage community-based conservation projects. Now, t o apply this local capacity-building technique on a larger scale, we are partnering with Brazil’s third largest environmental group, Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas – IPÊ (www.ipe.org.br) to create a new Atlantic Rainforest Program. In its first round, leaders of 8 noted NGOs will be offered courses in project design and management, followed by one-on-one mentoring to guide each of them in developing and funding a “park consolidation” or “corridor-building” project. We have already begun contacting foundations to support this exciting new Program. Our objective is to scale up efforts to save the remaining 7% of the Atlantic Rainforest, one of Earth’s most beautiful and bio-diverse rainforests.

2. Brazil / The Natural Partners EcoTravel Program

Natural Partners invites you and your friends to visit Brazil and the Atlantic Rainforest with us. With our travel partner Brazil EcoTravel, we are finalizing details for discovery tours of Brazil and its natural wonders. Our 9-day “introductory tour” will begin in Rio de Janeiro, and continue south down the coast, ending at the spectacular Iguassu Falls, with cultural and culinary treats along the way. Departures are April 11, May 23, and June 26. NP’s Executive Director plans to accompany the first 2 groups to give a personal touch. One-week extensions will also be available to the amazing Pantanal and Bonito, or to the Amazon for a one-week river cruise.

Iguazu Falls


Rio: View from Sugar Loaf and Copacabana beach

It will be our pleasure to personally introduce you to Brazil’s exuberant natural beauty and share some of its wonderful musical heritage and culinary traditions. You will also meet one or more of our conservation partners and gain a unique first-hand understanding of their exciting activities. Ten percent of the price of each tour package will go to support NP’s work with them, making it tax deductible to the extent allowed by law for nonprofit donations. By joining us in Brazil, you thus become a “Natural Partner” in our work. In a special edition of EnviroBriefs, we will be sending you additional details.


3. Mexico / Monarch Program

Our Monarch Program plans advance! Thanks again to your donations, what was once a simple project idea is now a full-fledged plan to expand the WWF Monarch Program “tenfold” in the words of Director Omar Vidal of WWF Mexico. Not only has a draft project proposal been produced, but we also now have a draft Memorandum of Agreement. Promising funding leads are ready to be pursued. We are hopeful that remaining issues can be sorted out soon, so that NP Executive Director can meet with his Mexican counterparts to complete the proposal in January and help launch the fund-raiser for the expanded program. We will keep you posted.

Funding For These Programs

We need your help more than ever, because of the growing potential of our exciting work in Brazil and Mexico. Before year-end, we must begin raising at least $15,000.00 to cover essential operating expenses such as telephone, travel, and legal fees for the first half of 2008. Achieving that goal will help us launch the three exceptional programs described above.