When American naturalist and conservationist Paul Rosolie first travelled to the Peruvian Amazon at 18, he was drawn to one of the world's most extraordinary wildernesses.
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he → travel → wildernesses
Two decades later, his work has evolved from exploring remote forests and studying wildlife into a long-term effort to protect the rainforest from illegal logging, road expansion and other threats.
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work → evolve → logging
Working alongside Indigenous conservationist Juan Julio Durand and local communities, Rosolie helped establish Junglekeepers, a nonprofit focused on safeguarding the Las Piedras watershed in Peru's Madre de Dios region.
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Rosolie → work → region
The organisation now reports that its rangers safeguard almost 160,000 acres of rainforest.
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rangers → report → rainforest
But with illegal activities and drug trafficking threatening the region, the team says its work is far from over.
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work → threaten → region
Paul Rosolie's journey from Amazon explorer to conservationist
Rosolie's connection with the Amazon began when he travelled to Peru as a teenager.
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he → begin → teenager
Over the years, he explored remote parts of the rainforest, documented wildlife and became increasingly concerned about the destruction of habitats that had remained largely intact.
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that → explore → habitats
One of the people who helped shape his conservation journey
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who → shape → journey
was Juan Julio Durand, a member of the local Indigenous community who was already working in the region.
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who → work → region
Their partnership grew around the Las Piedras River, a waterway in southeastern Peru that passes through ecologically important rainforest.
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that → grow → rainforest
According to Mongabay, Rosolie and Durand shifted their focus towards protecting the forest as roads and other forms of development began encroaching on the area.
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roads → accord → area
Their efforts eventually developed into Junglekeepers, bringing together local conservation work, ranger patrols and fundraising to help safeguard threatened rainforest.
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efforts → develop → rainforest
Rosolie has described the journey as a long and uncertain one.
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Rosolie → describe → one
In a February 2026 interview with Mongabay, he reflected on the personal and financial sacrifices involved, explaining that it took roughly 20 years before he began to see conservation work achieve results on a larger scale.
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work → reflect → scale
What is Junglekeepers, and how does it protect the Amazon?
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it → protect → Amazon
Junglekeepers works in the Madre de Dios region of Peru, focusing on the Las Piedras watershed, part of the wider Amazon rainforest.
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Junglekeepers → work → rainforest
The area is known for its rich biodiversity and contains forests that face growing pressure from human activity.
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that → know → activity
The organisation's approach combines land acquisition, local employment and forest monitoring.
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approach → combine → acquisition
According to Junglekeepers, it seeks to acquire land in areas threatened by logging and land grabbing, while employing local people as rangers to patrol and monitor the forest.
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it → accord → forest
The ranger programme involves more than walking through the rainforest.
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programme → involve → rainforest
The organisation says its operating costs include ranger salaries, food and accommodation, boats, fuel, communications equipment, trail maintenance and ranger stations.
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costs → say → salaries
By employing people with local knowledge, Junglekeepers aims to strengthen conservation efforts while creating livelihoods connected to protecting the forest.
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Junglekeepers → employ → forest
Its work also involves monitoring wildlife and responding to threats such as forest fires and illegal activity.
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work → involve → fires
How much rainforest is the team protecting?
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team → protect → rainforest
Junglekeepers' reported conservation footprint has grown considerably in recent years.
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footprint → grow → years
In its annual report announcement published on March 3, 2025, the organisation said it had expanded its protected area from 49,000 acres to 107,000 acres during 2024.
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it → publish → 2024
Its current mission page reports that its rangers safeguard almost 160,000 acres.
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rangers → report → acres
The organisation's broader ambition is to protect approximately 300,000 acres across the Las Piedras corridor.
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ambition → protect → corridor
Illegal logging and drug trafficking threaten the forest
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logging → threaten → forest
Despite the reported expansion, protecting the rainforest remains difficult.
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protecting → report → rainforest
Junglekeepers identifies illegal logging, poaching, gold mining and road development among the threats facing the Las Piedras region.
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Junglekeepers → identify → region
The concern is not limited to trees being cut down.
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trees → limit → ?
Roads can open previously remote areas to further settlement and extraction, fragment habitats and make it easier for illegal activities to spread into intact forest.
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activities → open → forest
In its February 2026 interview with Mongabay, Rosolie also described the growing danger posed by drug traffickers operating in the region.
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Rosolie → describe → region
He said the organisation had faced serious threats and was working more closely with Peruvian law enforcement because confronting organised criminal groups required capabilities beyond those of conservation rangers.
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confronting → say → rangers
The risks underline the difference between establishing a conservation area and ensuring that it remains safe over time.
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it → underline → time
Rangers need equipment, transport, reliable funding and support from authorities to monitor remote areas and respond to threats.
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Rangers → need → threats
Junglekeepers' January 2026 announcement of its End Game campaign also referred to escalating violence, including an armed vehicle ambush targeting conservation leaders and local communities.
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announcement → refer → leaders
The campaign aimed to secure an additional 50,000 acres considered at risk.
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campaign → aim → risk
Protecting the rainforest also matters for Indigenous communities
The Las Piedras region is home to Indigenous communities and includes areas associated with the Mashco Piro, also known as the Nomole, an Indigenous people living in voluntary isolation.
Protecting the forest can help preserve the territory and natural resources on which Indigenous communities depend.
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communities → protect → which
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
