Hoja Nueva

About us

Hoja Nueva, founded in 2015, is a dynamic non-profit working in the remote Las Piedras region of Madre de Dios, Peru. Our research center in the jungle serves as a local knowledge base led by novel, on-the-ground research, the majority of which involves conservation, education, permaculture, and sustainable community development. Our base is a home to our staff and local community members, as well as volunteers, interns, researchers, and tourists that share a collective mission to make rainforest conservation a collaborative success in Las Piedras – and all remote rainforest environments like it.

Hoja Nueva as a Peruvian nonprofit confronts deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon by
• strategically acquiring conservation lands and creating corridors;
• building capacity within remote and indigenous communities through one health and alternative income opportunities;
• implementing rigorous scientific research; and
• reintroducing threatened species to the wild.
• Hoja Nueva also works with migrant communities that practice large-scale slash and burn agriculture, which diminishes biodiversity by causing habitat destruction and fragmentation.
• Hoja Nueva’s sustainable cacao agroforestry farms decrease environmental impact, helping train and organize migrant farmers to transition sustainable by obtaining fair wages.

Mission
Help us safeguard a future where both humans and nature can thrive.

What we do
• Project ReWild: Project ReWild is not a rescue center or a zoo — not a breeding program, a human home or a cement box. Not a place for tourists or pet-owners. Project ReWild is a safe place where wild animals become wild again, led by our most experienced wildlife technicians and volunteers. Our mission is to build a safer, large-scale center, with comfortable enclosures for these animals and living spaces for our staff and volunteers on a remote piece of our property.
• Wildlife Research: At Hoja Nueva we have been surveying the biodiversity of this wild, lush region for years, and plan to increase and improve our monitoring efforts in the summer of 2020. Our wildlife research will form a baseline for the regional conservation of threatened species, particularly cats, which is invaluable for the long term monitoring of mammal abundance and diversity. By evaluating the influence of land use activities on mammals in the Piedras, and estimating population densities, conservation policies will be improved, including using the results to delineate protected areas and wildlife corridors that would better protect local populations by allowing dispersal, gene flow, and protection from hunting.
• Cacao: We practice sustainable agroforestry and cacao production on two of our 90 hectares at Hoja 1, which provides a framework for other farms in the area. The most desirable crop in the Piedras region is cacao, and its history of cultivation in the more mountainous regions is thousands of years old. Both Lucerna and the RioPiedras Agricultural Association grow cacao, and we help facilitate collaboration between our three groups and buyers in the United States. At the forefront of our efforts is the implementation of a sustainable cacao marketplace. We are working to create a sustainable, just system focused on the direct relationship between the farmer, buyer, and consumer, and one that will provide livable wages to those in participating communities.
• One Health
Waste and water: Hoja Nueva has supported the implementation of waste management and improved water quality for the remote communities of Lucerna, Boca Pariamanu, Planchon, and Puerto Nuevo.
Education: Education is vital to the success of any sustainability or conservation endeavor in remote communities, and it is most successful when focused on youth. We are excited to launch in 2020 a Sustainability Camp for the youth of the Las Piedras River communities, focused on sustainable community development, connecting with nature and animals, and connecting with culture.
Animal Health: Hoja Nueva 1, since we are located on agricultural lands, also serves as a part-time dog and cat rescue center when other centers are full.
• Artesanías: Hoja Nueva’s Artesanias Program in collaboration with FFC empowers and enables women to gain financial independence, build a sustainable future for their families, and preserve their ancient craft traditions and surrounding environment.

Samantha Zwicker is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Hoja Nueva.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.