Acre+Care is a revolutionary system that uses direct investment to protect the Amazon Rain Forest through e-commerce. Think Google Earth meets Kiva. Through Acre+Care, donors can help protect an acre of concession land in Peru. It was developed at Wake Forest in collaboration with the Amazon Aid Foundation and implemented in partnership with the Amazon Conservation Association. Conservation concessions help protect rainforests by keeping them designated for conservation and preventing them from being converted to fields or farms. The donations help keep biodiversity alive in the Amazon for up to 40 years. Right now, Acre+Care is helping to protect a 340,000 acre concession in Amazonia.
A major barrier to organizations looking to put their lands into ecosystem services markets is they often lack the capital to protect and assess their holdings. Acre+Care is a geographical donation system that allows small investors and individuals to protect their acres through direct investments.
Acre+Care was designed and produced by Wake Forest Graduate and Amazon Aid Co-Founder David Lutz ’04, Wake Forest Graduate Calais Zagarow, ’11, Wake Forest Computer Science Graduate Student Michael Crouse and Wake Forest Professor of Biology Dr. Miles Silman. Funding was made possible through the Chambers Family Fund for Entrepreneurship and CEES.
For more information, visit http://acrecare.org/
