OUR IMPACT

CREATING POSITIVE IMPACT THROUGH ADVENTURE

Creating a positive impact in the Peruvian Amazon was the reason we started the Amazon Canoe Challenge in the first place, so we work hard to incorporate every way we can to help to create this change.

SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

In the Amazon Canoe Challenge, as well as our expeditions and bespoke trips, we spend a lot of time working with and visiting communities along the rivers. We believe that operating in the area should be beneficial for the communities that we work with, beyond just the financial impact and work with our community partners to continually improve how we work together.

With almost half of the remaining intact Amazon forest being part of Indigenous territories, supporting Indigenous communities is key to preserving the Amazon for future generations. We work with a regenerative mindset, and have designed our trips to support positive change in the areas we visit as much as possible.

OUR IMPACT – GOING BEYOND

// We aim to have a minimum of 60% of ground staff for each of our expeditions and challenges from the local communities in 2023. With each expedition, we pair staff from the communities with international staff to facilitate additional training opportunities and mutual growth. We believe this provides a valuable opportunity on both sides to learn within our team and are looking to increase this number as we grow. 

// We work with each of our community partners to provide additional opportunities for training in the essential skills for working in the tourism industry, as well as to start their own businesses if they are interested in doing so. We work with our partners to develop sustainable practices for the future as part of these courses.

// We work with our partners to identify areas of opportunity where we can further support them, such as connecting them with international journalists to bring attention to environmental or social issues in the region, which in turn helps to put pressure on the government to change existing regulations or offer additional support. 

// We ask our participants for the 2024 Amazon Canoe Challenge to fundraise directly for our community partners as part of their entry criteria, and registration is based not just on paddling or outdoors experience, but on their commitment to creating positive change. 

// We have committed to publishing a yearly impact report which outlines what we have achieved in the year to date, including feedback from our community partners and improvements that we will make for the following year. Our first impact report will be published in January 2024, marking our first year in operation in the Amazon. 

HOW WE WORK

Our guidelines of how we work with our community partners are based on the Global Good Practice Guidelines for working with Indigenous Communities, as well as feedback and suggestions from our local partners. We believe that by supporting and working with our community partners, we can do our small part in supporting them to flourish, and use adventure travel as a platform to work to create an alternative income to preserve cultural traditions and their land for themselves, and for future generations.

We follow the Global Good Practice Guidelines (Planeterra Foundation) for working with Indigenous Communities

The below guidelines were created by Planeterra

FULL GUIDELINES

SUSTAINABILITY

Growing up in a generation where the fight against climate change seems like a losing battle, sustainability is at the heart of what we do. For us, operating in a sustainable way is not an optional extra, it’s our responsibility as global citizens.

// We travel slow. We all know that tourism is a huge contributor to emissions worldwide, and we also know that people will continue to travel. So why not work to change how we travel? Rather than jumping around different destinations, we focus on a smaller area at a slower pace. This means more time connecting with your destination, and less environmental impact for our trips.

// Using local goods and services as much as possible not only helps to keep the benefits within the communities, it also helps to reduce additional emissions.

// Our canoes are sourced in a 100% sustainable way, using only wood that has been collected from the rivers as part of its natural lifecycle when it falls. This wood is then treated and crafted into our custom canoes that we use on the challenge and on our expeditions in the Amazon. 

// We have committed to omit single-use plastic in all our trips, and reduce and recycle other plastic materials that we use, as well as with the partners with whom we work.

// We encourage our guests to avoid domestic flights where possible and our crew travel by bus as opposed to flying unless essential.

OUR IMPACT – GOING BEYOND

// We work to highlight the environmental threats to the Amazon as part of our mission to raise awareness through international media, as well as our social media, website and on the ground with our guests.

// As we are often in or around the river, only biodegradable soaps are allowed.

// We recognize that the fight against climate change means going beyond just mitigating our own impact. Aside from working with our community partners to protect indigenous reserves in Peru, we support new technologies in the fight against climate change.

In 2024, we have committed to remove 25 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the air through direct air capture technologies per team for the Amazon Canoe Challenge. It’s a small start but we hope to continue to increase our permanent removal contribution year on year in alignment with our growth.

With each year, we aim to continue to grow our impact in the areas that we operate. We are always looking for ways to improve as a company and for new an innovative solutions. For further questions on our impact, you can contact us at contact@amazoncanoechallenge.com

Find out more about us here.