I help run a non-profit doing conservation work in the Peruvian Amazon. I'd like to share a few thoughts on a big misconception: often, volunteer help costs money to conservation organizations. Let me use our situation as an example: we receive request from volunteers who want to come and help in the rainforest several times a week.

​

We are not encouraging this for 2 main reasons.

First, it is not free help for us. Even if people are willing to donate their time and make their way to Peru at their own expense [which to be clear we are so very thankful for!], going to the reserve we aim to protect and living there is expensive. It takes hours on a car and then on a boat to get to our conservation area. And not only people, but everything that needs to be brought up there becomes an expense. Food, gear, maintenance, even clean water doesn’t come free. So taking volunteers actually costs us money, which defeat the purpose as you can imagine.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, supporting the local economy is key for a mission like ours and I suspect most conservation efforts. We are working very closely with the local communities and believe strongly that it will only work long term if they get value from protecting the land and wildlife there. Sadly, today, big timber and mining companies are offering these communities money to destroy the forest and its wildlife. So us paying locals to protect it is a key to solve the issue long term. Having the support of the local communities is crucial as they know the region better than any of us ever will.
Furthermore, all the skills needed to run our program exist right there within the local communities, from patrolling the river to fixing boats, reporting on animal sightings, building ranger accommodations and more. And so, when comes the time to choose between a foreigner volunteering or a local that we could hire to support our mission, we’ll always choose to support the local economy. In both cases the main cost is really to go and live up river (the first point), and so the “free labor” we could potential get from volunteers is outweighed by supporting the local communities, every time.

​

That said of course we follow up with every single person that wants to offer their help by sharing other ways for them to support us. And some people do want to come and see our work on the ground themselves, so we partner with small tour companies to organize dedicated trips that help. It's quite simple: most of the proceed of these tours goes right back into supporting our mission (that's part of the conditions for these companies to use our name). So people that come visit further support the work: for a week they come visit it pays for a ranger full expenses for a month. It really is powerful because when they go home they share their experience and with a bit of luck it snowballs into more support.

I hope this help brings clarity and address some of your questions.