Roteiros de Ouro Preto (Ouro Preto Wildlife Trail) Ouro Preto is a historical city in Minas Gerais, and once the capital of Brazil. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site and a National Monument. With Brazilian Baroque architecture, cobblestone streets, gold-laden churches and chapels, museums and great restaurants, this college town is already a popular tourism destination. This is a similar project to Roteiros, for the city of Ouro Preto, the Itacolomi State Park and several other surround reserves, teaching poor local people to be nature tour guides, work with schools, hotels, restaurants etc. so that local people will benefit from nature, and become allies in it preservation. Other partners in this project at the City of Ouro Preto including the Mayor, secretary of Tourism and Secretary, IEF-MG, SEBRAE- MG, Vida Silvestre i.Ltda and Focus Tours.

Projeto Mangabeiras de Educacao Ambiental e Turismo Sustentivel – Conexcao com a Natureza (Mangaberias Park Project – Environmental Education and Sustainable Tourism). This project with the Belo Horizonte Foundation of Parks, will train poor local residents to be naturalst guides, to work wtih city schools to bring kids into 6 of the cities rainforest parks. This will reconnect the people in this city of 3 million to their incredible nature. Belo Horizonte has over 300 bird species, and city parks still host ocelot, lesser anteater and two endemic primate species. Other partners are the Belo Horizonte Parks Foundation, the City of Belo Horizonte and Focus Tours.

1st International Forum for Socio-environmental Responsibility and Sustainable Tourism, July 3-4, 2008, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. This important forum will bring together industry, non-profits, government, universities and international development institutions to discuss a sustainable future, and promote sustainable community owned tourism. Included will be the course “How to Develop Community-based Ecotourism”. Other partners include State Secretary of Development, Secretary of Tourism and Secretary of the Environment, IEF-MG, SEBRAE – MG, SOS Falconiformes, UNESCO, Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment, CEMIG, Vida Silvestre i.Ltda and Focus Tours.

Katwe Tourism Information Centre, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Udganda (KATIC) The Focus Conservation Fund is proud to partner with this iexcellent example of community based ecotourism working to preserve nature, in line with the mission of FCF. Our partnership with KATIC is designed to help this fine organization, and those of you that wish to make a donation that will also be tax-deductible in the United States of America.

Assocao ABTC-Brasil a Brazilian non-profit based in Rio Grande Do Norte, Brazil. This is an excellent example of community based ecotourism working to preserve nature in the threatened Caatinga biome, in line with the mission of FCF. Our partnership with ASSOCIA«_O ABTC-BRASIL is designed to help this fine organization, and those of you that wish to make a donation that will also be tax-deductible in the United States of America. Visit their site, in English to learn more about this fascinating project.

The Neotropical Companion, Portuguese Translation. This excellent book by author John Kricher, published by Princeton University Press, does more than any other we know to explain neotropical ecology in an interested and accessible manner. The author and Princeton University Press have granted the Focus Conservation Fund the rights for 7 years to publish this book in Portuguese. We are looking for publishers in Brazil at this time. Other partners are Birder’s Exchange / American Birding Association and Focus Tours.

Jaguar River Lodge, Pantanal, Brazil This luxury lodge on the Paraguay River has asked Focus Tours and the Focus Conservation Fund to help them preserve jaguars and other creatures visited from the lodge.