Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

DD's new tools for the Amazon and beyond

Emily Jacobi, Digital Democracy Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 9:48 AM
Reply-To: us2-9ed027210a-5e8f5201ca@conversation01.mailchimpapp.com
To: Peter

Dear Peter ,

2018 has been an incredible year for Digital Democracy. We have grown our team and launched new tools that indigenous communities across the Amazon are using to map and defend their territory. Here’s what’s been keeping us so busy – and how you can help!

We’re thrilled to share that we have released a public version of Mapeo, an open-source, offline mapping tool that we’ve built in collaboration with local partners.

Support this work with a donation today!

Since we began working in the Amazon rainforest in 2013, Digital Democracy has been focused more on our work than communicating about it. We’ve provided direct accompaniment to frontline communities. We've trained indigenous monitors to document oil spills and deforestation with smartphones and drones. We've helped indigenous communities create maps of their territories. We’ve tested and experimented with tools to create Mapeo.

In Ecuador, our friends from Alianza Ceibo & Amazon Frontlines have used Mapeo to map hundreds of thousands of acres of rainforest. So far, Alianza Ceibo’s Waorani & Siekopai mapping teams have created more than 200 icons (from parrots and palm trees to waterfalls and hunting paths), and mapped more than 5,000 points, 480 rivers and 600 paths.

Seeing the success of Mapeo in Ecuador, we realized that this tool isn’t just for indigenous groups in the Amazon – it could be a game-changer for frontline communities around the world working to defend their rights and protect biodiverse ecosystems.

We just received a $525,000 grant from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation investing in the first year of our 5-year plan to realize this vision. But to make this a reality, we need YOU to get involved – whether that’s working with us, building open-source tools in line with our values, or helping us reach more of the communities who have requested our support.

On this Giving Tuesday, we’re inviting you to take the next step with us. Help us raise $10,000 today to invest towards our on-the-ground work in communities in 2018. Every $5,000 we raise will support an additional village through mapping or monitoring support in 2018.

Support a community with a donation today.

Thank you for your support!

Emily, on behalf of the Digital Democracy team

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