Ecotrópica – the Foundation Aid for Life in the Tropics – is a non-governmental organization without financial interests for the protection of the environment in the Tropics and was established in Cuiabá (Mato Grosso) in 1989. Our mission is to give a contribution to the conservation of the natural resources and to maintain the quality of life in the tropical ecosystems. In the last years, we concentrated on the protection of the Pantanal wetlands in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, motivated by our understanding of the vulnerability of this extraordinary ecosystem with it's fantastic biodiversity, being the habitat of the biggest wildlife concentration in the neo-tropics. In the mid-nineties we started one of our most important actions: the protection of the biodiversity in the National Park Pantanal Mato-Grossense.
We purchased the farms of Acurizal, Penha and Estância Dorochê – an area about 60,000 ha – and transformed them in RPPNs (Particular Nature Protection Areas). These areas are now associated with the National Park and happens to be one of the most important wetland protection zones of the planet and give living space, shelter and alimentation to many animal species, some of them elsewhere threatened by extinction.