Orlando Branco

Conservation Analyst, WWF-Brazil

Orlando promotes local-level economic and business development for communities in the Brazilian Amazon, including our work with small-scale farmers and rubber tappers in the Sky Rainforest Rescue project area. His work focuses on creating economic opportunities that are based on sustainable natural resource management, so that people can earn a living at the same time as the environment is protected.

Orlando has a BSc in Physical Geography and an MSc in Conservation from University College London (UCL). But he also has on the ground experience of working with local communities. During his research project in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, Orlando worked with forest communities to develop a participatory management plan for an Environmental Protection Area. This plan gives people who live in and depend on the forest influence over how the protected area is managed.

Orlando has also worked at WWF Mediterranean as a Forest Officer. Here he was given the task of identifying and quantifying ecosystem services (like biodiversity conservation, watershed protection and carbon storage) in Cork Oak forests. This work is now helping to protect water sources and biodiversity in the south of Portugal.

Orlando says:

The Amazon is an incredible place. So many natural resources are available and so many different communities live here. Finding potential income generating alternatives is crucial so that local communities can earn more at the same time the forest can be protected. The state of Acre has great potential for this and Sky Rainforest Rescue is making the most of it."