IPÊ Institute for Ecological Research
Organization Details
IPE - Institute for Ecological Research (Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas) was founded in 1992 and is one of the largest environmental nonprofit organizations in Brazil. An institution dedicated to conservation of biodiversity on scientific bases. It operates in research, training of professionals, forest restoration, environmental education, programs for generation of income, sustainable business and also works to influence public policy in order to conserve biodiversity.
IPE organizes around 30 projects which impact about 20.000 people every year in many locations of Brazil, like Atlantic Forest, Amazon, the Pantanal and the Cerrado. The mission is to develop and disseminate innovative models for conservation of biodiversity that promote socioeconomic benefits through science, education and sustainable business. IPE exists due to its ability to gather people who have a common purpose: harmonize the relation between humans and the planet.
https://ipe.org.br/en/
Impact Story
Although IPÊ was officially founded in 1992, the Institute has a much longer history. In 1978, at age 30, Claudio Pádua left a successful executive career in Rio de Janeiro to dedicate himself to biology. This radical change included his wife Suzana Pádua and their three children. The family moved to the Pontal do Paranapanema in western São Paulo State, where Claudio undertook research with the black lion tamarin, one of the world’s most threaten primates.
As the research progressed, it became clear that, for the effective conservation of the species, the support of the inhabitants of the surrounding forest, inhabited by the black lion tamarin, would be necessary. This was the beginning of IPÊ’s environmental education work, led by Suzana, who, by involving the communities in the region, started the process of raising awareness about the importance of protecting nature. Gradually, people came to understand that the conservation of the marmoset would help not only to preserve the Atlantic Forest, which is already threatened, but also their own lives.
Other researchers and trainees, who at that time already believed that it was impossible to separate conservation from environmental education and community involvement, joined Claudio and Suzana to create IPÊ, which initially had its headquarters in Piracicaba (SP).Today, IPÊ is considered one of the largest environmental NGOs in Brazil, holds the OSCIP title, and has its headquarters in Nazaré Paulista (SP). The Institute, which started with the Mico-Leão-Preto Project, now has more than 160 professionals working on more than 30 projects a year, in places like Pontal do Paranapanema and Nazaré Paulista (SP), Baixo Rio Negro (AM), Pantanal and Cerrado (MS).