Carlos Ramos Penaranda

Environmental activist leading rainforest conservation in the Peruvian Amazon

Carlos Ramos Penaranda (b.1975) is a Peruvian biologist and founder of Amazonia Rescue, an organization protecting 1.2 million hectares of rainforest through community-led conservation. Born in Iquitos, he witnessed illegal logging destroy ancestral lands of the Yagua people. After earning a PhD in tropical ecology from the University of Edinburgh (2001), he returned to Peru to develop the first satellite monitoring system for illegal deforestation. His 2021 study in Scientific Reports showed a 65% reduction in deforestation in protected zones using his technology. Ramos Penaranda pioneered the 'Forest Guardian' program training indigenous communities in drone surveillance and carbon sequestration techniques. His work with the Peruvian government established the first community-based carbon credit system in 2018. In 2022, his documentary Voices of the Forest won the Green Oscar award at the Cannes Environmental Film Festival. Current initiatives include a $50 million reforestation project along the Marañón River, funded by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. His advocacy led to the 2020 Amazon Basin Protection Accord signed by 8 South American nations.