2024 Annual Report

Native Future
Jul 3
2 min read

Native Future partners with Indigenous organizations and communities to protect and conserve the lands, waters, and ecosystems that are vital to their way of life. We support them to secure their land rights, restore their biodiversity, revitalize their culture and language, and develop sustainable livelihoods. We provide technical, legal and financial resources to meet these objectives. And, we provide Indigenous students scholarships to receive the formal and non-formal education they need to meet their personal and Indigenous development goals. The following is a snapshot of the results achieved in 2024 because of the generous donations to Native Future.

Native Education - 2024 Highlights

Scholarships supported:

12 El Jacinto Ngäbe Buglé students to attend University.
Wounaan, Yadiro Carpio, to complete her last year of Forestry school.
26 high school and university students of the Buenos Aires Women’s Artisan Cooperative.
8 Ngäbe Buglé students to continue their high school education in Buenos Aires.

Wounaan Land Rights - 2024 Highlights

The community of Aruza regained their right to apply for all 8,000 hectares of their land, and re-submitted their collective title application to Panama’s National Land Authority.
Thirty (30) people are under investigation by the Government of Panama’s environmental authorities for illegal deforestation in four Wounaan communities.
2 forest fires, approximately 100 hectares, were successfully extinguished in Puerto Lara and Maje by trained Wounaan volunteer forest fire fighters.

Native Stewardship - 2024 Highlights

**Five Wounaan communities restoring their biodiversity**

Communities exchanged 1,300 seeds of priority native tree species to meet restoration needs.
Five Wounaan communities formed a coordinating committee to guide seed collection, sharing, and tree planting.
Two Wounaan attend the “Seeding Gender Equity” workshop in Costa Rica.

Wounaan Bird Count - 2024 Highlights

Rio Hondo, Rio Platanares and Puerto Lara ecotours and website launched.
22 tourism operators, agencies and directors of the National Chamber of Indigenous Tourism went on familiarization trips to Wounaan communities.
32 Wounaan and international birdwatchers counted 142 species and 1,225 total birds during Puerto Lara’s sixth Christmas Bird Count.

2024 Revenue and Expenses

Thank you to the 170 individuals and foundations who contributed to the Native Future mission in 2024. Together, we raised $355,874.

International Conservation Fund of Canada, Mycorrhizal Fund, Rainforest Foundation US and US Forest Service International Programs, thank you for your solid commitment to Indigenous rights and conservation in Panama.

The bedrock of Native Future, the support of individual donors and private foundations, allow us to leverage more funding for Indigenous communities in Panama. In July 2024, we were awarded a two-year, $475,000 US Embassy Panama grant to strengthen the environmental security of Indigenous territories in Darien and East Panama. A project of the Wounaan Land Rights program, the grant was canceled in February 2025.

Thank you for supporting the mission of Native Future!