The misty cloud forests of the southern hemisphere are hotbeds of remarkable, often endemic species, and play an important role in the water cycle. These forests are generally higher in elevation than rainforests, and receive much of their moisture through persistent cloud cover.

Throughout the tropical Andes, cloud forests are threatened by uncontrolled land use. Unfortunately, deforestation is rampant in this species-rich ecosystem, and today only 10% to 20% of original cloud forest cover remains.

Nature and Culture International employs a targeted approach to protecting this vanishing ecosystem and its threatened species–many of them literally unique. Using land purchase, community empowerment, local legislative action and international advocacy, we have conserved hundreds of thousands of acres of Cloud Forest across Latin America.