The Black Jaguar Foundation is a non-profit organization working to reforest the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado savanna, in Brazil. We plant native trees on a massive scale in collaboration with local landowners to realize the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor: bringing back biodiversity and improving the lives for all future generations.

Our Mission
RESTORING THE AMAZON RAINFOREST AND CERRADO SAVANNA
The Black Jaguar Foundation started in 2009, its initial goal making a unique documentary about the black jaguar in the wild – a dream of initiator Ben Valks. During his numerous expeditions it was not the black jaguar he encountered, but the drastically deforested Amazon. Inspired by the powerful documentary ‘HOME’ by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and its message that ‘we all have the power to change’, the BJF has expanded its mission. Ben has since devoted his life to restoring the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna through the BJF.

Instead of being the focus of the foundation, the black jaguar came to be its icon. It symbolizes the precarious future of the entire Amazon and Cerrado as well as the endangerment of our own species.