To combine scientific research and traditional local knowledge to support positive initiatives of natural resources management along the Juruá River (Amazonas, Brazil), in order to promote biodiversity conservation, food security, income, and improvement of well-being of indigenous and non-indigenous rural Amazonian communities.

Instituto Juruá aims to be a centre of excellence in the design and implementation of tools for the management and conservation of natural resources, guided by the following values.

• Local action: community members must be the main actors in management and conservation initiatives;
• Local knowledge: traditional local knowledge must be considered and respected during decision-making;
• Applied scientific research: decision-making must be supported by high-quality scientific studies;
• Gender equity: initiatives must consider strategies for promoting gender equity in all stages of project planning and execution, including in the decision-making and benefit distribution.
• Respect for cultural differences: cultural differences must always be respected, and no kind of discrimination or favoring linked to cultural issues may happen.

• Promote, advise and support actions towards the ecological and socio-economic sustainability of natural resource management;
• Develop high quality scientific research, establishing partnerships with national and international research institutions;
• Facilitate the delivery of scientific knowledge to decision makers at all levels of governance;
• Develop participatory methodologies and forms of communication between the diverse range of stakeholders in socio-ecological systems;
• Promote capacity building courses for rural communities;
• Support local educators in practical environmental education initiatives;
• Use diverse outreach tools to disseminate information generated by our scientific research and by local management initiatives to the general public in the most accessible way.