Philip Tanimoto is the Executive Director of the The Cloud Forest Conservation Initiative. Tanimoto ‘discovered’ the little-known Cerro El Amay Cloud Forest Ecosystem during his doctoral research on cloud forest birds in 2006. He founded the Cloud Forest Conservation Initiative in 2009, and since then, he has guided its projects and expanded its conservation approach. CFCI builds lasting relationships with local communities to implement sustainable visions for the future. Our mission is to help poor farmers to stay on their land and not have to sell to speculators who plan to log the forest. CFCI is introducing macadamia–a specialized nut crop that grows optimally under local conditions. With macadamia comes a wealth of new skills and opportunities to protect the cloud forest.
Philip Tanimoto
