ACT believes that conservation is a moral issue. Therefore, ACT makes certain that all programs and projects are in compliance with eight Core Values:

1. Culture, Nature and Health
   ACT promotes the development of processes of research, interdisciplinary study and consensus building, in the framework of a systematic analysis of life that contemplates the integration of culture, nature, and health.
   ACT advances its work in the attempt to integrate aspects that traditionally were considered separate or fragmented. We believe that our work should be guided by a deliberate effort toward the integration of these aspects. Specifically, we value life intrinsically and believe that it expresses itself in our knowledge, values and symbols, in the natural world and in the physical, mental, social, cultural and spiritual well-being of both the individual and society.
2. Biological and Cultural Diversity
   ACT works for the preservation of biocultural diversity.
   ACT believes that environmental protection includes the preservation of both biological integrity and cultural diversity. Their interdependency is a unique characteristic that must be examined fully.
   Biodiversity is concentrated in the massive rainforests of tropical areas. It is in these equatorial rainforests where most minority ethnic indigenous groups survive. ACT works towards preserving not only biodiversity, but also cultural diversity.
3. Shamanism
   ACT contributes to the strengthening of shamanic knowledge systems and their transmission to the following generations.
   The strengthening of shamanic systems and their transmission to new generations are the objectives of ACT’s Shamans and Apprentices Programs.
   The perpetuation of many indigenous cultures and their productive systems is founded on the institution of shamanism. In such cultures where traditional medicine is no longer practiced or where the shaman disappears or loses authority, acculturation and possibly extinction are imminent. Therefore, all of ACT’s environmental, social, cultural, and economic programs with such indigenous communities begin by strengthening the shamanic institution and its traditional medicine systems; restoring traditional authority is a fundamental conservation tool.
4. Traditional Health Systems
   ACT promotes the study, recovery, protection, and dissemination of traditional health systems.
   ACT gives a high priority to the implementation of programs and projects geared towards the study, recovery, protection, and dissemination of traditional health systems. We design this work as an interdisciplinary enterprise, following scientific principles and in the framework of the ethical principles formulated by the World Medical Association.
5. Intercultural Dialogue
   ACT’s programs are based on an intercultural dialogue between indigenous wisdom and Western science knowledge systems.
   ACT believes that the knowledge and practices of ethnic groups and of the indigenous and rural communities are important and useful for natural resource conservation and enriching to western healthcare systems. ACT works in the conviction that combining the wisdom of traditional knowledge with modern science creates long-term environmental solutions. Therefore, we not only promote intercultural dialogue, we design our programs and projects based on exchanges where our indigenous colleagues are both the generators and the subjects of the knowledge. Long-term progress in conservation demands real partnerships based on mutual trust with communities and grassroots organizations in ACT host countries.
6. Support for Indigenous Rights
   ACT supports and promotes the fundamental rights of indigenous people.
   In 1989, the International Labor Organization adopted Convention #169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. This Convention, which was ratified by 14 countries, has become the Magna Carta for the rights of indigenous people. In it, five fundamental rights of indigenous peoples are addressed: autonomy, identity, territory, participation, and development.
   ACT supports and promotes these rights and uses them as a premise to establish collaborative agreements in the countries where we are active. ACT recognizes the urgent need to work with indigenous partners toward the preservation of their resources and to jointly secure the legal and financial ability to protect the ecosystems on which they depend.
7. Intrinsic Value of Nature
   ACT does not engage in bioprospecting.
   While we know that native habitats are often a cornucopia of resources for new products, medicines, and other resources, our ethical commitment transcends material considerations and instead seeks to rescue the intrinsic value of nature and its possible use for human welfare, medically, culturally, and spiritually. ACT supports the development of equitable and fair mechanisms in the quest for new rainforest products at an international level to guarantee benefit to local communities. Participation in such contracts is a decision to be made exclusively by the communities involved.
8. Social and Environmental Responsibility
   We are responsible for our natural and social environment.
   ACT strives to transcend the simple execution of projects and programs. We believe it is our responsibility to stand together with the various communities that collaborate with us and commit ourselves to their general well-being. ACT intends to create an organizational culture deeply involved in the promotion of this well-being, sharing responsibility with these individuals and remaining respectful of their values. In the same fashion, ACT commits itself to an internal work and social environment that reflects those same values, and believes that responsibility and solidarity should also shape, as a first and necessary step, the treatment of all the people associated with ACT, be it the employees themselves or the members of the communities with which we work.

Photos©ACT: Nahtahlah, Trio Shaman; Ingano Shamans; Healing a Trio child in Suriname; Addressing Xingu indigenous leaders; Trio child.