TReeS UK was founded in 1986 as a registered non-profit organization by a small number of people (mostly biologists) who had worked in the Tambopata region of the department of Madre de Dios in southeast Peru and wished to set up an infrastructure to channel support to the region. TReeS Peru was established in 1999 as an independent sister organisation by a group of Peruvian professionals who share the aims and aspirations of TReeS UK.

The aims of TReeS, broadly, are to support biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Madre de Dios basin, with particular reference to the Tambopata area, which includes two protected areas - the Tambopata National Reserve (created in 2000) and the Bahuaja Sonene National Park (created in 1996). TReeS UK channels funds to TReeS Peru, which maintains a small office in the town of Puerto Maldonado. We also provide an information network and maintain two libraries in the UK for researchers going to the Tambopata region.

Rather than imposing our own program, TReeS aims to respond to local initiatives which further the aims of conservation and sustainable development. In this way, we not only help to achieve specific goals for individual projects, but also support local motivation and build local capacity to generate solutions to environmental and development problems. The bulk of TReeS’ support over the past ten years has been for native communities’ initiatives on health care and a re-evaluation of traditional forest practices; for operational costs and community consultations on development problems by the regional Federations for indigenous peoples (FENAMAD) and for farmers (FADEMAD); and for biological expeditions, publications and field studies in the region by young Peruvian biologists.

TReeS UK currently has about 500 members worldwide. It is run on an entirely voluntary basis and produces a simple newsletter three or four times a year. Funding comes mainly from membership and donations, and from grants from private trusts for particular projects.