Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC) welcomes indie-folk singer, songwriter, composer and producer Vanessa Forero as their new patron. The British-Colombian musician’s new role celebrates NPC’s recent expansion into Colombia and Argentina and its many years of conservation, research and anti-trafficking work in Peru.
Vanessa, whose music has been downloaded over a million times on Spotify, first became interested in NPC’s work in 2013 when conducting research for a book she co-authored with her mother, Marina Chapman. The book, titled The Girl With No Name, was dedicated to NPC. Later, following the COVID pandemic and around the same time that NPC’s Colombia branch was being established, Vanessa embarked on the construction of an eco-home on a jungle-covered mountain in Colombia. She has thus far planted hundreds of threatened trees on her land. Reforestation is one NPC’s main focal points, having planted tens of thousands of trees in Peru since its establishment in 2007.
Vanessa, who won a Hollywood award for ‘best score’, and who uses Colombian tribal drums rather than conventional drum kits for her music, is currently planning her next tour of North America. Her favourite thing about NPC’s work is “their passion and the attention to the individual… NPC knows the stories of each (animal rescued) and attends to their needs”.
A small charity, NPC uses an innovative conservation model, working with local communities and former poachers to promote conservation. As NPC’s Patron, Vanessa hopes to further their message. She and her mother are currently writing a second book. Vanessa and her Colombian mountain home are soon to be appearing on Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild.
