Ecuadorian mantled howler monkey climbing in the Amazon Rainforest.

The sights and sounds of the Amazon rainforest come alive in this soothing and relaxing video that makes you feel you are in the heart of the world’s most biodiverse rainforest.

The team at the Amazon Research and Conservation Collaborative produced this creative video to help you connect more deeply with the actual areas its team is working to protect.

As the ARCC YouTube post says, “escape into the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon.”

The Amazon Research and Conservation Collaborative, a nonprofit co-founded by Ethan Duvall and Naia Andrade Hoeneisen, is working to support the conservation of biodiversity and cultural heritage in the western Amazon rainforest through interdisciplinary research, community engagement and communication initiatives.

From the ARCC website:

“Our work is primarily based in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This region supports some of the highest biodiversity in the Amazon Basin (and potentially the world), but is also experiencing pronounced human pressures, such as deforestation, oil extraction, and illegal gold mining. This region is also home to more than 10 indigenous nationalities, including three sub-groups in voluntary isolation.

“Our work is necessitated by a sad reality: rates of biodiversity loss and cultural extinction are higher than ever before in the western Amazon rainforest.”

Among the ARCC’s guiding values are indigenous rights and collaboration, prioritizing conservation impact, transparency and accountability, and capacity building.

“What sets us apart is our approach—we collaborate with an incredible array of indigenous communities to simultaneously address the inextricable issues of biodiversity conservation and community well-being,” Duvall states on the ARCC website. “Our projects are strategically diverse in scale and approach, spanning the scope of ecology, sustainable economics, journalism, and education.”

When you hear the Amazon rainforest speaking, the work ARCC is doing comes into focus. It is working for the future of Amazonia.

Feature photo of an Ecuadorian mantled howler monkey courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Amazon rainforest sounds: Close your eyes and you're there (virtually)

Reporting by David Strege, For The Win / For The Win

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect