NPC was set up in order to promote the conservation of forest habitats and wildlife through land protection, research, improvement of degraded habitat for wildlife, creation of public awareness programs, and sustainable development.  They work to create private and community-run reserves to ensure long term habitat protection for wildlife.  Through this work, they help local communities strengthen their stewardship of nature as well as protect their traditional and cultural identities, benefiting both humans and the environment.  NPC runs many successful, low-cost projects, and they use their experiences to promote efficient conservation globally.

NPC's community-based conservation approach means that the reserves are protected by those who actually live in and around the forest, leading to real, on-the-ground protection by those with the most to gain from continued access to a healthy environment.  This also leads to wider, ecosystem level conservation in areas between the reserves.  At their main project site, the elimination of hunting of the Yellow-tailed woolly monkey led to a documented ~20% increase in the population since 2007, and local level bans on clear-cutting of forests led to deforestation rates dropping below those of surrounding areas.  Their research into the Peruvian night monkey provided proof that the species is much more at-risk than previously thought, resulting in the IUCN raising its category from Vulnerable to Endangered, and so focusing more attention on its protection.  In Colombia, Neotropical Primate Conservation is leading the National Conservation Plan for the Critically Endangered Colombian spider monkey, a species that only survives in some of the most troubled parts of the country.  The action plan has become a legal document that guides government policy at the national and regional levels.