DO YOU FEEL FRUSTRATED AND HELPLESS WHEN YOU HEAR ABOUT THE WORLDíS FAST DISAPPEARING TROPICAL RAINFORESTS?
WELL, HEREíS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
...BY SPONSORING AN ACRE OR MORE OF THREATENED RAINFOREST IN THE CHOCO-ANDEAN RAINFOREST CORRIDOR IN NORTH-WEST ECUADOR, SOUTH AMERICA
You will be supporting a project which recognises that it will only succeed in the long term if it has the understanding and involvement of the neighbouring communities. We now have a programme which directly benefits the people - this includes sustainable agriculture, alternative income generation, health and environment education. All of these will help reduce the pressure of the "slash and bun" agriculture, cattle ranching, charcoal burning and logging.WHO ARE WE AND WHY DO WE DESERVE YOUR SUPPORT?
You will be helping us to build on a well-established project. We have already secured protection for the Mindo and Maquipucuna Reserves in the south end of the corridor and we are now starting the purchases for the northern phase, adjacent to the Cotocachi Cayapas biological Reserve.
We place great importance on scientific research. The research stations are used by researchers and students for a variety of tropical forest studies.
Rainforest Concern works in partnership with many organisations like Rainforest Information Centre, Los Cedros, FUNDESIN, DECOIN and NYTUA. Our work has the full knowledge and support of the Ecuadorean Government.
WHY IS THE PROJECT SO IMPORTANT?
In supporting the corridor project, you will be supporting one of the worldís most important ecological areas - so important that it has been classified as a world biodiversity "hotspot". This is a region containing an amazingly high number of endangered animal and plant species, many of which are found nowhere else on earth. Among the wonderful species found here are jaguar, pumas, ocelots, agouti, tapir, howler monkeys and the rare spectacled bear. Some of the wonderful birds include the spectacular cock-of-the-rock, toucan, and the Andean Condor.
Hundreds of species of birds and thousands of species of plants have been identified with new discoveries being made all the time.
These rainforests represent a vast reservoir of knowledge and hold the potential for the discovery of new medicines and foods. There is no doubt that large-scale destruction of the rainforests alters the climate - intensifying droughts in the dry season and floods in the rainy season. This results in fewer animal and plant species, soil erosion, unreliable water supply and increased health risks for the people.
WHY A CORRIDOR?
Biological corridors are essential for maintaining migration of animal and plant species from one area to another and to ensure healthy population levels. Monkeys, for example, will travel through the forest following ripening fruits on which they feed and, in turn, the jaguars follow the monkeys on which they depend.
This corridor will ultimately connect the cloud forest of the Andes to the mangroves of the Pacific Coast and in so doing will ensure continuity of forest between four vulnerable reserves.
WHAT IS OUR IMMEDIATE TARGET?
To complete the purchase of the area of threatened forest between the Maquipucuna Cloud Forest Reserve and the vast Cotocachi Cayapas Ecological Reserve. This is a really important and vulnerable link in the southern phase of the corridor.
The majority of this land is primary cloud forest and, as the name suggests, it is often covered in a warm mist in which orchids, ferns and bromeliads flourish and attract numerous and beautiful bird species.
We have started to purchase land for the northern phase of the corridor between the Cotocachi Cayapas Reserve and the Awa Indigenous Reserve. In the last two years, this area has been seriously deforested by the expansion of the African palm oil plantations. In conserving what remains of this area, we will not only protect the amazing biodiversity of this second stage of the project, but will also help guarantee the survival of the indigenous people of the area - the Awa and Cayapas Indians.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
By sponsoring an acre or more of rainforest in the Choco-Andean Rainforest Corridor in Ecuador, you will be directly helping to protect a uniquely important area of tropical rainforest.
The project represents a unique opportunity to achieve continuity of forest from the Pacific Coast to the Andean mountains. In other parts of Ecuador and the Western Andean tropics, the forests have become irreversibly fragmented.
THE CHOCO-ANDEAN RAINFOREST CORRIDOR PROJECT
The Choco-Andean Rainforest Corridor has been established to protect the fragile forests which still remain in north-west Ecuador and to ensure the survival of animal and plant species which migrate between highland and lowland areas following fluctuating food sources. Their existence is seriously threatened by the fragmentation of forest habitats which contain one of the highest levels of endangered and endemic species in the world.
Equally important, it has been designed to assist the local communities to find alternative methods of income generation which will reduce the pressure on the forests.
Between 1958 and 1988, north-west Ecuador lost over 90% of it's original forest cover. The Choco region is expected to follow a similar pattern within two decades if the current rate of deforestation continues. The remaining tropical forests of north-western Ecuador and the neighbouring Choco Bioregion are widely considered to be among the most environmentally threatened and ecologically important areas in the world and, as a result, they have been classified as a biodiversity 'hotspot' for international concern.
SPONSOR AN ACRE
1 ACRE AT £25 - you will receive an attractive illustrated Certificate recording your valued support and informative newsletters updating you with the project's progress.
3 ACRES AT £75 - as well as the above items, you will receive a Rainforest Concern T-shirt (XL size only) and "In The Cloud Forest" poster by Max Werner.
5 ACRES AT £125 - as a Rainforest Guardian you will receive New View's popular and beautifully illustrated educational book "Rain Forest" and your name will be added to our list of Guardians.
10 ACRES AT £250 - Rainforest Benefactor. Sponsorship and donations of £250 will be entitled to two day's free accomodation for two people, meals and guided tours at the Tandayapa Reserve, in addition to the above items.
Postage & Packing: Please add £2 for EU countries or £5 for the rest of the world.
Please specify if no gifts are required.
Rainforest Concern may reclaim the tax on a donation of £250 or more via Gift Aid. Donations may also be made by using the CAF voucher and card system.
Cheques should be made payable to Rainforest Concern and sent to:
Rainforest Concern, 27 Lansdowne
Crescent,
London W11 2NS.
It is also possible to pay by Access / Visa or Eurocard for any of the above.
For complete information please phone:
(0044) 207 229 2093
or email: rainforest@gn.apc.org