PANACOCHA Lagoon is at the heart of the 56,000 hectare Panacocha Reserve in the Ecuadorean headwaters of the mighty Amazon River. In this lagoon we find the endangered Amazon River Dolphin and the surrounding forests echo with the cries of 9 species of monkeys, 400 species of birds, jaguars, ocelots and so much more. The Rainforest Information Centre and our partners were instrumental in Panacocha receiving Reserve status (Bosques Protectores) in 1994. Now we need to stop the oil industry, poaching and illegal colonisation.  more info

LOS CEDROS BIOLOGICAL RESERVE

 In 1990, our Ecuadorian partners, CIBT, established the Los Cedros Biological Reserve in western Ecuador with the help of RIC and the Australian AID agency. This 14,000 acre reserve provides habitat for monkeys, bears, armadillos, pumas and jaguar which are now being studied by scientists from around the world. More significantly, Los Cedros is strategically situated to halt the colonization, poaching and illegal logging that undermine the Cotocachi-Cayapas despite its status as an Ecuadorian national park and a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. The half million acre Cotocachi-Cayapas National Park contains the most diverse forest on Earth and represents the crown of the biota of western Ecuador.

PERMACULTURE AND SEED-SAVING IN ECUADOR

Unsustainable agriculture is one of the main engines driving the slash and burn colonisation of the Ecuadorian rainforest. Australian volunteers from the Rainforest Information Centre have been addressing this since 1986. At present ... 
1. Anja is setting up sustainable solutions in the buffer zone of the Cotacachi Cayapas National Park.
2. Australian volunteers Holly Shiach and Be Ward are working with local people  planting organic orchards, teaching permaculture and seed-saving, multiplying and distributing planting materials  and rebuilding the Madre Selva Permaculture Institute near San Lorenzo. This is a project which aims to bring sustainable agriculture  to the coastal region of Ecuador. It is a demonstration site and education centre where people can see, touch, taste and study the fruits of 9 years labour in a thriving permaculture system. Less than US$25 per week is all it takes to keep a volunteer active there.

 

SPONSOR AN ACRE

Our British partners "Rainforest Concern" have a "Sponsor-an-acre" program which is raising money to buy back critical rainforest habitat to create wildlife corridors between existing reserves in an area that has been acclaimed as a world biodiversity "hotspot". Corridors are particularly important as they allow migration of animal and plant species from one area to another and help maintain viable populations. Rainforest Concern have already raised enough money to buy half the land needed to create such a corridor between the two largest reserves in western Ecuador - the Cotocachi-Cayapas National Park and the Awa Tribal Reserve. This will help protect an amazingly high number of endangered plants and animal species many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Each A$60 raised by the jukebox for this project protects an acre of this special rainforest. Lots of schools in England and elsewhere have taken on projects to buy land to add to this corridor.

VIDEO  

AMAZON - THE INVISIBLE PEOPLE
The story of Rainforest Information Centre projects in Ecuador.

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