The Ecuadorian Amazon is on the verge of an environmental catastrophe. At 1.2 percent annually, Ecuador's deforestation rate is three times higher than any other country in South America and six times higher than the global average. The combined effect of unmanaged logging, widespread oil exploitation, unsustainable agriculture, and a burgeoning population is destroying 342,500 acres of Ecuador's rain forest and extinguishing hundreds of species every year.
Yachana Foundation's Protected Forest
Since 1994, YACHANA (formally FUNEDESIN) has purchased and protected over 4,300 acres of primary and secondary rainforest. In January 2002, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment declared all of our rainforest land a Protected Forest.
Our Protected Forest is within the Buffer Zone around Gran Sumaco National Park, a designated UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve Our Protected Forest is within the Buffer Zone around Gran Sumaco National Park, a designated UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve, and Yachana Foundation is a founding member of the Planning Board for Gran Sumaco.
In September 2006, a new species of Glass Frog was discovered on the reserve by our partner in conservation Global Vision International. GVI has volunteers working on the reserve 40 weeks per year doing data collection and helping in our community conservation program.
Total number of square feet of rainforest bought for conservation:Adopt an Acre of Rainforest
Generous donations by organizations, such as Rainforest Concern, and hundreds of individuals have allowed us to purchase and protect 4,300 acres of rainforest. You can help through our Adopt an Acre program which provides the financial support we need to continue this important work.
Adopt an Acre of Rainforest Now!Environmental Education
The Yachana Technical High School is providing a valuable education in conservation to the youth from four Amazon provinces. They are directly involved in all aspects of conservation and environmental education. In the summer of 2007 we began the construction of the Yachana Rainforest Interpretative Center.
This Center is designed to provide relative, interactive, in situ education on the rainforest to young people from schools throughout the region. Our High School students will be the interpreters to these visitors, and in so doing, learn more about the reasons to protect their environment.
A second program that was begun in September 2007 is what we are calling “Youth to Youth”. We are finding that high school and university students from throughout Ecuador are fascinated with our education program and want to learn more.
We have established a program where these students can come for a visit to our school and spend 5 days with our students as their guides. We are finding this is having an incredible impact on these visiting students when they see how our education program is working.
To learn more, contact info@yachana.org.ec.
