In 1991, the Rainforest Information Centre (RIC) established a local NGO in Ecuador, Centro de Investigacion de los Bosques Tropicales (CIBT). The first executive director was long-time RIC volunteer Douglas Ferguson. The present ED is Colombian biologist Martha Mondragon. In the thirteen years that CIBT/RIC have been working in Ecua-dor, we have assisted with programs and initiated projects and processes that include the following:

a. The Awa region

i) Assisting the Awa People for three years with the demarcation of their 100,000 hectare Ethnic Forest Reserve. ii) Co-ordinating with and assisting the first black community in Ecuador to receive communal legal title on ethnic grounds. iii) Co-ordinating and creating sustainable timber management plans with the communities of El Pan and Arenales. This project is now managed and funded by the British Overseas Development Agency and the 'Unidad Tecnica Ecuatoriana del Plan Awa' with the Ministry of Exterior Relations.

b. San Lorenzo.

Establishment of a five hectare model plot for integrated agriculture within the city of San Lorenzo with the infrastructure necessary to establish the 'Madre Selva' (Forest Mother) Permaculture Institute. The Mayor of San Lorenzo who also wants to start an environment committee in his local government), pleaded with us for more permaqculture programs there. Some of the world's most intact mangrove forests are found nearby and these are under extreme threat largely through unsus-tainable agriculture . Over population and deforestation (for timber and now also palm oil plantations) are some of the other problems there. The San Lorenzo Centre has the potential to welcome representatives from communities for permaculture train-ing and environmental awareness. It can supply seeds and seed-lings. Trainers from the centre could also travel to communities for workshops.

c. Los Cedros Biological Reserve

The establishment of the 6,400 hectare Los Cedros Biological Reserve as a legal and physical entity. With the help of two major grants from the Australian government aid agency AusAID,  we purchased the lands cleared by the only 7 colonists to have gained a foothold on the Los Cedros plateau. The Ecuado-rian government then granted us the remainder of the plateau for a total of over 5,000 hectares of cloud forest zoned "Bosques Protectores" on which we have established a scientific reserve. This protects not only the extraordinary flora and fauna of Los Cedros, but also puts us in a position to police the adjacent Cotacachi-Cayapas national park - 525,000 acres of the wildest lands in Ecuador. In spite of being a national park and a UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere" Reserve, the Cotocachi-Cayapas is threatened with colonisation, illegal logging and poaching and our presence and patrols at Los Cedros are inhibiting illegal activities there.

d. Caymabe

i) Assisted the marginalized indian community of Chiti Chaca to construct a school and establish a one hectare permaculture model. ii) The creation of a nursery of native trees and establishment of a small integrated household model of permaculture.

e. The Huaorani

i) The physical demarcation of 92 kilometers of the legal boundary of Huaorani land along the frontier of greatest pressure from colonisation of their 670,000 hectares of pristine forest homeland. ii) Worked with the Huaorani on their return into their recently legalized homeland. iii) Co-ordination of the removal and successful resettlement of colonists living within the legalised Huaorani Territory.

f. The indigenous foundation Izhu Mangallpa Urcu (IMU) and Napo Galeras National Park

i) Assisted the Indigenous Foundation IMU to establish itself legally and to create the IMUcentre. Its aim is to protect the Napo Galeras National Park as a sacred site according to indigenous tradition. ii) Worked with IMU to o-ordinate communication with the communities surrounding Galeras in order to reach consensus on the need to participate actively in the protection of Galeras. iii)Completion of the socio-geographic studies and consultation with local communities necessary to establish the current boundaries ofthe Galeras National Park. iv) Assisted in the physical demarcation of the first 20 km of the park's boundary. v) Removal and resettlement in better conditions of colonists from 1,700 hectares of what has now become the Galeras National Park.

g. The Panacocha Reserve

consists of 56,000 Ha of primary rainforest, home to jaguars, ocelots, 9 species of monkeys and 500 species of birds. It harbours a network of waterways including the spectacular Panacocha Lagoon where the endangered Amazon River Dolphin live. Important as it is in its own right, Panacocha achieves added significance as the corridor connecting 2 much larger areas: To the south it is bordered by the Yasuni Reserve which is 982,000 hectares and to the north by the 600,000 hectare Cuyabeno park. Unfortunately Cuyabeno has been impacted by oil drilling in the past while Yasuni has a large number of active oil wells. Panacocha has so far been spared oil exploration and we want to try and keep it that way. By strengthening protection for Panaco-cha, we are helping to establish a huge (more than 1.6 million Ha) contiguous park in the headwaters of the Amazon.

RIC and CIBT have been actively supporting the protection of Panacocha since the early '90's and in 1994 we succeeded in having the area granted "Bosques Protectores" status and handed back to the traditional owners, the Quichua people of Corazon de Jesus.

A splendid opportunity to increase the protection of the area came our way in 1997: a 50 hectare inholding surrounded by the reserve was up for sale. This is an operating eco-tourist resort (backpacker style) on the shore of the Panacocha Lagoon with 9 thatched cabins, kitchen/dining hall, motor boats and canoes and a spectacular viewing platform 130 feet up a gigantic Ceiba tree.

Although we have managed to get land reserved at Panacocha, reserve status in Ecuador does not by itself stop colonization, logging, poaching or mineral extraction. Our presence at Panaco-cha Lodge will allow us to physically patrol and protect Panaco-cha just as our presence at Los Cedros has allowed us to protect the Cotocachi-Cayapas national park. It will allow us to develop partnerships with the local people and to create a renewed vision and new standards of excellence for ecotourism.

A strong emphasis of our work in the Panacocha region has been to protect the Amazon River Dolphin. We have successfully lobbied the army to prohibit the soldiers' killing of dol-phins. The military and local community used to kill the Amazon River Dolphin in the past for target practice and fun while others killed them to sell their teeth for neck-laces.

The Quichua people of Corazon de Jesus are very supportive of our efforts to further the protection of the Panacocha Reserve and they will be trained as caretakers and guides at the lodge. Half of the profits from the ecotourism enterprise will go to patrolling and protecting the larger reserve, and half will be for community development projects for the impoverished tradi-tional owners.

Rainforest Information Centre volunteer Ruth Rosenhek visited Panacocha in October 1998. We used the slides and video footage from her trip to raise all the funds needed to buy the Panacocha Lodge. After extensive negotiations, the owner dropped his price from US$130,000 to US$70.000 for the place. Ruth and John Seed got the ball rolling with a donation of $10,000 which they raised from their 1998 US tour and sought donations for the remainder and in December, 1999 we succeeded in purchasing the property.

Meanwhile the local community of Corazon de Jesus along with the Ecuadorian government have agreed that CIBT will write the management plan for the 56,000 hectare Panacocha Protected Forest. Usually, the community is not involved in these sorts of decisions and we believe that it bodes well for the project that in this case they are active partners in the agree-ment. 

h. Education processes

As well as the above, CIBT/RIC administers and co-ordinates two aspects of education:

i) The permaculture program

Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility for a stable social order. (Bill Mollison. 1992).

CIBT/RIC have established a process of working according to permaculture principles in the three main regions in Ecuador (coast, sierra and Amazonia). Over four hundred people from many walks of life have participated in CIBT's two week seminars, which offer both theory and practical training. The last of these seminars in April 1994 hosted participants from twenty two countries and was held at the IMU centre. CIBT has also conducted many mini-seminars for isolated communities. The principles of permaculture are not used to impose a methodology, but to analyse current practice and seek more sustainable ways of working in areas where traditional practice has been eroded.

ii) The 'All Species Project' This is a process of education in the schools that culminates in a day or more of pageantry with the whole community participating. These have taken place in 1993 in San Lorenzo and 1995 in Cayambe.

3. Relationships and Differences Organisations with which CIBT/RIC have worked include The Awa Federation, the 'Unidad Ecuatoriana del Plan Awa', The Federation of Autonomous Farmers of the North West of Ecuador, and Afro-Ecuatoriana in the coastal region; 'Pichincha Richarimui' and the 'Union of Indigenous Communities of Juan Montalvo' which is a campesino organisation that CIBT accompanied as it emerged in the Sierra. In the Amazon CIBT has worked with the Organisation of the Huaorani Nation (ONHAE) and with the indigenous foundation IMU.

At the national level CIBT/RIC have worked with the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador (CONAIE), with INEFAN and with the Ecuadorean Institute of Land Reform and Colonisation (IERAC), which, having recognised that colonisation must cease, is reforming its structure and objectives. Other organisations worked with at the national level include 'Patrimonio Cultural' of the state, the Military, the Amazon Co-operation Treaty and the Ministery of Exterior Relations

CIBT - Centro de Investigacion de los Bosques Tropicales
Casilla Postal: 17-07-8726 Quito - Ecuador
Tel-Fax: 593-2-540-346,
cibt@ecuanex.net.ec