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April 2003 | Intag | By Carlos Zorrilla
| en español
The following is a brief summary of most of our current
and recent work. Please click
here for a more detailed account of the mining situation
-- which continues to be, unfortunately -- our main concern.
New DECOIN Board
New Web Site
Direct Conservation
Community Protected
Areas
Working with Groups
Coffee Grower's Association
High School Support
The Great Solidarity Store
Support for the Intag Paper
Junin Ecological Tourism
Project
Funding Priorities
New DECOIN Board
I was pretty sure I could take a break from being on the board
of DECOIN after eight very long years, and in a way I did...
This past March, a new board was elected, comprised of:
President: Silvia Quilumbango (promoted from Secretary-Treasurer)
Vice President: Mariano Guachagmira from the community
of Cerro Pelado (this is one of the four communities that
would disappear if the mining
project was to go ahead);
Secretary-Treasurer: Silvia Vetancourt (member: womenÕs
group and Guardabosques);
Fiscal Commission: Mary Ellen Fieweger (editor; Intag
newspaper).
Carlos Zorrilla is filling the new post of Executive Director,
and responding directly to the board (and VERY happy NOT to
be directly on the board for a while...) It's rather a big
title for such a small organization, but we couldn't come
up with better one at the moment!
New Web Site
March also saw the completion of our new web page, thanks
to the donated and fantastic work of Pam
Statz. Take a look at www.decoin.org, and send
us your suggestions......THANK YOU PAM!
Direct Conservation
Besides being glued to the computer communicating with allies
and friends, we finally got some good funding, thanks to Rainforest
Concern, to implement a Watershed and Biodiversity Conservation
Project. Briefly, it consists of helping communities purchase
and protect the micro watersheds where they get their drinking
water from. We have already purchased 10 of these areas, ranging
in size from 40 to a few hectares (average size 15 hectares;
one hectare = 2.5 acres). The land ends up in the communityÕs
name, they negotiate with the owners, and in many cases, they
also contribute towards the purchase price, and pay for all
legal expenses. The outcome are very well protected natural
areas, safe water for the communities, native forests conserved,
community participatory reforestation (where needed) and most
important from our perspective, a great increase in interests
in conservation. We are swamped by communities wanting to
join in the project- and believe it to be the most successful
of our conservation projects (it's ongoing, we have guaranteed
funding until August 2003, and are trying hard for additional
funding as there are about 60 communities we can work with
in Intag). This is by far our most time consuming project
at this time, and the most promising in inspiring local communities
to conserve their own natural resources. Please read "Bit
by Bit and Hectare by Hectare" for additional details).
Community Protected Areas
Last year we helped the local Guardabosques de Santa Rosa
purchase their own 120 hectare reserve in Santa Rosa, with
funding from GermanyÕs Rettet
den Regenwald. The land is covered in primary and good
secondary cloud forests. The 17 member group made up of young
people would like to implement sustainable projects, including
ecological tourism and agroforestry. In addition, early in
'03 we helped Rainforest Concern buy up a largely intact 120
hectare forested area close to the Intag Cloud Forest Reserve;
hoping in the future to convert it to a community protected
reserve (these are current, or recent land purchases, in the
past we have helped create other community reserves).
Working with Groups
We are working with several organized groups in the area,
besides the Guardabosques -- including three women's organizations:
a group making hand made soap out of Aloe Vera, Sangre de
Drago and other naturals, the Mujer y Medio Ambiente group
close to home (over 30 members), making beautiful one of a
kind sisal handicrafts, and the latest has been supporting
a Women's Umbrella Group (Coordinadora de Mujeres de Intag),
working with all the other women's group here in Intag . Help
consist in economic help to develop new products, covering
costs for them to attend conferences and handicraft fairs,
and so on. Furthermore, we are planning to fund a mayor regional
(Intag area) forum on Women and the Environment the dry season
of this year (June or July)...
Coffee Grower's Association
We are still helping out the local Coffee Grower's association,
AACRI. Most of the help has been directed at finding new markets
for the shade-grown Arabica coffee, plus in donations and
loans to help them through difficult times. The latest was
a $750 donation and a $300 loan (part of our funding comes
from a 5% commission on the exported coffee sent to Japan
-- usually amounting to between $1200 and $1500 per year).
If youÕd like to help to sell Intag coffee at your campus
or store, or at fairs, contact us.
High School Support
This is something we are trying to get off the ground and
are wanting to call the Intag Educational Initiative. The
main objective at the moment is to support a limited number
(limited to the funding we get!) high-school age students
be able to obtain their high-school degree through a very
innovative interesting program focused on natural resource
management (the students meet twice a month in Apuela with
a director). The support is basically aimed at helping pay
part of their tuition and other expenses (not more than 50%).
There are over 30 students enrolled in the program just in
Intag, which is monitored and promoted by the Ministry of
the Environment. We would like to support it because we believe
it is vital to have more people trained in natural resource
conservation in the Intag area. If you or your school is interested
in supporting this project, we welcome the support.
The Great Solidarity Store
This one is meant to resolve really one of the biggest problems
for us here in Intag: marketing our products. And as expected,
itÕs backed by all the groups. The project was recently proposed
to a Spanish NGO called SodePau, and IF it's funded, will
be implemented by DECOIN, Women's Coordinadora, AACRI, and
another local NGO. The store will be located in Otavalo, and
will promote products and services (like community ecological
tourism, handicrafts, natural soap, etc.), from Intag and
the rest of Cotacachi County, as long as the products or services
are produced by organizations involved in sustainable activities.
Another main objective is to promote our work here, and the
whole issue of Fair and Solidarity Trade- something we feel
to be a major driving force to bring about the change we want
to see happen (in fact I hope you all are buying more and
more Fair Trade goods!).
Support for the Intag Paper
If you are not subscribed to this amazing local Intag newspaper
-- you are missing out on something (puts the NY Times to
shame)! The local paper (published 6 times per year) has a
strong environmental focus, to which we constantly contribute
to. We have also supported, and will contribute to support
in the future, environmental writing and art contest. For
overseas subscription or donations, write to: Mary Ellen Fieweger
at: intag2001@yahoo.com
Junin Ecological Tourism Project
The community run ecological tourism project still continues
to forge ahead. We are helping Junin secure reservations,
and continue to work on advisory level. All profits stay in
the community; and the project is run by approximately 35
members of the community (see "The
Next Time You Read the New York Times" on for more details).
They are planning on adding a second, more rustic cabin higher
up in the primary forest they own (part of the 2,000 hectares
DECOIN helped them purchase with the support of Rettet den
Regenwald of Germany). If any of you can organize solidarity
tours to Junin, the community would be very appreciative (contact
Junin at: ecojunin@yahoo.es)
Funding Priorities
Not easy to identify, as I feel many of the above projects
equally need to be supported: I would say funding of the community
environmental education program, as well as the legal strategy
are two of the top priorities. But equally a priority is operating
expenses for DECOIN, including funding needs to hire a part
time secretary (about $2,200 per year) which will greatly
facilitate our work; plus pay for phones, internet, office
expenses, and all the detailed, and virtually invisible, expenses
associated with this kind of work (my phone bill last month
was $169.00!! -- yes dollars!).
We have also several communities interested in acquiring
their own forest reserves, but currently are without funds
to make this happen.
How to Get Involved or Make Donations
If you'd like to donate your time, or money, please specify
which of the projects you would like to support and get in
touch with me at: intagcz@uio.satnet.net.
Keep in mind that there may be other ways you might be
able to support our work.
Thank you,
Carlos Zorrilla
Executive Director Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag
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