Supporting community partners in Cazaderos, Ecuador
05/28/2020
Strategic Area:
Wild Places -
Content Type: Blog
Country:
Ecuador -
Your generosity at work in Cazaderos, Ecuador
Two weeks ago, Nature and Culture wrote to you about indigenous and rural communities struggling because of COVID-19. These communities have been in desperate need of basic provisions.
Because of compassionate people like you, communities in Cazaderos, Ecuador are now receiving the help they so desperately needed.
Nature and Culture’s community partners in Cazaderos have been fighting to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while also struggling with a severe drought. Lack of medicine and food has been a growing concern.
“The economic situation has affected us most,” a community member told Darwin Martinez, Nature and Culture’s local conservationist in the region. “We lack food and medicine. We don’t have necessary medicine if we get ill.”
With your support, Nature and Culture is providing food supplies to 40 families in Cazaderos, including boxes full of rice, tuna, oil, and other items. Your generosity is making a difference in the lives of these families, and helping ensure the protection of endangered ecosystems.
Rural and indigenous communities are the last defense for many endangered ecosystems against increasing threats like logging, cattle ranching, and mining. In Cazaderos, communities have been working with Nature and Culture since 2009 to save the last remnants of tropical dry forest in southwestern Ecuador.
The tropical dry forests of southwestern Ecuador are home to extraordinary biodiversity including plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. Unfortunately, over 95% of this forest has already been lost to human activity. Safeguarded by local communities, Nature and Culture’s Cazaderos Reserve forms a critical corridor between the La Ceiba Reserve, nearby community reserves, and the Biosphere Reserve of Northwestern Peru.
Darwin shared that, “because of the strong relationships we have with these communities we were able to organize the purchase and delivery of basic provisions following strict safety protocols. It was very gratifying to be able to offer support to our friends and allies in the conservation of the Ecuador’s tropical dry forests.”
Thank you for sending help to nature’s guardians! You are making a difference for these communities – and for the planet.
