News & Events
NEW November 2007: Primate sightings by PRIMENET workers can now be entered into a GIS database via the internet. Just click the 'ENTER DATA TO GIS DATABASE' above (the manual is available here & in the resources section).
September 2007 - New playback method allows rapid assessment of brown-headed spider monkey numbers
The new playback method for estimating abundance of spider monkeys proved very successful in rapid assessments in highland and lowland sites.
Abigail Baird from the MSc in Primate Conservation (Oxford-Brookes) testing the playback system in Ecuador
June 2007 - Second parabiologist training course at Cristobal Colon
Parabiologists from the SE buffer zone of the Cotocachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve undertake the parabiologist training week.
Summer 2007 - Education programme in schools of the Souther Buffer Zone.
Educational days at schools in the buffer zone
September 2006 - The first Parabiologist training Course
Over 20 parabiologists attended the 5 day parabiologist training course at the Los Cedros Reserve. The participants covered primate and habitat assessment methods - with a focus on field skills. Links were made between communities facing differing threats to their local environments - from mining, forestry and 'over-tourism'.
We are currently arranging funds to allow exchanges between communities to disseminate sustainable livelihoods and allow them to organise workshops to share knowledge on how to deal with local threats.
Parabiologists 2006
May - June 2006
First Contact – Southern Buffer Zone of Cotocachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve
The aim of the second year of the project is to recruit individuals from communities within the Southern Buffer zone of the Cotocachi-Cayapas Ecological reserve for training as parabiologists. The parabiologist course curriculum will cover basic ecology and environmental issues, practical field survey techniques for establishing a survey and recording data and a course in collection and identification of the major families of trees.
To recruit suitable members, the PRIMENET team will visit community groups and reserves.
In May 2006 a PRIMENET team began the outreach programme with the generous help of the Holly Hills Trust who offered to introduce the team to a number of projects with which they, and Rainforest Concern, have been engaged over the last decade.
The journey from the Los Cedros Reserve took us past the primary reserve forest, a hieroglyph that predates European colonisation and down through communities to the village of Chontal , and the road connection.
On the journey down the reminder that the local economy depends heavily on logging was clearly illustrated by the presence of mule trains carrying large quantities of hardwood to be sold in the towns and cities.
Santa Lucia Contact Details
Santa Lucia
The Santa Lucia reserve covers an area of 730 hectares with the award winning Santa Lucia Reserve Lodge lying at an altitude of 1900m. In addition to catering for ecotourism and research at their lodge the main activity has been investigations into higher altitude reforestation – particularly the identification of species for silviculture and forest restoration.
A major form of land degradation in the region is the conversion of forest to pasture for grazing. The quick-growing African grass species, ‘ Pasto miel', genus Setaria has historically been favoured by pastoralists, however the long-term impact of grazing is soil degradation. In time the thin black organic layer is visibly reduced to a red oxisol with few nutrients. The reduced fertility and thick grass cover prevent easy establishment by other species. Planting experiments at Santa Lucia with a number of tree species has shown that ‘Aliso' ( Alnus ) can grow relatively quickly and, through nodules in its root system, act to nitrify the soil. The tree improves soil condition, attracts additional flora and fauna, whilst still ensuring pastural use for grazing mules as it has a relatively thin crown that allows sunlight to reach the grass. Other sun loving species used to initiate reforestation include Lechero ( Euphorbia laurifolia ), the medicinal Sanre de Drago ( Croton sp. ). In four years areas these trees have successfully established themselves and trees that require shade such as Cedro (Cedrela sp.), Motilon ( Hyronema oblonga ), Guayavillo ( Campornanesis sp ) and Palmito ( Geonoma sp ) have been planted.
For the first time in recorded memory the Canelo species - used extensively for construction - produced seeds. The particularly dry summer of 2005 resulted in flowering and the team at St Lucia are now expecting their first crop of seeds to begin planting experiments.
It is essential that species currently in high demand by local communities are investigated for propagation as there is a real possibility of their local extinction.
The Santa Lucia project is completely community owned and run, and provides a model for other proposed community projects. The lodge design is professional and the craftsmanship of construction, carried out by the community themselves, is impressive.
Apuella – the hub of alternative sustainable livelihoods
Apuella forms the base for a large number of community-owned and run initiatives. This extraordinary diversity of activities can be traced to the establishment of DECOIN. With the support of a number of international NGOs they have helped empower alternative livelihood options within the region and provide a striking example of what can be done with small amounts of funds and good organisation.
AACRI – Café Rio Intag is a small producers organisation that provides an alternative to mining with the objective to ensure harmonic development. Their philosophy is that of agroforestry to ensure that their producers grow a variety of produce (20 different products). This product diversity ensures the producers own food security in addition to extra income from production of coffee. The planting method emulates the diversity of the natural forest, thus reducing the risk of disease prevalent in monoculture agriculture.
Their focus is the production of shade grown, organic, fair trade coffee. To this end they provide local growers with technical expertise through specialised technicians. The small holdings that form the organisation range over altitudes from 600m to 2200m and average only half a hectare in size. Initiated with only 12 partner farms, there are now over 280 partners in 40 communities. This organisation currently enjoys the enviable position of greater demand for it's produce than production!
In addition to providing alternatives to unsustainable activity such as logging and mining they are directly involved in reforestation and the establishment of protected reserves.
Coordinadora de Mujeres INTAG
Since establishment the number of handcrafts produced by the women's organisation, Coordinadora de Muljeres, has increased rapidly with new and innovative designs. The raw material for the handcrafts comes from the Agave plant that grows rapidly at this altitude. The fibres are processed, weaved and dyed using local plant extracts then sold at the small shop in Apuella.
Consorcio Toisan
Founded in 2005, the consortium is an umbrella group that includes DECOIN, AACRI, Coordinadora de Mulheres and Mandioriacos Solidario. It's objective is to promote local consumption of local produce.
DECOIN (Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag)
Intag watershed project
Deforestation in the Intag region over the last four decades has resulted in a drying of the region and the loss of clean water sources from catchments supplying local communities. The impact has been dramatic as locals have been unable to sustain agriculture in the dry season and in many cases lack sufficient water for their own needs. Water sources that remained were often from private catchments and were often polluted by cattle ranching or pesticide use.
Local awareness of the problem has grown and now communities have embraced the Intag watershed project that aims to reforest micro-catchments. Community ownership, protection and reforestation of micro-catchments have resulted in the restoration of water supplies to many isolated communities. The success has been so great that many more communities are signing up. This unique programme has broken through the typical local community view that conservation is a luxury and a waste of time, as a direct link between biodiversity and quality of life is proven
The programme now consists of twenty six community reserves that protect the water for 29 communities that vary in size from two to 130 hectares. Five have been reforested by the communities with 20,000 trees of 37 native species. The responsibility of ownership and administration of the land is with the communities, and the success of this strategy has been demonstrated through the lack of land invasions and environmental degradation of the catchments.
The programme includes capacity building workshops to enable members to assess stream flow volumes and water quality using simple water quality indicator kits and aquatic macroinvertebrate indicators.
The clash between a sustainable future and the interests of short term development is epitomised by the current situation in the INTAG region. The 46 km 2 concession for a open cast copper mine is currently in the hand of the Canadian Ascendant Copper Corporation. Risks of development include contamination of streams and rivers with heavy metals, impacts to habitat of tens of species of birds and mammals in risk of extinction, including the brown-headed spider monkey and massive deforestation with knock-on impacts to local climate.
There is strong local community opposition including local government that have declared Cotocachi an ecological canton.
Junin Community Lodge and Community reserve
The resistance of the local communities dates back to the 80's when the Japanese Bishimetals, a subsidiary of Mitsibishi Corporation first took an interest in the copper in the region. Strong local opposition eventually resulted in their withdrawal from the region. Local resistance to mining has attracted academics interested in community resistance movements and volunteers based at the Junin community lodge currently act as human rights monitors in the region during this period of tension.
Chaluajacto Alto
Brilasol
The watershed to the east of the Los Cedros Reserve is home to a number of communities, with Brilasol next to the reserve and nestling up to the borders of the Cotocachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve. The local economy is still heavily reliant on the export of primary forest timber. At present the poor transport connections mean that the wood is hauled out using mules and an interesting study would be to estimate volumes removed. On June 11 th we made contact with the local president Guido Vozmediano during one of the community ‘mingas'. These events are community-wide and bring everyone out to work on such projects as repairing the trails at the start of the dry season.
They were interested in the project and keen to supply two parabiologists for training in September 2006.
March 2006
A special issue of Terra Incognita is published to highlight the situation surrounding the Brown-headed spider monkey and its last remaining habitats.
(CLICK HERE TO READ SPECIAL ISSUE OF TERRA INCOGNITA - NEEDS ACROBAT READER)
July 2005
2nd July - Josef Decoux, founder and administrator of the Los Cedros Biological Reserve, receiving an award from the local communities at the first Agricultural Crafts Musical and Cultural Fair at Chontal. The award was given in recognition to his contributions to sustainable alternatives to mining and logging in the region.
June 20th - 24th 2005
The first PRIMENET workshop was held at the Los Cedros Biological Reserve in June 2005. During the workshop presentations were given detailing the current state of knowledge regarding the Brown-headed spider monkey, habitat assessment and the current local political climate regarding conservation activity.
