On October 27, a cooperation agreement was signed in Cascales canton of Sucumbíos province between the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of Cascales. The meeting formalized the institutions’ commitment to restoring 1000 hectares of deforested areas.

The agreement will run until 2022, and will be implemented through PROAmazonía, a program led by the Ministry of Environment and Water (MAAE) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), with the support of UNDP. It will promote conservation and restoration actions to restore ecosystem services in degraded areas, improve ecological connectivity and mitigate the effects of climate change.

This agreement will benefit five communities of Amazon peoples and nationalities in this area, San José de Aguarico, Los Shiris, Jesús del Gran Poder, Pastaza and Wuamak Urku in Cascales Canton. In addition to environmental benefits that the restoration of intervention areas will bring, there will be initiatives to promote bio-enterprises to boost the local economy, and the recovery of ancestral knowledge through the strengthening of non-timber forest products.

The positive effects of forest restoration for improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of the area were discussed during the meeting. In the future, regenerated areas will allow residents to enjoy the benefits that forests provide: food, medicine, soil protection, water sources, and others.

The event was attended by the Minister of Environment and Water, Paulo Proaño; the resident representative of the United Nations Development Program, Matilde Mordt; the Manager of the National Reforestation Program, Daniela Dávalos; the Mayor of the Cascales Canton GAD, Silvio Quevedo; the presidents of the five communities in this initiative, Wilson Jumbo, Luis Guatatuca, Milton Tanguila, Francisco Aguinda and Carmen Licuy, and the Manager of PROAmazonía, Patricia Serrano.

The activity also included planting seedlings in the San José de Aguarico Commune, a symbolic act marking the beginning of the restoration project.

This agreement will help promote forest conservation in the Ecuadorian Amazon, which is characterized by its biodiversity and, at the same time, is home to indigenous peoples and communities that are part of the heritage of natural and cultural wealth of Ecuador.

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 Photos: PROAmazonía – Symbolic planting in San José de Aguarico