On June 17, 2020, a Letter of Intent was signed by the Ministry of Environment and Water (MAAE) and the representative of the Ancestral Kichwa Community of Canelos. This document formalized the commitment to restore degraded areas of this community located in the province of Pastaza.

The area to be reforested measures 1,040 hectares. The Canelos Community has joined the restoration project along with two other Amazonian communities (Kichwa Community of Rukullakta and San Jacinto del Pindo Community). On May 26, 2020, they signed a letter of intent with MAAE within the framework of the implementation of the Comprehensive Amazon Program for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Production (PROAmazonía).

The inclusion of this community in the forest restoration project will allow the recovery of 7,601 hectares in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where it is hoped to reestablish ecosystem services and work jointly with local populations. Its implementation will benefit 340 families directly, generate temporary and permanent jobs, establish local nurseries and encourage support for bio-enterprises.

Active and passive restoration will take place in this community. Work will be carried out on 340 depleted hectares located in the protection strip along the Bobonaza river; water sources, slopes and restricted use areas; as well as on 700 hectares that contain timber and non-timber species native to the area. MAAE encourages and promotes these types of actions, which provide life alternatives for local populations, and are a strategy for reducing deforestation and the effects of climate change.

The project seeks to ensure long-term conservation processes through inter-institutional management and strengthening the community’s social organization. Its main actions include agreements with Decentralized Autonomous Governments, communities, members of indigenous organizations, and other key stakeholders in the area; as well as monitoring and implementing the life plans of the Ancestral Kichwa Community of Canelos.

The ALTROPICO Foundation is the co-executing organization of the project, which is part of the institutional collaboration agreement with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon – CONFENIAE.

The virtual event was attended by the Minister of MAAE, Paulo Proaño, the President of the Community, Augusto Vargas, the UNDP Resident Representative in Ecuador, Matilde Mordt, the Vice President of CONFENIAE, Rosa Cerda, the Executive Director of ALTROPICO Foundation, Alicia Ortiz, the Manager of PROAmazonía, Juan Carlos González, and other important stakeholders from the country’s environmental and social sector.

The Ministry of Environment and Water, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, has been executing the PROAmazonía project since 2017, with the aim of implementing the REDD+ Action Plan “Forests for Good Living” 2016-2025.