Community-based Ecotourism Training in the Andes

Connecting the people of Sumaco, Ecuador with the tools they need to launch their own community-managed conservation-based ecotourism area.

Community Conservation has been helping to empower communities who live near rare species and habitats to participate in conservation for over 30 years. Our newest project is particularly exciting, and is a great example of how people-focused conservation can be done with the biggest impact.

Volcan Antisana - photo by Marcio RamalhoSumaco, Ecuador lies in the heart of three globally important protected areas on the Eastern slope of the Andes. These three unique places (Sumaco-Galeras National Park, Cayambe-Coca National Park, and the Antisana Ecological Reserve) contain lush forests that many vulnerable and threatened species such as mountain tapir and Andean bear call home. This area of Ecuador also houses the highest level of avian biodiversity anywhere in the world.

This is clearly a beautiful, unique place worth protecting. And luckily, the people of Sumaco have started to express interest in becoming actively involved in conservation.

The government in Ecuador has recently passed a law creating a new type of wildlife reserve - one that communities themselves manage. This is an exciting opportunity, however, the government does not provide funds to help local people with the extensive and complicated work required in order to do it.

Mountain tapir - photo by Antti T. NissinenSo, in partnership with local leaders, we hope to help to provide the community of Sumaco with a complete training that would give them the information they need in order to launch a new wildlife reserve. The training will cover biodiversity, wildlife management, government relations, and entrepreneurism/ecotourism.

Community Conservation is uniquely positioned to help the community of Sumaco protect the wonderful place they live in because:

1. We have a track record conducting many similar trainings successfully in other communities
2. Our Executive Director Dr. April Sansom has long-standing relationships with some community members from having completed another project in the adjacent village
3. We have helped to launch many other community-managed protected areas across the globe

Our goal is to raise $5,000 - will you help?

Please consider a gift to help support our work with communities like Sumaco. Thank you so much for your generous support!