Private Protected Areas Congress, Chile

In representation of Fundación Pro-Bosque, Eric Horstman participated in the 10th Latin American Congress of Private Reserves and Original Peoples held in Valdivia, Chile, August 19th through 23rd.  Eric made two presentations at the Congress, the first was "The Cerro Blanco Protected Forest: A Private Conservation Initiative Conserving and Restoring the Ecuadorian Dry Tropical Forest" and the second was "The Biological Corridor Between the Cerro Blanco and Chongón Colonche Protected Forests: A Conservation Initiative With Private Property Owners" in representation of Jaime Camacho of The Nature Conservancy. Both presentations were well received by the participants. The Congress brought together more than 300 representatives of both governmental and non governmental organizations, working in private protected area conservation, from several countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean as well as North America.  

The themes of the Congress included the following:

- Public politics and incentives related to both private protected areas and original peoples

- Original Peoples: worldwide much of the remaining natural areas are found on indigenous people's lands. Valdivia is located in an area where the Mapuche indigenous group live and representatives of the Mapuches as well as Aymara from Bolivia and other indigenous groups actively participated in the Congress

- Productive Activities: different types of initiatives (agriculture, land purchase, handicrafts, etc) to help finance biodiversity conservation

- Sustainable Tourism

- Natural Laboratories for Investigation

- Education and Rescue of Natural Patrimony.

Jim Barborak, one of the Congress keynote speakers, made an important point, using the analogy of a table needing more than one leg to be fully supported, that for private protected areas to be sustainable they must not focus exclusively on tourism, but also on these other factors. 

The next Congress will be held in Costa Rica.

Experiences in England, by Denis Mosquera

Editors Note: At the invitation of our partner organization World Land Trust, Denis Mosquera traveled to the UK to represent Fundación Pro-Bosque in the World Land Trust stand in the annual UK Bird Fair. Here are some of Denis’ thoughts about his experience.

If you never visit a place you will never find out what it´s really like. And throughout my life I have seen many representations of cities, towns, and ecosystems in England, at different times and at different climates, and have always thought that it seems a very nice country. However my expectations were easily surpassed the first day of being in England, which turned out to be a big learning step in many aspects, including language, society, birding development, history, ecotourism, transportation, and many others which I have not named because it is never ending. From the first day at the Bird Fair at the Rutland Nature Reserve I realized that there were many people who thought the same thing about Ecuador. For them visiting my country was also a dream which produced the same impact for them as it did for me. This gave me great confidence to introduce myself as a representative of an Ecuadorian conservation organization.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Bird Fair was that most of the public with whom I had interaction with were aware of the most famous places in Ecuador for birding, wildlife and cuisine, however a good percentage of them did not know for example that our dry forest Cerro Blanco is so close to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, or the fact that the Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador. These topics were some of my favorites in the conversations I had with visitors and exhibitors at the Bird Fair 2013.

This event allowed me to experience many different cultures and perspectives, all framed around the world of birds. Subjects covered included bird guides worldwide, multinational bird watching companies, conservation institutions, art, technology etc. I am sure this has allowed me to open my mind and expand my thoughts on all topics of interest to me. I am also sure this experience will help tremendously in the developments taking place at Cerro Blanco Protected Forest in regards to bird watching and ornithological research in the dry forest. For example, I made many contacts with various institutions, such as bird watching companies, that might be interested in including Cerro Blanco in their itineraries.

Sharing all that time with the World Land Trust team was very rewarding for me in every way and I appreciate all their patience and concern for the organization of my activities, accommodation, luggage transfer and everything they did to help me. Personally, I also think that thanks to them my English is about 200% better than before traveling to England, which was my first time in an English-speaking country.

It was very interesting to do some bird watching while I was in Halesworth, where the office of the World Land Trust is located. And I thank Dan Bradbury for being such a wonderful guide, for the places we visited and the large number of species that we saw. I think it was interesting for him too, to see my excitement at the most common birds, like the beautiful Magpie.

Environmental Education: Visit to local school and an unexpected interview for school paper

This week, as part of it's environmental education program, the Pro-Bosque Foundation made two visits to the Unidad Educativa Anne Sullivan School, which is situated on the via de la Costa just in front of the entrance to the Cerro Blanco forest. Leading these visits was Tania Rios - Environmental Education, and Jonny Ayón - Reforestation, from the Pro-Bosque Foundation. The main theme of the visits was the reforestation of the tropical dry forest and the key objective was to increase awareness of reforestation and the associated benefits to the environment. The visits also served to promote participation in reforestation activities, as well as build an understanding of the forest and the importance of maintaining a balance in the planet’s ecosystems.

Even though the Anne Sullivan School is less than 500 meters from the Cerro Blanco forest, very few students said that they had ever visited, and so it is of high importance to generate interest in trees and deliver the message that such a beautiful place is so close by! Hopefully, with visits such as this, more children will be encouraged to take an interest in nature and visit Cerro Blanco to enjoy the forest and see it for themselves.

With the help of some materials and a presentation by Tania Rios and Jonny Ayón, a conversation was generated with the students, from classes in the first year of high school, which covered  subjects such as ‘What is a tree?’, ‘How to successfully grow a tree’ and ‘What benefits do trees bring?’.

Sharing the experiences of these visits were two volunteers from England, who have started a 2 ½ month volunteering program at the Pro-Bosque Foundation. The volunteers are taking part in the volunteer program to learn more about the protection of tropical dry forests and to support the work at Cerro Blanco.

During the second visit to the school, a group of students approached the Pro-Bosque team and the volunteers to express an interest in doing an interview about the unusual visit of foreigners to their school. The students explained that they were creating a school newspaper and that they thought there would be interest in including a piece about the volunteer’s visit. Therefore, the volunteers spent a bit of time answering the student’s questions, and are now keen to see their words in print when the newspaper is ready!

It is hoped that these visits will help to promote a culture of conservation amongst the students, as well as an interest in visiting the forest, or starting their own organic garden or tree planting project at home or at school.

FIRST ECO FESTIVAL HELD IN THE CERRO BLANCO PROTECTED FOREST, SUNDAY JUNE 2nd

The Pro-Forest Foundation in conjunction 17 other local organizations and carried out the first Eco Festival in the Cerro Blanco Protected Forest on Sunday June 2nd with a total of 3,400 participants, which completely exceeded the expectations of the organizers.

The stated objective was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Foundation’s creation as well as the Day of the Child and the Day of the Environment.
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But more than celebrating dates, the eco festival provided an opportunity for the people of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest with more than three million inhabitants and a definite lack of parks and other green spaces, to enjoy the dry tropical forest that Cerro Blanco protects, with their families. People from a cross section of Ecuadorian society participated young and old alike, but the large number of children who participated marked the day.

An extensive program was prepared beginning with the inauguration of the festival at 9 AM and extending to 5 PM. A eco fair was held that included more than 25 stands with everything from organic food sold directly by the farmers that grew them to boy and girl scouts showing their outdoor skills in demonstrations, an artist painting a forest scene live in person, a Rastafarian group, artists displaying a multitude of handicrafts and environmental groups working on various fronts in the city including protecting and reforesting mangroves, etc.

A total of 12 scheduled workshops were held (as well as some impromptu ones) at the fair ranging from the conservation of birds for kids to how to live in harmony with nature, including the promotion of vegetarianism and organic gardening with composting, etc.

Various local artists donated their time to carry out a series of more than 10 standing room only presentations in the Cerro Blanco open air amphitheatre, including the yoga of laughter, puppet theatre and music provided by local folk, rock and reggae groups with great sounding names such as Green Awareness (Conciencia Verde) and King Shrimp (Rey Camaron).

New attractions in Cerro Blanco were also inaugurated, including a 2.5-mile bike path. Two local bicycle groups with a total of 70 participants met in a park in Guayaquil and pedaled out the 4 miles to Cerro Blanco to help inaugurate the bike path. Cars were parked outside the front gate and people invited to enter by foot and by bike. A meditation area was also inaugurated, with totem poles of monkeys, great green macaws and jaguars carved by a local artist in honor of the original inhabitants of the area, the Huancavilcas. Both yoga and meditation classes were offered by local groups.

Ecuadorians are notorious for generating a lot of trash at public events, but guidelines had been laid down in advance, including no selling of water or soft drinks in plastic bottles and people were encouraged to bring their own and/or use the strategically placed water jugs. No handouts or leaflets were allowed among the participating institutions, which also included representatives of the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment and a newly created bike unit of the National Police that works in the tourist sites in the city of Guayaquil.

As a result, the impact on Cerro Blanco was minimal and walking the roads and trails the day after, the air was filled with bird calls, agoutis ran off into the nearby vegetation and howler monkeys could be heard up in the ravines as if more than 3,000 people hadn’t been there the day before.

Although the traditional news media by and large ignored the event, the message rang out loud and clear, Guayaquileños love their natural areas such as Cerro Blanco and other sites in the dry tropical forests and mangroves that survived the onslaught of the rapid urbanization of the city in the last twenty years.

Many people who both participated and also who didn’t are asking that the festival be repeated and it is hoped that the authorities have gotten the message; Guayaquil’s natural areas must be respected.

Cerro Blanco is under threat from a proposed highway that would be built directly with the protected forest boundaries and put its abundant and diverse flora and fauna at risk not only from the impacts of the road construction, but also future attempts to invade the forest by land traffickers to urbanize, tree cutters and hunters.

Eric Horstman, the executive director of the Pro-Forest Foundation and the person behind the eco festival in one of his interventions asked people to remain alert and support Cerro Blanco against any future threats.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment and Senagua, a government water regulation entity has formally requested the Ministry of Transport and Public Works to provide an alternative route for the proposed highway which would link Guayaquil with the beaches of the nearby Santa Elena Province, but would be re-routed away from Cerro Blanco.

FOTOS CORTESÍA DE: Peter Rodríguez , Jaime Camacho, Fundación Pro-Bosque

Great Green Macaw in the U.S. Endangered Species Act

Pro-Forest Foundation Executive Director, Eric Horstman was interviewed recently by Sarah Leon of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to hear the podcast, please go to this link http://www.fws.gov/endangered/about/ep_30_2012.html.  The great green macaw is one of four macaw species that were proposed for listing on July 6th, 2012 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (the other macaw species include hyacinth, military and scarlet macaw).  If the great green macaw is officially listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, it will represent an important step forward to extend protection in the United States for the species, which is threatened by capture of macaws for the illegal pet trade and habitat destruction in the lowland rain and dry forests where it is found throughout its range from Honduras to Ecuador.

Signing of Agreement between the Universidad Tecnica de Quevedo and the Pro-Forest Foundation

February 2012

On February 17th, Eric Horstman traveled to the city of Quevedo to sign an inter institutional agreement in representation of the Pro-Forest Foundation with the Dean of the Universidad Tecnica de Quevedo.  The signing of the agreement paves the way for future students from this university carry out internships and thesis projects in the Cerro Blanco Protected Forest with the Pro-Forest Foundation.

In addition, Eric Horstman made a presentation on the potential of ecotourism in dry tropical forest in the closing of an ecotourism seminar organized by the university.

Signing of Agreement between the Pro-Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, Coca Cola Foundation.

February 2012

Sylvia Benitez, the Ecuador country director of The Nature Conservancy participated in the tree planting program and in representation of TNC, signed a interinstitutional agreement with Eric Horstman in representation of the Pro-Forest Foundation to coordinate future actions in favor of protection and restoration of the dry tropical forests of the Cordillera Chongon Colonche.

Carolina Martinez of the Coca Cola Foundation also participated in the tree planting.  Thanks to the support of the Coca Cola Foundation, five hectares of cutover land within the Cerro Blanco Protected Forest will be reforested this year, as part of their environmental programs related to protecting and/or restoring water sources.