Yasuní National Park

ORIGINAL TEXT NEWS FROM THE : http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/anangu-showcasing-yasuni-national-park-499123.html

By LANCE BRASHEAR

The Napo Wildlife Center (NWC), a wildlife refuge and resort in the Yasuní National Park in the western most region of the Amazon basin, is one of the most successful jungle lodges in Ecuador.   Their success is due in large part to the local, Kichwa Añangu Community that inhabits Yasuní, one of the most biologically diverse regions on the planet.



In recent years the NWC and Añangu have become a showcase in a campaign by the Ecuadorian government to retain billions of dollars of petroleum beneath Yasuní in exchange for global, economic support.  It is a revolutionary proposal to protect an extraordinary region.

Añangu

The NWC is fully owned and operated by the Kichwa Añangu Community.  Though the Kichwa nation – one of nine ethnic groups that inhabit the Ecuadorian jungle – has lived in the rainforest for almost 500 years (ever since Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana first brought them to the region), the Añangu Community is relatively young.

According to Añangu founders, the first settlers arrived to their territory in 1978, one year before the creation of Yasuní National Park.  The community would grow to 60 members by the mid-1980s only to see most of them abandon the settlement a few years later due to lack of services.

Silverio Yumbo is listed in the community's historical record as one of the founders  of Añangu.  To listen to him is to hear the story of a frontier adventure – a group of settlers, staking out their own land in a territory ungoverned at that time.  He says it was virgin jungle, back then, uninhabited, save for the Huoarani, a nomadic tribe which sometimes roamed and hunted the land.



By the late 1980s many of the earlier members who had left, returned again and with time Añangu obtained legal recognition and received a permanent concession by the Ecuadorian government to inhabit and manage 22,000 hectares of Amazon jungle.  Yumbo says, "Little by little we learned the law….we had friends who helped us obtain the land."   Today the community has 170 members from about 30 families.

Community Tourism

In the late 1990s, inspired by privately owned jungle lodges nearby, leaders of Añangu decided to start their own tourism project – a community initiative.  Jiovanny Ribadaneira, General Manager and a founding member of the community, says Añangu was aided by a now defunct, local foundation, Eco Ecuador.  Donations were channeled through an NGO, Tropical Nature, which financed the construction of the lodge, completed in 2003.

Since 2007 the community has governed and made all decisions regarding NWC and have expanded the lodge from 12 to 16 cabins, all with first-rate accommodations including 24-hour electricity, satellite Internet, and international food.

The success of the NWC has raised the standard of living of the Añangu community, paying for a full-time doctor in residence and financing local schools.  Tourism has helped Añangu to become  self-sufficient and retain a sense of community.

According to Marketing Manager, Mariela Cardenas, "Before [Añangu] parents had to send their kids to study in Coca or Quito.  What does that generate?  Contact with other people, other customs... Now we have our own school and everyone stays.  This is a good thing," she says.



Though it is a protectionist sentiment, it is not isolationist.  With responsible management and well-defined rules Añangu is able to welcome outsiders  while preserving tradition.

Kate French, Travel Specialist with Detour Destinations, a tour operator from Montana, visited the NWC as part of a tour sponsored by the Rainforest Alliance.  Her group visited five community projects in the rainforest and says that successful community lodges have found ways to, "separate daily community life from tourism."

This is true at Añangu where  codes  of conduct govern the behavior  of community members. Social interaction with tourists is prohibited and community housing is located many kilometers out of sight from the tourists.

Success at NWC is also due to the community never having lost their focus on wildlife.  David Yunes, a tour guide employed by NWC since 2005, says one  of the most important decisions the community has made  to advance tourism and preserve the local, ecological balance is to  ban hunting.   He says other lodges along the Napo River suffer from "empty forests," or forests where wildlife is scarce due to the threat of hunters.

Yasuní-ITT

Hunters, though,  are not the biggest threat in Yasuní.  In a small corner of the jungle, below a section of the national park known as Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT), rests an estimated 846 million barrels of petroleum valued at more than $7 billion.

Several years ago the Ecuadorian Government made a proposal  not to exploit the oil beneath Yasuní in exchange for financial support equal to half the estimated value of the reserves, or $3.6 billion. 



Known as Yasuní-ITT the proposal would prevent the emission of an estimated 407 million cubic tons of carbon dioxide – more than is produced by either France or Brazil during an entire year, or Ecuador in 13 years.

So far, the global response to Yasuní-ITT has been disheartening, with total pledges not yet reaching this year's goal of $100 million.  But Yue Chen, a recent tourist to NWC, is not discouraged.  "I think it's a tough project, a first of its kind." She says the initiative requires a large global campaign and that it will gain momentum.  To show her personal support she pledged her annual income of $150,000 to the Yasuní-ITT initiative.

After she and her husband, Kirat Singh, toured the NWC last month, they expressed satisfaction with their decision.  "Client change is such a big issue and all of us have to contribute in some way," says Singh.

The Ecuadorian rainforest, of which Yasuní is a part, makes up 40 percent of Ecuador's land mass.   It is the largest protected area in Ecuador – almost one million square kilometers – and is also  designated as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve.  The park contains about 600 species of bird and a greater variety of plant life in one square kilometer than is found in all of North America. 

By far, the best way to preserve such a vital region is to show the world the value of what is above the ground, something Añangu and NWC do every day.

Napo Wildlife Center Recognitions

Condé Nast Johansens Recommended

Rainforest Alliance Verified

Smart Voyager Certified

ECORAE – Responsible Management & Defense of Yasuní

LATA, Best Jungle Lodge, 2009

First Choice Responsible Tourism Award, 2006

Virgin Holiday Responsible Tourist Award, 2009