Walking along a jungle path just outside Ecuador’s largest national park, Yasuní, the Zabala family was surprised by a group of nude Amazonians that emerged from the forest. The mother screamed as the tribesmen plunged palm-wood lances decorated with macaw feathers into her chest and stomach, killing her. They then speared two of her children, grabbed her infant son and made off into the woods. Days later, the baby was found—alive—in a hole dug beneath a tree root.

One of the most biodiverse places on this planet, the nearly-4,000-square-mile Yasuní National Park is also the verdant home of two small, semi-nomadic tribes that live in isolation: the Taromenane and Tagaeri. The attack on the Zabalas, the latest of several such incidents in the past decade, occurred near heavy machinery opening a road and a generator powering an oil well. Ecuador’s environment ministry hypothesized that the Taromenane, drawn by the sound of the roadwork and the generator’s “deafening noise,” were striking back at an “enveloping society.” Indeed, oil activity has pushed steadily east through the northern half of Yasuní’s untouched depths for the last several decades. The undeveloped ITT area—named for its potentially lucrative Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini oil fields—overlaps more than 350 square miles of Yasuní’s northeast corner, and is all that remains between ongoing projects and the Peruvian border.

But the government’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative dictates that oil-dependent Ecuador will leave ITT alone forever if the international community comes up with half the $7.2 billion value of its oil. Money raised would fund conservation, reforestation and renewable energy. An initially enthusiastic reception has been hushed by the government’s aggressive sales pitch, which at times has sounded more like a hostage negotiation than an international model for conserving tropical, mega-diverse areas. Ecuador needs $100 million in commitments by year-end to keep the Yasuní-ITT trust fund alive. As of early December, it had about $70 million.

I wanted to see what about ITT the government thought could inspire people the world over to loosen their purse strings. While waiting for my access permit in the Ecuadorian environment ministry’s regional office, I chatted with a pair of bright-eyed employees. In a moment of candor, one said, “I hope the government gets the money. If not, have you seen Avatar?” She signaled the Yasuní wall map with her small palms wide open. “This is the Ecuador version.”

~

I hoped ITT itself, the pristine northeast corner of Yasuní park, might deliver a more coherent pitch for conservation to me and my friend Dan, an emergency medicine doctor whose idea of a vacation is hitchhiking through rural Africa. To our uninitiated ears, though, the jungle’s voice would seem subdued, not symphonic. Deciphering it would be best accomplished traveling ITT’s trails and paddling down the Yasuní River with interpreters from the Waorani tribe, which, although still remote, has been contacted over the last half-century. With the Waoranis’ help, I believed ITT would prove itself a world apart.

And I had good reason to hope: Yasuní occupies just 0.15 percent of the entire Amazon region yet is home to roughly one-third of its amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species. In a given hectare, there are 100,000 insect species, not to mention more species of trees here than in the U.S. and Canada combined. The number of fish species surpasses that of the Mississippi River basin. Invoking the cliché “teeming with life” would merely scratch the surface. Yasuní is life atop life atop life, all of which—in a cruel twist of fate—resides atop oil. ITT alone holds about 900 million barrels, or 20 percent of Ecuador’s total reserves.

This bounty defies comprehension to everyone except people like Quemontare “Pedro” Enomenga. Pedro, 23, is one of the first three Waorani whom Ecuador’s environment ministry hired as park guards in 2011, and we were the first people he guided.

Pedro is short with a boyish face, but strapped with muscle from hunting since he was old enough to hoist a spear. He weaved briskly between trees with absolute certainty; to his trained senses, the jungle was alive with meaning. We struggled to keep up, bypassing trees, plants and mushrooms with a pathetic inability to identify any of them. Our taxonomic vision, Pedro informed us, was on par with that of a Waorani toddler. A nettle he pushed into our forearms raised the skin in bumps and left a pleasant numbing sensation like Icy Hot. The stench of a fullback’s sweaty shoulder pads signaled that tapirs had passed through. What looked like an unripe starfruit was actually a pod containing pulp-covered seeds that tasted like watermelon Jolly Ranchers. I perceived everything in terms of my world, but there was no analog when Pedro peeled back a vine to reveal a fluid the Waorani use to paint their faces. He made birdcalls and conversed with doves. His own language, Wao Terero, bears no relation to any other on Earth.

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Original Link: http://www.wendmag.com/magazine/06-04/yasuni/

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