Rainforest Partnership

Location

Five Kichwa communities along the Rio Napo in the provinces of Napo, Sucumbios, and Orellana in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest

Impact

Building new, sustainable, and reliable sources of income and financial independence with over 100 indigenous Kichwa women ‍

Expanding access to basic services like clean water, solar energy, internet, education, and food security, supporting the wellbeing of over 1,450 people

Strengthening communities’ resistance to external threats to their lands and livelihoods, including pressure from oil and mining companies ‍

Protecting 149,500+ acres of community-owned land in this extremely biodiverse region of the Western Amazon

Project Overview

Along the Rio Napo in the Ecuadorian Amazon, over 100 women in five Kichwa communities—Sani Warmi in Sani Isla, Hatun Urku, Munditi Urku, Isla Flor Amazonico, and Flor de Pantano—are leading projects that generate income and build economic opportunity for themselves, their families, and their communities. These five communities alone own and manage 149,500+ acres of some of the most biodiverse rainforest in the Amazon—and in the world.

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Rainforest Partnership’s team in Ecuador, along with our partners, Centro Lianas and Conservacion y Desarrollo, support these communities’ women-led enterprises to sustainably produce traditional foods and products like handicrafts, cacao, honey, medicinal plants, and native fish.

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This work helps the women create new and reliable livelihoods, builds local capacities to manage long-term sustainable enterprises and conservation projects and to maintain the infrastructure and technology needed for this work (like solar panel systems, or greenhouses for agroforestry) and builds long-term resilience to external threats to the communities and the forest itself.

Location

Sani Isla, a Kichwa community in the provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana on the border of Yasuni National Park (one of the most biodiverse places in the world)

Impact

Empowering 160 students in Sani Isla’s 2 schools through with greater educational tools and environmental education

Establishing and supporting the first Youth Association in Sani Isla

Building Youth Empowerment Center with MUSHUK ÑANPITAK PASCACHIK WANRAKUNA

Creating youth-led agroecology and livelihood projects

Inspiring youth in neighboring communities to use MUSHUK ÑANPITAK PASCACHIK WANRAKUNA Youth Association as a model

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Project Overview

‍Led by Project Coordinator Geovanny Siquiha, himself a member of Sani Isla and a lifelong advocate for educational opportunities for young people in the Amazon, we are supporting Sani Isla’s youth by expanding access to key resources and technologies like internet access, projectors, and books for the community’s first library, and through the establishment of Sani Isla’s new Youth Association: Mushuk Ñanpitak Pascachik Wanrakuna (Kichwa for “youth who open new paths”).

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This unique and exciting youth project brings together young people from Sani Isla to participate in leadership and skills training and other opportunities to learn and travel and to create their own conservation and empowerment projects. This project supports young people’s leadership and desire to organize themselves to expand their own opportunities and, as the name says, create new paths and open new doors for young people in their community. As the organization grows, they are creating their own projects that support community economic security, opportunity, and forest protection such as their own sustainable agriculture and aquaculture projects, and making connections with other youth organizations in the Amazon and in Ecuador.

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We coordinate environmental events and workshops to consistently emphasize conservation knowledge and skills and motivate young people to become leaders in conservation of their forest, empowering the next generation to continue to fight to keep Sani Isla’s rich, diverse forest standing.

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Location

Cordillera de Colán, Cordillera de Pagaibamba, Cutervo National Park, Relic cloud forest in the headwaters of Chancay and Zaña rivers, Montane ecosystems in headwaters of Huallaga and Pachitea rivers, and montane forest of Pampa Hermosa River basin.

Project Overview

The Tropical Andes, considered a biodiversity hotspot, are known to be the most biologically diverse region on Earth. This region also faces many threats related to human activities including mining, logging, construction, agriculture, and cattle ranching.

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‍Documenting the true depth of biodiversity in this little-explored area is a race against time due to accelerated deforestation and habitat loss in the region. Because of this, Rainforest Partnership is documenting the biological diversity of amphibians and reptiles in relict forest, isolated mountain ranges, and poorly known protected areas.

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In 2021 and 2025, Rainforest Partnership herpetologist Pablo J. Venegas and his team led ten expeditions to remote forests and páramos (natural high-altitude Andean grasslands). During these surveys, they documented the richness, ecology, natural history, health, and conservation status of more than 80 amphibian and 30 reptile species. Among them were approximately 50 frog species and 23 lizard species new to science. So far, 20 amphibian species and eight reptile species have been formally described and published in scientific peer-review journals, while others are currently in the process of scientific description and publication. In addition, we trained six biology students in amphibian survey techniques during our expeditions and conducted a course on Andean amphibian inventory and monitoring for 10 forestry engineering students.

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The team also collected data on the natural history, health, and population status of ten threatened amphibian species listed on the IUCN Red List. Health assessments included screening for chytrid fungus, a deadly wildlife disease that has caused dramatic amphibian declines worldwide. The species evaluated were Atelopus epikeisthos, A. oxapampae, A. pachydermus, Centrolene hesperia, Gastrotheca stictopleura, Hyloscirtus diabolus, Phrynopus dagmarae, Pristimantis serendipitus, Rhinella arborescens, and R. yanachaga.‍

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Rainforest Partnership is collaborating with government authorities in national parks and protected areas to use this information to improve conservation and land management in the Cordillera de Colán National Sanctuary and adjacent private conservation areas. All photos copyright Eduardo Quispe

Location

The project was piloted in Yasuni National Park and is now expanding to Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve; these parks are located in the provinces Orellana, Pastaza, and Sucumbios in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and are recognized as some of the most biodiverse places in the entire world.

Impact

Producing new data on climate change and deforestation and its effects on butterflies and biodiversity in the tropics

Expanding research and capacities to better advocate for forest protection in Ecuador and the Amazon

Strengthening institutional capacity in National Parks for biodiversity and rainforest conservation

Creating engaging environmental education materials for tourists and decision-makers to take action to preserve Ecuador’s parks

Informing local and global strategies to mitigate and reduce biodiversity loss

Project Overview

This project will provide technology and training to park rangers to empower them to conduct regular butterfly monitoring, produce important research, and advocate effectively for forest conservation both within and surrounding Ecuador’s National Parks. Training park rangers strengthens management of National Parks and creates opportunities for environmental education.

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Why butterflies?

Butterflies act as an early warning or alarm system and are a strong indicator of overall forest health.

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“Butterflies can be found just about everywhere, they’re incredibly diverse and they reflect what’s going on in other organisms.” (Keith Wilmott, project partner and director of the Florida Museum’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity.)

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Insects are particularly sensitive to changes in the environment, from deforestation or pollution, for example, and their short life cycle makes them an ideal indicator of what’s happening in real time.

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We will also engage government and academic partners to promote collaboration for conservation at the national level. Finally, butterfly monitoring and educational programming will strengthen community ecotourism as a key livelihood and create opportunities for local and indigenous communities to leverage data and training as tools to protect their lands.