“Amazonize” the world to save it

A small Amazonian school is facing climate change with better results than government programs and the United Nations. It is part of a set of actions that also encompass self-sufficient organic production, a clinic and a hotel in the Ecuadorian Amazon. All electricity is self-generated and they all have Internet.

The Yachana school is located in the Ecuadorian Amazon, in front of the Rio Napo, seven hours by bus from Quito and 15 minutes by speedboat. It reaches the student’s families, a total of 45 communities. It accepts approximately 80 new students per year who swap their homes by the school - that's where they live for 21 days a month.

The classes are innovative and open; their classroom is the very Amazon. There is also a small farm where organic food is grown, result of the student’s effort. They feed on their own produce, which is also used to feed the 3 thousand guests that stay every year at the hotel that carries the same name as the school: Yachana Lodge. “We grow coffee, cocoa etc so we can eat well. We do not use chemicals”, says the student Mariana Conforme.

The college is self-sufficient in energy using a hybrid system. It is one of the few remote places in the Ecuadorian Amazon with electricity and Internet at all times. 2000 watts come from solar panels and, when it's cloudy or raining, a hydroelectric plant generates another 1,000 watts. The plant is part of a system that channels accumulated rainwater. On its way down it generates electricity while feeding fish pools. There are works towards generating more power through biodigesters, using gas from the Yachana Lodge toilets.

The “finqueros”

Every year the college "finqueros", name given to small landholders in the Ecuadorian Amazon, get 80 dollars per hectare of forest to keep it untouched, almost three times more than what a similar program by government would pay. They get paid without having to provide a written proof of ownership, which half of the population lack. More than bonds, what matters there is the possession recognized by community and neighbors. Also what they get is more than what they would make clearing the land. The model is an alternative that benefits people in the region.

This model has been tested with seven "finqueros" totaling more than 100 hectares within the area of Yachana. The project would not be possible without the school, co-founder of the Kaya foundation, which will promote the idea in the United States and Europe. Kaya aims at finding foreign donors that could give from 60 to 140 dollars. Every 500 dollars guarantees that a hectare of forest will be kept standing for five years - 400 dollars will go to the "finqueros" and 100 dollars for monitoring and education. Students will monitor the forest by means of a GPS and Geographic Information System (GIS) developed by Stanford University.

Awards

The Yachana Lodge, which has Yachana’s students among its various employees, received the prize for best example of geotourism from the National Geographic, as well as the Ecotourism Award, from the International Association of Tourism Professionals. It was also a runner up to the Tourism of the Future prize. The Yachana created opportunities that students and their families did not have before.

The University of Earth, in Costa Rica, donated 20% of its bursaries available for Ecuador to the Yasana technical school. "They are among the best students in the country," said the university representative. No wonder travel agencies and hotels in Ecuador have a demand for graduates from the Yachana. "They are very hardworking and friendly", they say. Genuine, confident, and very proud of their identity, they show the college and the jungle around to visitors. Many of them are fluent English, while others are still studying a second language, among them Portuguese.

"Amazonization" of the world

From the high viewpoint of the Yachana Lodge we can see the Napo River in the distance. At night, local guides – some of which have graduated from the school – propose the switch off the lights and to be quiet for 15 minutes. The limits of the “self” are diluted and it feels like we are merging with nature under the stars above and on the sounds of the forest. Upon this inspiration a new awareness arise.

These people from the Amazon live without destroying their ecosystem because they understand and respect both its dynamics and natural cycles. They perceive and nurture the relationship of interdependence with the forest, rooted value that multiplies good results when combined with knowledge and both new and ancient technologies, as in Yachana.

Economics and non-Amazonian policies are killing the Amazon. Instead of "internationalizing" the Amazon to save her, as has already been proposed to Cristovão Buarque, we should "amazonize" the world to save it, as proposed by Chico Mendes.