Progress

Ecuador is not a perfect country, I’m not even such a thing exists. Each country has mastered a few things that have made them stand out from the rest. The more I learn about Ecuador, the luckier I feel being here. Though they have yet to develop and improve in many ways, Canada, and the rest of the world for that matter, can still learn a lot from Ecuador as far as the environment is concerned.

Frankly, today’s environmental laws are failing. Though Canada's environmental laws were adopted in the 70s, the environment is in worse shape then ever before. The Canadian environmental law has gone through very little changes since its creation over 30 years ago.

“Canadian Environmental law lacks in policy innovation and environmental performance.” – Dr David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance 

However, since then, countries around the world have sought to replicate these same laws.  Yet, species worldwide are steadily declining, global warming is far more accelerated than predicted, deforestation continues around the world, and overfishing is causing the fishery industry to slowly collapse. 

The people, communities and later even the government of Ecuador has recognized that environmental protection cannot be attained under a law structure that continues to treat ecosystems as property. So on September 28^th  2009, Ecuador has approved a new constitution that gives rights to nature. They are the first country in the world to shift to Rights based Environmental Protection.

When people see “concrete jungles” and cities full of rich people who all have jobs, an equation is created in their minds (developing nature = Economic prosperity) The creation of this constitution, has and continues to change the way people view nature in Ecuador. Today, there are many Ecuadorian NGOs helping communities across the country conserve their nature, promote it in a way that promotes the communities economical development.

Ecuador is now a leader in indigenous community based tourism. This kind of tourism gives travellers the unique opportunities to experience the country’s ancient cultures and impressive biodiversity.

Puerto Hondo, the community that I’m presently working with, has a goal to develop their community-based tourism and promote their mangrove tours, nature trails and artisan market. However they do not have any accommodations to offer service and comfort that many international travelers demand. They used to have homestay arrangement situations, but those came to an end after a few conflicts. Before applying for grants that will help the communities further develop their tourism, the NGOs need to know what efforts are being made by the community. Presenting progressive efforts within the community became my new goal. I spent hours and hours on the Internet, and speaking with different professors from surrounding universities to ask them for help. I finally got connected to several organizations that give a series workshops. Those same organizations allowed me to learn about other communities that are currently successfully practicing community based tourism. So I decided to visit them. 

Every time I visited, I had a set of questions prepared for the members of the community. The questions helped me better understand exactly how they have reached their goals. “If you don't ask, you’ll never know right?” So far I have visited only three, all of which are in different stages in their life cycles. 

The first one that is in the very initial stage is the community of Bucay. I mentioned them in the blogpost entitled "Discovery". Recently, Lindsay and I went back to that community, to officially announce who was going to win the competition and receive funding for their restaurant. Also to give certificates to all of the participants in the project. We were not warned ahead of time that a speech had to be given by both of us. When we arrived, members of the community filled the room, and the mayor and his wife were there as well. I can’t lie, we were both very uncomfortable with the idea of speaking Spanish to a big crowd. I was sweating before I even got introduced! And being too tall for the little microphone didn't help my situation either. After a small war with the microphone stand, I nervously told a joke and I’m glad they laughed! They were in the first stage because they had just received funding from the Nobis Foundation. That foundation made them a website to promote their eco-adventure tours, and has also invested in their hostals, streets and restaurants (the reason we were invited). There, I met a woman from the Nobis foundation who was very interested in hearing more about Puerto Hondo, we’ve been in touch ever since.

The second community that I’ve visited was, Isla Santay.  This island can be seen from my house, its across the river, and takes about 20 minutes in a motor boat to reach their dock. When my friends and I arrived, we received a nature trail and learned of their history. They recently received funding from AV renewable energy, I’ve mentioned this organization in the blog post entitled "Motivation". This organization has helped the community tremendously by building every family that lives a house with solar energy. Also developing their restaurants and schools in the same way, and finally by offering them workshops on various topics that will allow them to better receive tourists. Visiting this community has allowed me to connect with AV solar Energy and find out what kind of qualifications are necessary to be eligible for this type of funding. Santay is not included in many tourism magazines, and the tour guides there are very personable, friendly and professional. Their hard work has paid off.

The last community that I’ve visited was Agua Blanca. I was lucky enough to return to Puerto Lopez, where I saw the whales, but this time visit the community. I was curious to get familiar with it when since I saw the sign a few months earlier. The small community of Agua Blanca is an absolute treasure. From the friendliness,  of the community members, to their traditions that promotes working together, they are a great example of efficient Community Based tourism practices. A portion of the tourism revenue they collect goes towards maintaining archeological areas, museam and other public investments. The rest of the money they make from tourism is evenly distributed to the members of the community. 

Today, the community is dedicated to ecotourism, organic agriculture, and the harvesting of wild fruits such as the Marvil plant. After a great hike, lessons about the ancient history, visit to the museam, the organic farms and the archeological sites, I asked my tour guide. “Was this community always very close together?” He let out a big sigh and admitted “no. Not always.” He explained that after the death of a leader about 30 years ago, there were conflicts on the one that would take his place. These conflicts created a divide within the community that lasted more than a decade. It wasn't until the Manchillila park claimed that a part of Agua Blanca's land was theirs that they had to get together, gather all historical evidence to prove that the land was in fact theirs. People reunited and brought ancient artifacts that were handed down from family members, along will many other things along those lines. I took a few months, but in the end, won the case, and kept the land. That event brought them together, and they decided to put all of those artifacts that they brought to light in a museam and allow people to visit the location when they’re on the way to the national Park.  That being said, finding peace between the community members after so many years of conflict was a difficult challenge. However, if you visit Agua Blanca today, you will see no sign of those conflicts ever existing. The creation of the museum, and the sharing of their interesting history qualified them for grants, and they are now an official part of Turismo Ecuador, from the ministry of tourism. That means that they are included in all of the tourism books from Ecuador, and theyre pamphlets and poster fees are also covered to help with their promotions. This story had inspired me and I asked him if he would be interested in sharing the story with the members of the Puerto Hondo community. 

 As I continuously learn more and more about Puerto Hondo by working closely with the members on promotional videos, and a website, I’m also discovering more and more hostility and conflict realities. I personally don’t have much experience in conflict resolution (unless children conflicts count from my days as camp councilor). However the guide has personally witnessed his own community overcome similar conflicts with a positive outcome of working together for the greater good of all. He gladly agreed, however admitted he was not an expert, and that they also received exterior help to mitigate the issues they were facing. His story gives hope, and I told him that he could simply share some of the names of the help his community had received. I was more interested in promoting the desire for progressive change.

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, and do more, you are a leader." - Unknown 

My blog entitled "Networking" mentions the importance of connections, and that is all I did. Now, with the help of the Internet, some great friends and colleagues, and a few visits to some small isolated communities, I have created a “super friends league”. Or, a fully equipped group of people from different stages in the community based tourism development sector, that can all contribute to Puerto Hondo in different ways.

Ecuador’s progress environmentally has allowed indigenous communities to strengthen their culture, and share it with visitors. This increases awareness of their existence, and way of life, and also expands people’s minds by showing them that economic prosperity doesn't always mean big buildings and cement roads.