What is restoration?

Restoration is the healing of our landscape and our relationship to it. Our province of Manabí is one of the most degraded landscapes in the world. Only 2% of native primary forests remain, and over 95% of the landscape is deforested or deeply degraded. The majority of the landscape is grassland, planted with non-native African grasses for cattle, followed by corn (cattlefeed), bananas, and cacao in the hills and shrimperies along brackish waterways which used to boast abundant mangroves. Despite this degradation, local organizations and communities are coming together to create new economic opportunities aligned with regeneration.

RFI and Restoration

Only 5% of Manabí is protected. Relative to the 20% of Ecuador’s land nationwide, this is a pittance.. This blind spot in historical environmental movements is where we collaborate with local initiatives to fortify riverbeds, prevent erosion and reforest our landscape. We plant bamboo along riverbeds to fortify eroding riverbanks and invest in building material for the future. Bamboo goes into erosion dykes to fortify streams while bamboo, vetiver grass and other plants can stabilize the hillsides. We reforest and plant on our own 30 ha, and in collaboration with local and international organizations like Punta Gorda Nature Reserve south of Bahía de Carácquez and Jama Coaque Reserve 2 hours to the north. Most recently, we won the Premio Verde, a $100,000 grant from Ecuador’s Banco de Desarollo to assist in municipal-level restoration campaigns.

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