History

Concerned about the devastation of Ecuador’s rainforests and its connection to lack of sustainable economic opportunities and rural poverty, social and environmental entrepreneurs Rodrigo Ontaneda & Rebeca Justicia created Fundación Maquipucuna in 1987.  The grass-roots organization was recognized legally by the government of Ecuador as a non-profit nature conservation organization in April of 1988.

Our Achievements

Fundación Maquipucuna has broken new ground in many areas of conservation in Ecuador.

It is the first organization in Ecuador that carried out land purchase for conservation in Ecuador and also was the first to integrate local communities into ecotourism related activities, which has subsequently proven to be one of the most effective means to protect biodiversity and generate employment in forested areas.

The Maquipucuna Ecolodge at the Maquipucuna Reserve and the two surrounding local community-based ecotourism operations have received national and international awards.

Maquipucuna pioneered community-based conservation in southeast Ecuador in the buffer zone of the Podocarpus National Park starting in 1989.  The program implemented agroforestry community development, provided potable water to local communities, studied the impact of mercury contamination due to mining, established a community-based sugar-processing factory, and helped solve land tenure conflicts with the communities in the buffer zone of the Podocarpus National Park.

In 1992, Fundación Maquipucuna with the endorsement of the Institute of Ecology of the University of Georgia proposed the establishment of the Chocó Andean Corridor, the first conservation corridor in Ecuador.  The Chocó Andean Corridor is an ecosystem and watershed conservation strategy for northwest Ecuador, including the provinces of Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Carchi and Pichincha.

The Our Shared Forests is a unique bi-national environmental education program for Ecuador and the United States that have involved over 5000 children in Ecuador and almost 15,000 children in the United States.