If you were relying on this blog to know what we are up to, you’d think that all work stopped a while ago and we melted into the woodworks. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has been an incredibly busy, productive, energetic time for us with many accomplishments.Lucia Eslava, our intern in Peru, has been doing amazing work keeping up with our potential partner communities with a nice success in mediating a conflict in Apaya Calabaza near Satipo. (I’ll have her post that here this week). Today she is moving from Lima to Tarapoto, yes, actually moving, to begin work on our first project in District of Chazuta in the community of Mushuk Llacta de Chipaota near Tarapoto. She will be part of the team with an amazing forestry engineer, Jaso Daniel Angulo, who has done tremendous work in this area with the communities.Here in Austin, our summer intern Aaron Korn and Fall intern Martina Schweighart have been tremendous assets. They brought their energy and commitment to get us through much substantive work with our potential communities and projects in conjunction with Latin American partners as well as administrative work here. And, James Morgan, our latest assistant is bringing his talent and passion to RP.We couldn’t be where we are without the help of the amazing Beth Caplan, facilitator and strategic planner who got us going on December 1st, 2007 with our first all day strategy session where the initial three board members met each other for the first time that day and together we laid out our mission, vision and six-month strategic plan. Beth consequently led the board—an amazing, passionate, dedicated working board—and I through our two day retreat at the end of June where we laid out our one and three year strategic plans and did much organizational work.And, one has to mention the most creative graphic designer plus webmaster one could have: Josh Rosenquist. It is great having his creative brain working for Rainforest Partnership as his contribution. And, Dan Sparks and Shweta Shinde working on the database and its web interface. And, Lucy Matulich, our volunteer coordinator and he initial work in December 2007. And, Mercedes Duchicela, working on branding and site plan for the website. And, the very experienced Daffnes Bohas and Penny Potter, bringing their years of experience to provide steady and certain help in laying a strong foundation for RP in their retirement!And, there are numerous advisers, folks who have volunteered hours and donors who have given us a huge boost in this our first year of our existence. Too many to name here; I remain personally grateful for their contributions even as I will continue to turn to them. They include our partners—individuals and organizations—in Latin America and here in the U.S., and many new people who on a daily basis are enthusiastically asking to learn more about us and giving us their time, talent or treasure.To all of you, I commit that we will give you weekly updates on our blog from this point on! It may be me, someone from the board, someone on the ground or any of our volunteers and staff (to date, all unpaid but equally dedicated, in some sense even more than if they actually being paid!) Thank you for your steady interest in our mission and our success in achieving that mission.
RP Connections
June 6, 2008 by Hazel Barbour, Board Chair
Update from Hazel
I may be the chair of RP and know something about climate change, carbon offsets, alternative energy, etc but I had never been south of the
Many of the communities with which we met were tiny, had no electricity or running water, apart from a stand pipe or a stream which was often polluted. Occasionally, if there was electricity, there would be one TV in the village. Our community meetings were often held in the middle of the only street running through the village, with chairs being provided for Niyanta, Lucia and me and everyone else who could attend standing around us. Here’s the really fascinating thing, these communities understand the value of the forests, they don’t want to cut down trees thoughtlessly, they want to be able to prohibit indiscriminate logging, stop other people from stealing butterflies and orchids, but they need to be able to find additional ways of making a living. That’s where we hope Rainforest Partnership may be able to step in, acting as a catalyst to help these communities give life to their own alternatives to cutting down the forest through providing information on avoided deforestation, aforestation, shade grown products, etc; aiding the formation of partnerships between local communities and with local non-profit organizations; helping communities gain title to their land; helping communities gain Rainforest Alliance certification for forestry and agricultural products which will in turn bring them higher commodity prices; raising funds to initiate projects like trout farming or ecotourism; and creating marketing links between products from the communities and the US (particularly in the Austin area to begin with). As we reiterated every time we talked to communities, we want every dollar which Rainforest Partnership raises for project support to go directly to the community projects.
There are so many relatively simple steps that can be taken to start things happening – a couple of thousand dollars can meet the costs of obtaining community title to the land in many of the small communities we visited; we can make it possible for students from the Austin area to spend time in the communities teaching English (ability to speak English being one of the keys to being able to develop ecotourism); our local universities in Central Texas can help with soil and species surveys and GPS surveys of existing rainforest.
Through Niyanta’s work in
Now we, the Rainforest Partnership board, need to get down to the in depth planning of how and where we are going to act. To this end, later this month when Niyanta is safely back in the
April 29, 2008 by Jordan Erdos
Update from Jordan
For those of you just stopping by the blog for the first time, please see my previous post about my trip to the Ecuadorean Amazon with our executive director, Niyanta Spelman. This post continues where we left off . . .
At the end of our first day in the Amazon, Niyanta and I were joined by Alfredo for a pleasant dinner in the hotel restaurant. It had been a long day, and we had so much to think about after visiting the Asociación San Carlos and touring Doña Luz’s finca. Furthermore, Alfredo informed us that we had to be ready at 6 a.m. the following day. We enjoyed the meal and conversation with Alfredo, and soon it was time to go to bed.The next morning, Ricardo — who we had met the previous day — came and picked us up at our hotel. Soon after, we were joined by Jorge Gaibor, an agronomist, and field assessor of the growers’ consortium. He told us about the association of producers he works with, Aroma Amazónico (AA). The group started four years ago and began with four organizations. They work with producers in the Orellana/Sucumbios region, in the cantons of Cascales, Lago Agrio, Cuyabeno, Putumayo, and Shu shufindi. There are a total of 15 member organizations in the association, representing 1,500 producers. 800 (53%) of these are certified by Rainforest Alliance, as of last year. The association has 12 centros de acopio — distribution centers, each with its own administrative structure. They have money for three more, and need 18 total. The cost to start one is $130,000. The ultimate goal of AA is for each member to eventually become a stockholder in the association.
AA works with producers of cacao fino de aroma, the finest variety. The majority of cocoa produced is shade grown. The selling price is $95/quintal for uncertified cocoa and $105/quintal for certified. This represents a decline in the price of the market – in 2007, the comparative prices were $120/quintal for certified and $105/quintal for uncertified. Jorge indicated they have had difficulties finding the markets.
Jorge’s role in AA is to support the associations, manage their legal structures and strengthen the processes of leadership and formation, getting everyone involved and making sure all voices are heard. He also helps to resolve any conflicts within the association.Ricardo and Jorge took us to the main production center in Cascales. At the center, we were introduced to Doña Alexandra, the president of the Association, who is an outgoing, middle-aged woman with a friendly manner. She has been president for two years. In addition to serving as president of the association, she works in the municipal government.
She told us about their operations. In addition to selling to external markets, they do some sales to internal markets. The association began with 24 people, and now counts 200 members, all certified through Rainforest Alliance. They are working now on organic certification. She talked about the need to preserve the rainforest. AA is connected with various supporting institutions including Udenor, Amaznor, Pronorte and Ecorae. Through them, and internet searches, they have connected with German buyers. They have also sent representation to fairs in Brazil. In addition to cocoa, they are working to commercialize coffee.The centro de acopio we visited was extremely well maintained, with different bins that were clearly marked to indicate whether they were RA or organically certified. Each bin holds six quintals. The center started commercializing in 2003. The previous week, they had sold 400 quintals of cocoa beans. The center keeps a percentage of each quintal sold. At this center, the fermentation process required six days.
Located behind the center was a finca belonging to the president’s mother replete with nice, diverse shade-grown cacao . Another aspect of the farm that was very encouraging was the involvement of women; we were met by five women and they outnumbered the men!
