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Amazon Headwaters

The Añangu lowland Quichua: Conservation Role Models

Jorge Rivadeneira, elder of the Añangu lowland Quichua community, peers from a traditional hunting blind woven of palm branches.

The Añangu community is boosting conservation of the globally significant Yasuní National Park & UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. By managing their own communal reserve, they are expanding the protected area of Yasuní and protecting the core of the reserve. As elders patrol beyond Añangu lands, they extend the reach of government park rangers assigned to the sprawling Yasuní. There may be as few as six government rangers guarding the 2.5 million acre Yasuní National Park!

In a region with several wealthy and established ecotourism lodges, the Añangu community (via their "Napo Wildlife Center") has been the only provider to consistently transfer park entrance fees collected from tourists ($25/person) over to the National Park Service.

The Napo Wildlife Center is one of the best examples of indigenous community-based ecotourism in the new world tropics.