Ecuador - Otonga Project

The purpose of this project is to provide information on conservation and biodiversity and raise funds to buy forest areas, the only way to safeguard these habitats from complete destruction.

Funds are raised selling vegetal ivory products manufactured by the Indian populations of Ecuador. This material is made with the seeds of a palm growing in the tropical forests of Ecuador, and is known as TAGUA. The manual processing of tagua is an important opportunity for the economy of local populations, and allows an eco-sustainable management of the resources of the equatorial forest.

Funds also come from the sale of a beautiful ecological fairy tale titled "The Golden Beetle", that tells the adventures of three animals (one of which is a spectacled bear) looking for a peaceful place to live.

Thanks to the foundation guided by prof. Giovanni Onore, missionary and teacher at the Pontifical University of Quito, the funds collected to date made it possible to establish the Otonga Reserve, approximately 1,500 hectares of forest and all its biological wealth. In this portion of tropical forest, several new species are identified every year. The Otonga forest is quite large, but future acquisitions will enable us to merge it with a larger national park that will become an invaluable oasis for plants and animals.