A man throwing coffee beans in the air, from a pile that are to be spread out on a sheet and dried. Part of the project in the Chinchipe river basin of the Amazon rainforest, Peru.

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Authors

Ana Castañeda

Issue Date

30/01/2015

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en

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Agriculture , Food

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New life to the forests Chinchipe river basin, Amazon The Chinchipe River basin is located on the border between Peru and Ecuador, at the source of the Amazon River. Pastures that resemble natural water sponges can be found in this area. This is where the cloud forests of the mountainous Amazon region begin. They make up the ecosystem in which the largest source of drinking water of our planet is generated drop by drop. This impressively beautiful landscape is home to some 162,000 peasant farmers, the majority from the mountains of Peru and Ecuador. Living in poverty, these communities earn £1 a day through the small-scale production of coffee and timber. Barely sustainable, these activities are also destructive, mainly because of the brittleness of the soil and the steep slopes. Practical Action is helping the Chinchipe communities to protect their environment while, at the same time, improving their livelihoods. This project will assist more than 1,000 farming families who have migrated to the Amazon jungle and aid in the safeguarding of some 100,000 hectares of forests located around their settlements. Practical Action is working with poor farmers to produce fruit, and better and more coffee at a higher price while taking care of native plants and animals. With the help of trained local "promoters", we are also working with small timber producers to be trained in forest certification and sustainable management, including fruits and medicine plants and how to use portable sawmills. It is expected that, as a result of changed practices, the small producers will be able to increase the yield of wood by 20%, with income increasing by the same proportion. Overall, nearly 150,000 hectares of forests in Ecuador and Peru will be preserved in two important protected areas. A related video can be found on the Practical Action website.

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