Mission
Nature and Culture in Ecuador is part of Nature and Culture International (NCI), which works throughout South America. NCI’s overall mission is to conserve Latin America’s most extraordinary yet highly threatened ecosystems and cultures by saving endangered habitats, strengthening local capacity, and helping communities preserve their way of life.
History
Nature and Culture in Ecuador works through local staff and with local governments and communities to conserve a wide range of natural ecosystems. These range from dry coastal forests to the rich cloud forests of the Andean mountains and the rainforests of the Amazon basin.
Partnership with WLT
Renzo Paladines, Director of Nature and Culture in Ecuador, was introduced to WLT through a mutual partner, IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands (IUCN NL). He attended a symposium in 2009 entitled Payments for Ecological Services and Strengthening Memberships, held by WLT and IUCN NL in Brazil.
After discussing the benefits of teaming-up with Nature and Culture in Ecuador and similarities in their approach to protecting natural resources, Nature and Culture in Ecuador became an official WLT partner in 2010. The partnership encompasses land purchase, land protection through our Carbon Balanced scheme and funding for reserve rangers.
Other activities
• Forest protection programmes in the Tumbesian Dry Forest and Andean Cloud forests
• Working with local communities to preserve cultural traditions and capacity building in the Upper Amazonian rainforest
• Watershed protection by purchasing key areas to safeguard water supplies
• Research projects in Nature and Culture in Ecuador’s San Francisco Scientific Station, studying many aspects of tropical forests
• Environmental education, including training teachers in basic scientific research through the Schoolyard Ecology Program