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Amboro Carrasco Success Story

 

Illegal Logging in Amboro.

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Success Story.

Marcelino reflects on how the community now profits from the forest in a sustainable way. “We now benefit from the forest by collecting seeds to grow tree seedlings in our community greenhouse. We then sell them for reforestation projects in the region and help our local economy.”

Landscape of Amboro National Park.

Miraflores is one of many communities adjacent to Carrasco National Park in the Bolivian tropics.

Its residents are ex-miners and highlanders from the poorest central and southwestern regions of the country. They were first lured to the tropical lowlands by opportunities in timber extraction and agriculture.

In recent years, however, local residents began noticing a drop in the amount of water available throughout the year for irrigation and local consumption and found their deforestation practices were taking a toll on their subsistence way of life.

 

It was around that time that the Carrasco National Park administration designated a park buffer zone where the Miraflores community lives, enabling them to legally manage their natural resources. Marcelino Guarachi, community leader for Miraflores, became interested in The Nature Conservancy’s tree seedling project and decided to give it a try. The Conservancy and local partner CIDEDER provided start-up technical assistance and  tools and materials for the tree seedling project.

 

Marcelino and 250 other Miraflores community members are aiming high - they hope to produce 50,000 seedlings in 2007. With the selling price around US$0.20 per seedling. This represents US$10,000 for the community - income it did not have a few years ago.

The community of Miraflores went from being a forest degrading community to becoming a forest factory. Growing trees has helped the local economy, and while it is still in its early stages, reforestation efforts on local degraded sites are expected to help regulate local water supply. In the meantime, Marcelino believes his community venture will only continue to grow higher and higher.

The tree seedling project in Miraflores is part of the Conservancy’s efforts to promote sustainable resource use, cultivating the growth of local economies while protecting Carrasco National Park from logging. Carrasco National Park covers more than 1.5 million acres in the Bolivian tropical foothills known as the Yungas and is home to stunning biodiversity. Scientists have observed more than 300 orchid species, 600 fern species, 830 bird species, 127 mammal species, and 102 amphibian species in Carraso National Park and its neighbor, Amboró National Park.

 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Steffen Reichle (Amboro National Park); Photo © Luís Fernando del Aguila, FAN/TNC (Illegal Logging In Amboro) © CIDEDER, PiP/TNC (Marcelino).