By Rosa Jordan

Ten years ago I first traveled to Playa de Oro in the Chocó rainforest of northwest Ecuador to present to the community the idea of designating its 10,000 hectares as a protected area for jungle cats. At that time the community was planning to do selective logging of its forests. This we felt would not seriously interfere with the cats, as long as they were not hunted. Luckily, after a brief attempt at small-scale commercial logging, the community decided to retain all of their trees for their own use. They designate the entire 10,000 hectares to which they hold title as a protected habitat for all species of neo-tropical felids, as well as for certain endangered birds. Earthways supported the community by providing seed money for the recycling of an abandoned military barracks into a jungle lodge as a means of providing a sustainable income for the community and supporting the reserve. The lodge opened at the end of 2000. Eco-tourism income is slowly increasing but the project has yet to become self-sufficient, despite excellent management. Donations continue to make up the difference between what the lodge earns and the approximate $1500/month needed to operate it and maintain the reserve.

Proyecto Tigrillo, as it is known locally, provides full-time jobs for four people, regular part-time jobs for six more, and occasional work for most of the adults in the village who wish to work, at such things as carpentry, plumbing, boat building, and cement work. The community’s artisans are able to sell such crafts as traditional drums, and a children’s dance troupe is paid $25 to perform, this going to the school to buy much-needed supplies. Some small amount of food is purchased from women in the village for the lodge, but this is minimal because food production by the villagers does not much more than meet their own needs. Income from all of these sources is tiny (the best-paid person, locally-born Mauro Caicedo who manages the reserve, earns only $300/month), but the trickle is steadily growing.

Nevertheless, the community now has a vested economic interest in protecting the exotic cats with whom they share this pristine piece of rainforest. Visitors continue to arrive, sometimes as independent travelers, and sometimes as members of small groups organized by Tracy Wilson. For info on how to travel there alone or in a group, see: www.touchthejungle.org

The enthusiasm of eco-tourists for the reserve’s natural beauty heightened the community’s appreciation of what it has, and reinforced the importance of protecting this precious habitat. The community is encouraged and rewarded for its conservation efforts by various forms of support from visitors to the reserve. For example, two visitors to the reserve, one from Sacramento and one from Toronto, spontaneously began raising money to buy supplies and hire a teacher for the community’s 84 school-aged children. Private donors have contributed a new roof for the lodge, a boat motor, and funds for various community medical emergencies. Many visitors return for a second and even third trip to bring friends and family members to Playa de Oro.

This year much energy has been expended on one looming threat and two positive developments. The threat is deforestation, which began at the coast about 30 miles away and has moved upriver until logging is now occurring on the very borders of Playa de Oro territory. Throughout the Chocó rainforest, companies have a pattern of offering to buy timber, and if a village refuses, simply taking it. For several years communities in the Chocó have complained to authorities about this, and at least two dozen took the matter of illegal trespass and stolen timber to the courts. Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment has admitted publically that it is incapable of controlling the corruption of its own officials, who are routinely bought off by the big logging companies. As are judges. The Ecuadorian media recently reported that twelve judges who had ruled against communities in favor of logging companies had been convicted of accepting bribes. The communities have yet to be compensated. Faced with this situation, many communities sell to the logging companies rather than try to fend them off when they can’t count on support from either the Ministry of Environment or the courts. Logging roads have reached the boundaries of Playa de Oro’s 10,000 hectares of near-virgin rainforest, and any day now, the large multinational which is clearcutting its neighbor’s land will make Playa de Oro an offer. When that happens, it will set off a debate within the community as to whether they should accept the thousands of dollars the company is expected to offer, or whether, if they turn it down, they have any chance of withstanding the giant.

Playa de Oro is a very democratic community, with every citizen over the age of 14 having the vote. No outside agency can make this decision for them. All we can do is offer to help, for as long as they are determined to resist. To this end, the Feline Conservation Federation has funded a two-man border patrol to walk the boundaries of Playa de Oro to spot and report any incidents of timber theft or slash-and-burn squatters moving into their territory.

Meanwhile, Olaf Jahn, the world’s foremost authority on the birds of Playa de Oro, introduced Playa de Oro to Xavier Muños, head of Neblina Tours (Quito’s top birding tour agency). Xavier was greatly impressed by the beauty of the reserve and variety of its birds, and is now bringing birding groups there. He has also offered the community other benefits, providing it continues to stand firm against the logging companies. The community readily agreed, because no one in Playa de Oro wants to see their forest cut. They have seen with their own eyes the devastation wrought by deforestation in down-river communities.

But then, neither do they want to continue living without a community doctor, without electricity, without mail service. What would the amount offered by a logging company buy? What would it not? What if the community turns down the money offered by a logging company, only to have their trees stolen from them? These are the questions Playa de Orans are asking themselves now, and must find answers to within the coming year. They know that letting the loggers in will wipe out both their traditional lifestyle and the small sustainable income from ecotourism developed so painstakingly over the past decade. But they do not know —nor do we—whether they can stop them. All we know is that the community and the exotic cats who dwell in this unique habitat, need our ongoing support if they are survive. The struggle to protect them must continue, or they, and we, are doomed.