In this interview, we caught up with Mary McEvoy – our Carbon Programme Manager – to find out more about her recent visit to the project site of our new appeal Protecting the Ecuadorian Amazon. She reflects on the wildlife she encountered, the people she met, and why this is such a fantastic and unique opportunity to safeguard the wildlife and habitats of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
WLT: What wildlife did you see during your visit?
Mary: I really enjoyed seeing and hearing the Blue-and-gold Macaws. They always take me back to my first ever work in the rainforest over 20 years ago where, on the very last day, a flock of Scarlet Macaws flew over our clearing and into the rainforest. I’ll never forget that – I was just captivated. They’re so beautiful and also full of character too – very social and very noisy! You really know you’re in the Amazon when you’ve got those sights and sounds.
We also saw many smaller water birds as well, being right by the river and the lagoons. Kingfishers and an incredibly beautiful species of toucan – the Chestnut-eared Aracari. It rained a lot while I was there and it was really special to see sloths, Woolly Monkeys and a troop of Red Howler Monkeys hunkered down against the rain.
The extraordinary plumage of the Chestnut-eared Aracari (Pteroglossus castanotis), a common riverside bird. Credit: Bernard Dupont / Wikimedia Commons
On the second day of the trip, we continued upriver towards Yasuní National Park and, as we went, we kept our eyes out for Amazon River Dolphins. With every splash or ripple, we were scanning the water to see if it was a dolphin but couldn’t quite tell. And then, as we were registering with the Yasuní National Park guards and being introduced to the park, there was a really loud sound behind us. It was unmistakably a dolphin breathing through its blowhole. We all spun round and watched as this pinkish dolphin gently rose and swum in the river by us, travelling downriver then turning and coming back up. Interestingly, it never made the same sound again, almost as if it had caught our attention and was now quite content to swim quietly through the water. Such a unique and special moment.
A wonderful encounter with one of the world’s most threatened freshwater dolphins: the Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis). Credit: Mary McEvoy
WLT: From your interactions with people, did you feel there’s support for the project on the ground?
Mary: Absolutely. There’s a really genuine desire for this project from all the different levels of governance. Firstly, I really can’t stress how amazing it is that the Orellana Provincial government have an Office of Nationalities including a Department of Identity and Ancestral Knowledge. It might seem like a no-brainer from the outside but they were the first province to establish this office in 2005 which was really unprecedented at the time. When I met the representatives from the provincial government in Coca, Orellana’s capital, their commitment to inclusion and to preserving Indigenous cultures came through really strongly. So that was fantastic to see.
The local people are also very in touch with nature. It seems to be an Ecuadorian trait. The rights of nature are written into their constitution and you can really feel, by how people speak about the forest and even gesture to it, that the connection is very strong. It’s part of their community actually.
I also can’t emphasise how impressed I was when visiting the El Eden Women’s Association. This is run by a group of Kichwa women who produce sustainable foods and goods from their Indigenous garden or “chakra”. Walking around the chakra was just amazing. We were climbing over branches and under vegetation to get to the crops, like sweet potatoes, chonta and macambo. And it was messy in the very best possible way with lots of dead wood left in place to provide habitat for wildlife and to enrich the soil. They also had taller trees to provide shade from the equatorial sun for their crops. It was just extremely well done with a lot of thought for the wider ecology and environment. So good to see.
Messy in the very best possible way: the Amazonian chakra at the El Eden Women’s Association. Credit: Sebastián Benalcazar / Nature and Culture International
WLT: What do you think this project will help achieve for the Ecuadorian Amazon?
Mary: By designating such a large area of land as a Provincial Protected Area, it will really help prevent illegal activities like gold mining and clear felling for agriculture. These haven’t yet got to Orellana to the same extent that they have in other areas so it’s really important to protect it now.
The designation will also create fertile ground for shared learning between Indigenous communities. If something is working for one community, they will be able to share that knowledge and expertise with others. This is really important and means you don’t have this situation where someone from the outside comes in to “empower” them because they don’t need that. They can do it themselves and this is 100% the best way for it to happen, creating an environment that allows ideas to be tested and shared in an organic and genuine way.
The project will help provide fertile ground for local and Indigenous communities to connect and share ideas. This is a photo of the Miwaguno community of Waorani Indigenous people. Credit: Daniel Sanmartín / Nature and Culture International
WLT: What do you think makes this project so special?
Mary: This project is really about getting ahead and creating something that can last far into the future. From the outside, it might look like there aren’t many problems here. After all, the forest is still vast and largely intact and although there are threats, they haven’t yet started to destroy large areas of land. But really that’s the beauty of this project – that we are getting in at this critical time and getting ahead of the game. It’s about finding a solution now that will prevent what we see unfolding in so many other places.
The landscape of Orellana is still largely intact. This project is about finding a solution now before the threats escalate. Sebastián Benalcazar/Nature and Culture International
The other thing to mention is Nature and Culture in Ecuador. They’re fantastically targeted and their focus on nature and culture comes up in everything they plan and organise and hope to achieve. You can tell how they’re really curious and interested to get to know everyone and work together in a really positive solution-focused way.
And of course I can’t over-emphasise the project’s scale. We travelled for an entire day upriver – the distance of London to Sheffield – and for that entire time, we were still inside the proposed project area. And even then, we only saw a tiny fraction of the whole site. If you travel west of Coca (Orellana’s capital), there’s more of the project area. Travel south and there’s more again; it’s just enormous and that’s why it relies on having really dedicated provincial partners and local communities.
Mary travelling with Nora Sánchez Luzardo from NCE (bottom left) and other representatives from NCE and the provincial government. Credit: Mary McEvoy
This is also quite new for WLT, to be working at such a large scale and with so many different communities. These sorts of projects really don’t come up every day and to have one of our very long-standing partners helping coordinate this is extremely special. It’s amazing firstly to be able to even think this big, let alone then work to achieve it. So I think we’re in a really good position and I hope lots of people are inspired to support this incredible project.
If you have enjoyed what you have read and would like to learn more about our appeal, Protecting the Ecuadorian Amazon and how you can help, please click here.
