Mens sana in corpore sano: "a healthy mind in a healthy body"

So a motley group had gathered: four women and 10 men – happy, hard-working, and tireless athletes. Most often, they played volleyball, but they also played soccer with the village residents, and went swimming together in the river and fished at night.

The instructors from Cuenca, located 2550 m above sea level, were completely amazed by the forest, our academy, and the students: "They are so genuine, so unspoiled, so positive", they raved. Okay …, I thought, but the fact was that this group was extraordinary with respect to both conduct and grades.

 

Class was held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Each day they studied two different subjects in theory and practice. Afterward they played sports, had an evening meal, and did homework. For the instructors who weren't currently in class, the older Shuar people gave tours through our thematic trails or had them practice with the blow gun. The Yuwints airstrip, which is 600 m long, was a favorite place to jog.

 

Dear friends, you all know it: the Amazon rain forest is burning!

 

The lungs of our planet, which could save us from the worst climate consequences, are in flames. The largest carbon sink in the world, which usually absorbs climate-wrecking gases, now sends unimagined amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It releases the poison it swallowed for us.

 

Satellite images show 72,000 seats of fire (seventy-two thousand!) spread over the Amazon Basin. 72,000 spots, where the forest burns, where the animals die and the vegetation is destroyed. The soil erodes and the largest freshwater reservoir in the world dries up.

 

Some know-it-alls will argue that it always burned in the rain forest in the dry season. That might be true, but in a natural way and controlled by nature.

82% of the current fires are started directly or indirectly by man. Directly through malicious arson and indirectly through deforestation and climate change (temperature increase).

 

And where are the seats of fire?

The densest distribution is in Brazil, where the forest destruction by man is strongest. The edges of the forest burn around every larger cleared and thus dry area. It is land to plant genetically modified crops, to serve as pastures for cattle, to build roads and dams, and land for the exploitation of non-renewable resources. It burns where the Amazon forest is already tortured and wounded.

 

The satellite images show that the forest is also burning in Bolivia and Peru.

The Amazon forest in Ecuador does not burn.

 

I dare to make the case that intact forest hardly burns, at least not beyond the known natural extent.

And why is it still intact? Because it is located on protected indigenous territories. At least in Ecuador, the entire Amazon rain forest is owned by indigenous peoples with land titles.

Not that these people are saints, but they do not play with fire.

In the west of the Amazon Basin from Colombia to Bolivia, the indigenous population is denser.

More indigenous peoples with more influence = less forest destruction.

 

Of course, the forest dwellers can fall victim to the temptations that various industries offer them, but much less often if they have alternatives. And that is exactly where the focus of the work is that AMAZONICA does:

"Protection of the tropical rain forest by supporting its indigenous peoples"

That's exactly what we do and what I have been fighting for the last 40 years.

 

We create education and employment, so that these peoples do not need to exploit the forest but conserve it.

All the more in Ecuador, where some of the headwater streams of the Amazon River originate.

 

Support our work and set an example for the Amazon!

Protect it together with AMAZONICA and our indigenous partners. We have to act NOW.

 

In the name of the Amazon rain forest thank you very much for every donation

and kind regards

 

 

Mascha

 

Donations to Foundation "Stiftung AMAZONICA" – IBAN: DE31 7112 0077 0363 8664 09 – BIC: HYVEDEMM448 Of course, AMAZONICA will issue a donation receipt for donations of € 200.00 or higher. For donations below € 200.00, the tax office accepts the transfer voucher.