ACADEMY – WORLD WITH FOREST
Three non-profit organizations that emerged from each other and cooperate with each other are united under the umbrella of the name AMAZONICA: INDIO-HILFE e.V. (1982), Stiftung AMAZONICA (2007) and AMAZONICA Akademie gemeinnützige GmbH (2015).
The three institutions combine over 40 years of work and experience with indigenous peoples in the tropical rainforest of Ecuador, which has led to sustainable and widely recognized successes.
in 2025, Mascha Kauka, the founder and director of AMAZONICA, was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Everyone is talking about the future.
AMAZONICA is making it!
First jungle academy
The AMAZONICA Academy is the first jungle academy in the
Amazon region of Ecuador. It is located far away from the road network, in the middle of the tropical rainforest on indigenous territory and serves both the indigenous people of Amazonia and the youth of the world.
The cooperation
The collaboration with the indigenous peoples came about at their request and invitation. They declared: „We want to give our young people a secure future on our land. To do this, we need allies“. The Shuar and Achuar were thinking of tourism to create jobs and income locally.
The task
A good idea, but a complex and lengthy task, as the forest dwellers lack almost all the prerequisites for this.
AMAZONICA must train future entrepreneurs in all areas of life, a program that has become part of the curriculum at the academy. Our newly created faculty is called „The path for contemporary living and working in the forest“.
Research and teaching
AMAZONICA provides international research and teaching with access to a habitat whose fate is of immense importance to mankind, contact with the lifeblood of our earth and the forest
The Academy is not tied to just one fixed location,
but consists of several meeting points on three rivers in very different villages and regions with breathtaking nature.
The entire territory on which AMAZONICA is currently working is the traditional settlement area of the Achuar, which legally belongs to the people with title of ownership (7,500 km²)
The hosts on site are the local Achuar,
who have been trained by AMAZONICA both to serve the visitors and to accompany the scientists in their work. The operation of the academy creates jobs and income for a network of forest communities and promotes intercultural exchange on an equal footing.
The name „academy“ was chosen deliberately,
because the teaching content differs from that of a conventional university. People without a high school diploma and even illiterate people are also taught here, for example indigenous forest farmers in improving their agricultural production. Indigenous high school graduates are offered seminars and courses in various professions. The academy also awards student grants and scholarships so that young people in the forest can also attend high schools and universities.
The academic network
The idea of establishing an academy was born in 2002, when AMAZONICA contacted the Weihenstephan/TUM University of Applied Sciences to investigate the possibilities of using renewable energies in the primeval forest.
Professor Dr. Ernst Schrimpff was a lecturer in this subject at the time. We invited him to Ecuador. Professor Schrimpff came three times over the years and made a significant contribution to the introduction of renewable energies in the forest and to cooperation with other universities.
The academic network was formed. Our second „alternative round“ on renewable energies in the capital Quito took place in 2005 at the Polytechnic. The German Climate Alliance and the German Development Service (DED) were involved.
We mainly invited students from various universities and indigenous representatives of different peoples.
The AMAZONICA Academy in the forest was launched in spring 2008 with a one-year seminar for indigenous leaders. The first partner with whom a cooperation agreement was signed was the Ecuadorian State University of Cuenca, which provided lecturers for the Academy in the Forest.
The network expanded to include Munich University of Applied Sciences.
Under the leadership of the Faculty of Tourism, the establishment of the academy was supported. Other universities in Germany and Ecuador followed.
AMAZONICA was able to sign a particularly valuable cooperation agreement in summer 2025. The new partner is the Catholic University PUCE in Quito.
Suitable courses of study
All disciplines at universities, colleges, institutes and companies with an emphasis on research and practical application, for which the environment of „humans and nature in an intact tropical forest ecosystem“ can be useful. 42 academic courses were analyzed as suitable.
Previous visitors have come from the following departments and degree programs:
Engineering, Aerospace, Renewable Energy, Hydromechanics, Timber Engineering, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Biology, Soil Science, Organic and Analytical Chemistry, Medicine, Ecological Sanitation, Tourism, Geoinformation, Anthropology, Audiovisual Media Design and Media Production.
The groups usually consist of students with their home lecturers in the last semester before graduating with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.
They complete a small research project or an internship as part of their thesis.
AMAZONICA advises on suitable courses and work topics and recommends which Academy locations are best suited.
Experience shows that students stay between 14 days and six months, and longer in the case of doctorates. Lecturers like to return every year – always with new students.
2026 IS THE YEAR
After the pandemic, we began working with other village communities on neighboring rivers to expand the academy’s operations and include new forest areas for protection.
We will welcome visitors there for the winter semester 2026/27.
Sie wollen sich einbringen?
Wir danken unseren Freunden und Förderern
AMAZONICA
Stiftung AMAZONICA
Traubinger Str. 45
D-81477 München
Tel: 0049-(0)89-642 99 133
E-Mail: info@amazonica.org
www.amazonica.org
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