Volunteer activities

The station

The Chinimp Tuna statio is located in the Pastaza province of the Ecuadorian Amazon near the community Chico Copataza and the Copataza River.

The station owns 240 hectares (593 acres). Approcimately 25 hectares are used for subsistence subsistence purposes and to feed the volunteers and are planted with such crops as yucca, plantain, sweet potatoes, yam, pineapples, corn, papaya and pasture. The remaining more than 200 hectares are covered by pristine tropical rainforest.

Purpose

This project was initiated by the villagers of the villagers at the Chinimp Tuna station to address the social, cultural and economical stresses faced by the villagers, culture and surrounding communities.

The purpose off the project is to create community development in the indigenous communities of Pastaza through the sustainable use of the biological resources.

Project Background

30 years ago, Manuel Chumapi arrived with his wife, Nelva Shiguango and their three small children: Mario, Carlos and José to what is today Chico Copataza. They had moved from Puyopungo in the Pomona parish. Once arrived in the region, Manuel Chumapi along with two friends, Gabriel Santi and Gustavo Shiguango and their respective spouses, took the initiative to legalize their lands because colonist farmers from the highlands were also claiming them. This led to the formation of a committee and to contact the Shuar Federation (FICSH) in order to apply for membership.

In return, FICSH in corporation with IERAC (Instituto Ecuatoriano para Reforma Agrícola y Colonización) helped legalize their lands granting a global title in 1990. Manuel Chumapi was assigned 240 hectares between the IlipeRiver in the North and the Community Nayum Entsa in the South. To the east the land is limiting that of Gabriel Santi and the Sucre community to the west.

Volunteer Activities

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