Cloud Forest Restoration
Aliados is partnering with local farmers to implement a cloud forest restoration and management program in the Cayambe Coca National Park buffer zone. The program takes place in the Quijos region, located on the eastern Andean-Amazon slopes. Currently, local agricultural activities such as logging and cattle ranching are driving deforestation right to the limits of the National Park. Aliados is working with corporate partner - CloudForest Organics - on the Andes-Amazon slopes to develop new “wildlife friendly” value chains, like poroton (Erythrina edulis), a high protein legume that is native to Andes cloud forest ecosystems -, and other edible plants including motilón (Hyeronima macrocarpa), logma (Pouteria sp.), and nogál (Juglans neotropica) that can help transition livelihoods from expansive cattle to more sustainable pathways.
With this program, we are creating a sustainable restoration and management model for vulnerable cloud forest resources that prioritizes wildlife conservation and revenue-generating agroforestry methods. These methods aim to propagate edible flora while restoring secondary-forests and former pasture land.
Project Components
1. A fauna and flora monitoring program. Particular attention is paid to at-risk fauna such as the white-spectacled bear, and threatened tree species, such as Ceroxylum alpinum and Ceroxylon echinulatum.
2. Restoration of 60 hectares with native edible plants and threatened tree species to promote conservation of fauna and flora and identify sustainable livelihood alternatives.
3. Research and prototypes of alternative food options with attention to endemic agroforestry products such as porotón, ishpingo, logmillo, and chigualcan.