Environmental Sustainability
Kichwa Community
Amazonia (Ecuador)
June 2021.
With South America comes Amazonia! And even if the world's largest rainforest wasn't necessarily on the program, we would have been sad to not have visited this place that may disappear one day. Indeed, the more our world tour evolves, the more our emotional journey gets enriched: our vision of the world is sharpened and built.
The Amazon rainforest constitutes an immense territory, representing more than 547,000km² over nine South American countries. It is thus larger than France’s mainland! Its capital importance in the fight against global warming (regulation of greenhouse gases), the resources it contains, the populations that inhabit it and the attention it arouses, have made the largest reservoir of biological diversity an essential step in the humanitarian aim of our project. You understood, it is not for its insects and other small animals that we went to the Amazon basin, but to meet its people whose knowledge and way of life could make us all grow.
The idea of living this experience in Ecuador came about naturally: small country, small distances ... Logistically speaking, this was our best chance!
Problematic
The current issue is “simple”: Earth and biodiversity survival in the face of climate change, capable of killing many more people than the Covid itself.
Since the industrial revolution 150 years ago, a frenetic race has emerged for the profit and the disproportion of human activities: overexploitation of coal, oil, gas, fishing, agriculture, livestock... The culture of “always more”! The planet is crying out: melting glaciers, deforestation, droughts, floods, increasingly frequent natural disasters... According to WWF (2020), 70% of life has been wiped off the planet's surface in barely 50 years.
The Amazon rainforest mainly is suffering from the flames and it is a major ecological disaster, because it is an invaluable planetary resource: a quarter of the world's species live there (more than 30,000 species of plants, 2,500 fish, 1,500 birds, 500 mammals, 550 reptiles and 2.5 million insects according to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization), between 5 to 10% of the world's oxygen is produced, the rain is regulated and the carbon captured. Normally…
In 2019, fires in the Amazon have increased dangerously by 60% compared to the previous three years. In total in 50 years, almost a quarter of the Amazon rainforest has disappeared (WWF, 2021).
In question: agriculture and livestock, mainly. A lot of Brazilian soybeans are exported to feed farm animals to China (80%) and France (2 million tonnes per year; Greenpeace, 2021) among others. Deforestation is therefore mainly due to our imports but also to our agricultural model, because to make the land cultivable, slash-and-burn techniques are used. This massive deforestation has a real impact on our planet because it causes disruption of the rains, usually fueled by evapotranspiration from trees. The fewer trees, the less rain.
The Amazon also functions as a carbon sink: it stores the 90 to 140 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases that our activities generate (WWF, 2020). By burning the forest, the carbon is released into the atmosphere... Since 2010, the rainforest has emitted more carbon than it absorbs (INRAE, 2021). A real disaster which accelerates the climate’s deregulation.
To reduce their ecological footprint, many people are turning to a partial or total self-sufficient lifestyle. Consuming less and better (food, energy, etc.), respecting nature, meeting its vital needs locally, avoiding the transport of resources, there are many links between our way of life and the environmental consequences. For millennia, indigenous tribes around the world have lived naturally in self-sufficiency and have had little reliance on other actors for their survival. This is the case for people in Africa, like the Maasai, alongside whom we stayed in November 2020 (story to be found HERE), or for communities in the Amazon.
The Kichwa Indigenous Community
The indigenous Kichwa community brings together families who have kept in common: the same language, the same history and a vision of the world based on the relationship between the universe, the earth and humankind. The pillars of their culture are the relationship with the land and solidarity.
We immediately felt these values while staying with Misael, his wife Belen, and his son Dionel. Misael being the youngest of 7 siblings, he is responsible for his parents, as tradition requires. Therefore, we also share the house with them. We are greeted with warmth and kindness in this family of Uchuculin, a small village located half an hour from Tena on the edge of the Amazon. In the middle of the jungle, the environment strikes us directly: millions of trees and shades of green on the horizon! However, we keep a few landmarks thanks to the place’s proximity to the city: electricity, internet, fridge and bed with mosquito net!
A good compromise so as not to feel too disoriented. Misael's nephew, Efrain, tells us "that if modernization is invading us (them) now, it is difficult to reject all the comforts it brings". Despite the changing world and what it entails, Misael’s family has still kept their partially self-sufficient lifestyle and in harmony with nature. Their knowledge is limitless and the conclusion we draw very quickly from our first moments with them is “that there is everything in the jungle and we can do anything with it!”
The Amazon Jungle
La selva, hostile but incredibly beautiful and rich! It is 8am, we barely woke up, we are just 30 meters from the house, and we find ourselves in the heart of an extremely dense and diverse forest without having had the time to understand this transition. Barely 10 minutes have passed when we already have to cross a river with water up to our knees. Marie, who has been working since our departure not to make her things dirty, is taken by surprise: “What are our rubber boots for?”
Throughout our volunteering, we are seeing incredible landscapes thanks to Misael and Efrain, who, very proud of their land, surpass themselves to make us discover all of its beauties: points of view, rivers, caves, lush vegetation… If we knew that the Amazon was magnificent from the feedback of other travelers, we would never have suspected that it could offer us so many different panoramas.
But these sceneries have to be deserved… and with several hours of rather very wet treks! Although this is not our first in the jungle (being our encounter with orangutans in Indonesia), the atmosphere that resides in the Amazon basin stands out. The energies present hire give a great mysticity, whose strength could easily eat us up. Besides, we don't play too smart when we lose Misael, even if it's only for a few minutes...
The jungle is indeed a veritable labyrinth of trees, leaves and lianas. We wonder how people can find their way back in there! While there are a few small “paths” created by the regularity of back and forth movements towards food and medicinal resources, it is impossible to conquer this environment without a machete! A kind of traditional chainsaw...
Not to mention its residents, whether it is these thorn trunks or this snake, one of the most dangerous in the world (one bite and you can die in 20 minutes...). The Amazonian selva remains a somewhat inhospitable place if we do not know it.
And knowledge, it takes to be able to live here! Whether it's food, health, shelter or just walking this rugged terrain, locals know all the plants, trees and animals like the back of their hands. They are a veritable mine of information from which our "modern" world may well be inspired!
Our participation to their lifestyle
We feel extremely lucky to be able to share a few days with the community, and our volunteering allows us to enrich ourselves daily. We have the opportunity to learn by doing and to really discuss many topics.
Food Independence
The jungle is particularly rich in nutritional resources, and the soil and climate are perfect for cultivating certain products essential to the nourishment of the community, which is both a producer and a consumer of these foods. This is the case of yucca, a kind of local cassava, which they eat every day.
This is their favorite food, and they cook it in all possible and unimaginable ways! I am obviously very curious to taste this edible root, and Marie does not fail to let Misael know! So one day at 5.30 p.m. sharp, he asks us to (re)put on our boots to go get our evening meal! Ok… So the yucca doesn't come from Tena's supermarket? Covered from head to toe to make sure no nocturnal bugs creep between our layers of clothing, here we are (again) off to the jungle in search of dinner!
Misael shows us the location and starts digging up the yucca before us. We pull the small shrub, the yucca roots spring from the ground, we harvest them by cutting them and then we directly replant the root!
An essential rule in the selva: you only take what you consume in the short term (two to three days maximum). The community does not use a fridge (empty when we arrived) to store their food and prefers to go to the forest regularly so as not to waste anything. Back home, it's time for a cooking workshop and a campfire! On the menu: yucca fries and small squares of yucca mashed with cheese (first boiled, then mashed, then compacted, and finally roasted). And the least we can say is that it is economical, nutritious and really filling! We are delighted by the taste so similar to potatoes and we tell ourselves that we will gladly reproduce this meal when we get home!
The exotic climate of the Amazon jungle also lends itself perfectly to cocoa production. Not without recalling some memories of our finca visit in Colombia, this time we are witnessing the chocolate making process from A to Z! We start with the plantation of cocoa trees.
We follow with the harvest, the rain of the last few days threatening to quickly ruin the plantations. Misael has the machete’s exclusivity, far too dangerous for us. Too bad, but we would rather not have to test the reliability of medicinal plants from the Amazon! He leads us to the location of each of his cocoa trees across the jungle as if he were walking through his own house, amazing! Then he cuts the spotted pods before we pick them up.
I even get the chance to test my agility as he takes me up some trees to catch the highest ones.
It takes a while before I get the hang of it, but Misael isn't judging us. On the contrary, he tends to overestimate us a bit. We gallop behind him to harvest the pods at his pace! Then comes the moment to open them to remove the still wet cocoa beans.
We don’t forget to taste a couple of them along the way... The texture of a lychee, the sweetness of a ripe mango and the acidity of a passion fruit. A delight! Misael adds a large rock on top of the wet bean bag, then creates a small homemade construction to protect them from the rain. The goal: to dehydrate them as much as possible to be able to dry them and obtain the famous cocoa bean, an essential ingredient in the creation of chocolate!
It will then be necessary to spread the beans completely on the hot concrete road to dry them completely. The stage requires 3 to 4 days of sunshine, which unfortunately does not show itself… Fortunately, Efrain has a few beans in reserve to allow us to participate in the rest of the process. I'm already salivating!
First step: roasting the beans in a pan to be able to shell them more easily.
Then the grinding using a small mill to obtain a more or less fine cocoa powder.
Finally, the chocolate creation phase. Nothing could be easier: water, sugar and cocoa powder mixed together!
You can also add milk or other ingredients (honey, salt ...) according to your individual tastes. The possibilities are actually almost endless. However, we don't forget the tasting step! For us, it will be chocolate with bananas!
Whether cocoa or yucca, all plantations require regular maintenance to minimize the risk of disease. It is therefore essential to clean up and protect the environment in which they thrive. For cocoa, beware of weeds that must be cut with a machete. Regarding the yucca, the digging of trenches is essential during the rainy season to avoid flooding the plants.
Besides these crops, the jungle is full of edible wild plants. During our stay, we frequently come across cinnamon, lemon-scented leaves or flowers similar to vanilla. They are most often infused in teas or added to different dishes (always based on yucca, of course)!
The selva is also home to many tropical fruits: bananas, pineapples, limes… And to have tested them, they are incredibly tasty!
As the community is essentially vegetarian, fishing or hunting parties are reserved for exceptional cases (festivals). But Misael would like to show us several trapping techniques used for the capture of wild pigs.
On the other hand, you can't miss the many hens strutting around the house! An always available source of protein. Roosters never miss an opportunity to be heard (day and night)! But as Misael's mom says, "If this one keeps making so much noise, it's going to end in the soup soon!"
When it comes to water, the locals simply drink that from the river. They may boil it, but it is generally drinkable. Our stomachs being a little more fragile, we avoid and we stick to filtered water, you will excuse us!
Medicinal Resources
The peoples of the Amazon have a very different medicinal approach from ours. Here, no pharmaceutical drugs, but plants and trees with many healing properties! An incomparable reservoir of molecules that we would do well to protect... The drugs that we ingest often contain a small proportion of these plants. Imagine the medicinal concentration of these in the middle of the jungle! We are speechless when Efrain shows us a tree with blood-red sap. This can be used for stomach aches but also as a healing balm! We try immediately on a small cut and it is indeed very effective. You can find it in city markets, but it's very expensive: $5 a small bottle!
Misael also explains the benefits of a plant from the urticaceae family, similar to a nettle. The community uses it for all its virtues: respiratory problems, stomach problems, but also to prevent poison or pain from spreading in other parts of the body. I test, and yes, it stings!
It should be noted that several members of Misael's family have fallen ill in recent months without being able to clearly diagnose the Covid. But no one died from it. All of them were cured with medicinal plants from the selva.
Like many indigenous people, the Kichwas also resort to shamans when a person develops an illness. These healers have a holistic approach to it: psychic, emotional and spiritual. In addition to working with the chemical aspect of the plant, they focus on healing old wounds that may be the source of the disease, unlike our modern medicine which focuses primarily on symptom resolution.
Arts & Crafts
Well, let's get rid of the myth right away: here, nobody wears coconuts and leaves as clothes, even if we inevitably imagine that things are different in the deep Amazon. That doesn't stop Misael from showing us how they are made. Easy and fast (but not very practical)! On the program: skirts, crowns and even glasses! A little folkloric, but it was fun!
Later, Efrain tells us about the very resistant fiber currently used in the creation of jewelry and clothing.
With Rami (Misael's brother), we also have the opportunity to create small bracelets from this braided fiber and red and black seeds from the forest.
The same goes for cosmetics, everything is in the jungle! If Misael explains to us that they no longer make their soap and toothpaste themselves (too much work compared to what is in town), small expeditions to the river for natural clay masks are frequent. A SPA session is therefore easy to improvise!
Autonomous Housing & Energies
The construction of the houses is done entirely with the resources of the jungle: wood, leaves, lianas, fiber-based ropes…
We don't have the chance to attend a construction class, as their house is already built (thank you!), but some work needs to be renewed regularly. This is how we find ourselves with shovels in hand recreating stairs damaged by rain and weather.
As for energy, there was a time when fire was the only source of light and heat, but Misael and her family now have electricity… a comfort and time saving opportunities that are hard to refuse. We also learn that other volunteers who have been to Africa have taught them a construction method using mud and straw. Ah, knowledge sharing! Looking forward to the day when people seek to enrich each other rather than impose their ideas!
Environmental Protection
As the Amazon rainforest is threatened by human activities (mining, agriculture, fires, energy and transport infrastructure) which degrade the region's ecosystems, it has become essential for its peoples to safeguard their environment. Responsible tourism therefore appears as a solution to counter the destruction of the Amazon. Misael and her family have thus created a small agency offering tours and immersions in order to discover their way of life and raise awareness about it. With the help of volunteers like us, the community is taking care of the tourist trails to make them a protected area and prevent dangerous logging. Certain activities like tubing are developed to combine pleasure and respect of nature.
Food for thoughts
Our experience in the Amazon will be memories that will remain forever. Whether it’s the people who shared their knowledge with us, the sumptuous beauty of the landscapes or the unimaginable resources of this tropical forest, everything really marked us. We can't even imagine what we would have missed if we had only focused on its hostile atmosphere!
All environmentalists are flabbergasted by what is happening in the Amazon, and when you become aware of the current issues, you really wonder how it is possible that we are not reacting. Look at this photo and dare to say that you are not sad to see that this will surely be brought to disappear one day... We are!
Yet it is so difficult to resist the comfort that progress brings but which implies so much destruction. As Yann Arthus Bertrand said in his film Legacy, “it’s not the Earth that we have to kill, it’s our vision of progress”.
In a world and a culture where productivity and efficiency rule over everything else, we must now speak of “degrowth”: decarbonize our lives by all possible means, avoid fossil fuels, reduce our consumption by 5% per year… Why would it not be our vision of progress? Why, naturally and culturally, do we immediately link progress with money, profit and performance? It is only by realizing all of this that we can restore the climate balance that concerns us ALL. The Covid has made such a buzz in our world, but scientists assure that it will be a pandemic every 10 years if we do not change our lifestyle... This is a symptom and not the source of the current issue. And as usual, governments are focusing on treating the symptoms rather than getting to the heart of the problem!
As always during our stays in communities, we are struck by the spirit of cohesion and solidarity that resides there. This notion, which is becoming more and more foreign to our increasingly individualistic “civilized” world, is nevertheless the key to many things. It is the involvement and inclusion of every human that would turn the tide and save our existence. We are much more all together: by the strength of the group and in the sharing of knowledge.
We would like to end with a thought that came upon us while writing this article. Whether in Africa during our immersion in a Maasai tribe, during our experience in the Amazon, or quite simply through the feedback of other indigenous peoples, we often observe the same speech: governments do not accept the economic disengagement of these people from the country in which they live. The policy framework (in which efficiency and productivity take precedence) is contrary to the way of life of the natives who are often excluded from society. But did these ways of life not exist long before the establishment of political systems? So don't they have a say in their idea of progress? Shouldn't they have their chance and wouldn't they do better in managing the planet's resources in the face of the environmental crisis we are going through? In the end, it always comes back to the same question: why are one way of life and one ideology considered superior to others?