YACHANA LODGE, ECUADOR

Finalist Community Benefit Award 2006

Yachana: Geotourism Lodge and School, is owned by the Yachana Foundation. It is situated on 1,740 hectares (4,300 acres) of rainforest in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, accessible only by motorised canoe. The lodge offers a unique window for visitors into the life and wonder of the Amazon rainforest for visitors while providing opportunities for employment, education, health and rainforest conservation for local staff and students. Concerned about protecting the cultural richness of the indigenous peoples, and partially funded by a grant from the National Geographic Society Conservation Trust, we are offering Yachana Gastronomy tours; preservation of the "lost foods of the Amazon".

The Yachana Technical High School, partially funded by the Lodge, is unique in Ecuador, empowering local youth by providing them with hands-on skills and knowledge in sustainable agricultural practices, rainforest conservation and ecotourism that will enable them to reduce poverty in their own communities and find meaningful employment in the future. We believe that the future of the rainforest is inextricably linked to the wellbeing of its inhabitants. Only those who call the rainforest their home can ensure its protection, and only through education. The Yachana High School programme is training the leaders and entrepreneurs of the future.