Kuporo: a hope for Camanti.
Kuporo has been part of the “ Association for sustainable Camanti conservation” since 2014. This association was created in 2014 for the founding members who manage 15000 hectares given by the states for conservation.
In 2022 we achieved the conservation concession in Camanti. His name is Ukumaya.
After many years of legal and bureaucratic battle, after creating the Association for sustainable Camanti conservation; we achieved to have the concession.
The conservation concessions are a way of providing access to the forest in order to preserve it from illegal and extractive activities. In this area, we prioritize scientific research environmental education, and conservation project development.
The concession managed to protect 15000 tropical forest hectares. After that, becoming an intangible area.
This forest is considered as a primary forest since it was not destroyed or intervened by humans. In this area live amazing beings: the oldest trees (more than 100 years), mixed flocks of birds, macaws, and the great fungi kingdom.
Is happiness for us to know we are part of this change process and environmental awareness protecting and fighting for our planet.
In this association, we look for:
1- Strengthening the conservation area: the design and implementation of a monitoring and control plan with surveillance people. Development of basic infrastructure to improve concession access and the construction of the necessary facilities to ensure adequate working conditions. In the association, we are looking for minimum impact on the ecosystem. Biological inventories development for the implementation of a biological line in order to design the concession management plan.
2- Investigation promotion:
a- Elaboration and promotion strategies for research in this area with the support of the SZF and “Amazonia sostenible”, two organizations with a lot of experience in this topic.
b- Local, regional, and international university meetings to create research conventions.
c- Provide facilities for thesis students to develop their investigations in this area.
3- Environmental education for children and youth:
A local environmental education plan focused on children and youth taking similar experiences to the one provided by SZF
Create strategic alliances with educational organizations and experts to collaborate with these objectives.
Develop an environmental education pilot experience at the local school to identify areas to improve and finally, replicate the model in other schools
Develop educational materials related to conservation and biodiversity to distribute in the eight local schools.
Conservation and sustainability
Conservation projects and environmental activism Kuporo’ is part of the "Sustainable Camanti Conservation Association"(CCS) founded in 2014 at the initiative of the founders of the lodge. The achievements and projects of the ACCS are the following:
a) Support in the promulgation of a municipal decree that designates a territory of 1300 hectares/3212 acres as a
protected area, which includes the Chilimayo river basin, a water source for the town of Quincemil, capital of the Camanti
district.
b) Initiative and management, together with the Conservation Association of the Amazon Basin (ACCA), for the establishment of a conservation concession of 21,000 hectares/51,892 acres in the Camanti district (in the process).
c) Development of an educational environmental awareness project for the local population, from which we will seek to establish programs that support local people interested in educating themselves at the technical level and higher in conservation activities and sustainable economy.
Sustainability strategy and actions
In order to maximize our strategy, we have sought to answer the following questions; how could our operation impact the natural and social environment in which we find ourselves? What opportunities do we have to achieve a positive impact? How can we avoid or minimize negative impacts?
All of our infrastructure and gardens are built on a section of the property considered as "recovery of pasture lands in the jungle", that is, land that has been previously been degraded and that requires recovery actions. The previous owners used this part of the property in the construction of the old bridge, the current Oroya Bridge and as a cultivation area.
The reasons we chose to build in this space are the following:
a) We avoided further degradation of the forest,
b) We could place flora species with a certain degree of vulnerability in the gardens and
c) There was already road access to the construction area, so a minimum amount of land conditioning was required for the
construction of the lodge.
We also understood that, due to the position of this touristic entrepreneurship, we would become a sort of "guardian" of the water basin that feeds the town of Quincemil, capital of the Camanti district. There are many interests to carry out extractive activities in the basin, especially mining interests, which is why, along with the other partners of the "Sustainable Camanti Conservation Association" and with the support and concrete actions of the municipality of Camanti and the parish of the town represented by Father Rene Salizar (who obtained the signatures of the population opposing the mining activity), we were able to establish a municipal decree that designates 1300 hectares/3212 acres of forest as a protected area, within which is the basin in mention, our property and all of its surroundings.
We knew that to avoid extractive activities, in addition to carrying out protective actions, we had to become an example of sustainable business for anyone who wanted to undertake projects in the area and thus contribute to the development of a sustainable economy in such a beautiful place. For this reason, we proposed and carried out a series of actions to avoid or minimize our negative impacts.
Actions
The construction was carried out on land previously used for construction and agriculture. The lodge has a 100% renewable energy system from solar panels installed on the property. All of the water that we use in the lodge is treated in biodigesters before its final disposal.
The construction is designed to have low energy consumption. The architecture of the lodge seeks to generate a low visual impact. All human activities seek to respect and protect the fauna and flora of the area. No extractive activities of any kind are practiced and any agricultural production that may be carried out within the property is of the agroforestry type, with principles of permaculture.
La mayoría de los ingredientes para las comidas que usamos son locales y algunos incluso se producen en la propiedad. Buscamos utilizar ingredientes de alimentos orgánicos, que hayan sido producidos con una gestión de bajo impacto ambiental. Tratamos de utilizar productos biodegradables para la limpieza y mantenimiento de nuestro albergue.
Gran parte de nuestro personal es local. Reciben un reembolso justo por sus bienes y servicios y también reciben apoyo profesional y personal. Se ha impulsado la conformación de la “Asociación de Gestores de Destinos Turísticos de Camanti”, que a la fecha cuenta con más de quince miembros.