San Jose de Morona is located on the southern border of Ecuador and Peru. As volunteers, we’ve visited the community to observe local problems and habits of the residents. Two problems have been identified: 1) lack of shade and 2) waste management. Each will be discussed in this report.

In the community, there is no shade in school and public areas (Figures1-3). This is a problem because it is very hot and humid here. The trees that once existed in public areas were removed either for personal use or by the electric companies, as the trees would be or were in the way of cables. The main problem though is that the community doesn’t realize the importance of reforestation.

Without trees in the community, the following was observed:

1. Residents remain indoors at peak temperatures, due to no shade on the roads.
2. Children are forced to walk to and from school in the hot sun with no shelter from it.
3. During public events in the communal area, people cluster around the only standing tree in the field.
4. Livestock brought into town haven’t any shade at all to rest in.

To solve these problems, it is most important to:

1. Educate the community about the importance of reforestation and sustainability, including demonstrating to school children as well as to the community how to plant and maintain trees. [Note that colourful and informative posters and lively videos work best for educating on these topics. Meetings or seminars are not at all useful.]

2. Establish a tree nursery at the Ecotrackers local property where trees of each of the selected native species can be grown for planting. [Note that when tree stocks are taken out of the nursery for local reforestation purposes, they must be replaced by planting a seed of the same stock.]

3. Plant trees that are a native species (Figures 4-9), and plant them in an optimum micro-site: in elevated moist soil, not in depressions where water can collect and drown the tree or on mounds where soil could be too dry due to the sun. Be sure to plant shorter growing trees (Mango and Caimito Trees) under power lines.

4. Maintain newly planted trees by trimming those of which are situated under electric cables, and those that are potentially hazardous: leaning, weak or cracked should be removed and replaced.

Please refer to Figure 10 for the three problem areas, and locations where trees and which species need to be planted.