SUBIR is a well-established experiment that has taken advantage of lessons learned. All photos by Kimberly Conger © CARE 2001.

DAY 6: A Dialogue
with the SUBIR Director
On our final night in Quito, before heading back to CARE headquarters in Atlanta, we talked with Jody Stallings, CARE SUBIR director. He spoke to us about the SUBIR Project, its staff and future plans.

"SUBIR is a well-established experiment that has taken advantage of lessons learned. Because it's a 10-year, $20 million project, you could say that donors bet the farm on it. And they are seeing results because of the community willingness to conserve and the dedicated staff," says Stallings. "For the project to work, CARE had to strategically partner with conservation organizations that had their hearts in the right place. It seems like in SUBIR, we have been spot on. CARE has been able to put together and maintain a professional and dedicated staff (16 CARE staff and 50 partner staff).

"Because of the project's longevity, everyone has been able to build on each other's strengths and work as a team. Over the years, they have been accepted into the communities where they work."

SUBIR has achieved significant results. Working directly with and raising consciousness levels among indigenous communities has laid the groundwork for these communities to safeguard buffer zones and to engage business market systems. These communities have been empowered to take action to get the fair market value for their hard work.

Chachi Indians extract juice from a sugar cane.

"CARE isn't building something new," Stallings says. "We work with what already exists. The talent and motivation already are there. CARE simply trains community members to be paralegals, parabiologists and paraforesters, providing a unique link between the scientific and local communities. It's a two way street. SUBIR's emphasis on active participation and decision-making at the grassroots level works to preserve the customs of local communities and their native habitat."

Stallings described Ecuador as having the highest biodiversity of any South American country; it is also the most densely populated nation on the continent. But at the current rate of deforestation -- 2.3 percent a year -- the country will be nearly denuded by 2025 if projects like SUBIR are not fanned out across the country.

Fanning Out
CARE is now working in southern Ecuador with the Wildlife Conservation Society, national partners EcoCiencia and Jatun Sacha, and the Achuar and Shuar Indians to adapt the lessons learned and experience gained from the SUBIR model. The objective is to create a reserve in the department of Morono Santiago around the Cordillera del Cutucu or "Cold Mountain." These are sacred mountains running from lowland Amazon forests up to the clouds. The project will include natural resources conservation, training, microcredit loans and water and sanitation programs.