THE MBARACAYU
FOREST RESERVE
And The Story of Its Success

Introduction
The Fundacion's Story
Of Bats and Ectoparasites
Learning to Preserve
Graphics Version

LEARNING TO PRESERVE
by Juanita Thigpen

We arrive at the crack of dawn in Villa Ygatimi, a small, dusty outpost located at the edge of the Mbaracayu Forest Reserve. The 10-hour bus ride from Asuncion was no easy feat. In the middle of the night we had to switch busses because of mechanical problems. Half of the road to the reserve is unpaved and only the toughest vehicles can make it without breaking down.

We are weary, but Estela Esquivel, an ornithologist with the Fundacion Moises Bertoni (FMB), does not let the exhaustion get to her. She has an important appointment to keep at the local elementary school. Today is environment day in Paraguay and the teachers have asked her to give a talk to the students about the importance of the Mbaracayu Reserve, which is owned and managed by FMB.

Although her work is principally research, Esquivel fully realizes the importance of reaching out to these impressionable youngsters if FMB's conservation efforts are to succeed. Many of the students are children of colonists who have caused much of the deforestation in the area.

The swarms of students, elegantly bedecked in their blue and white uniforms, are corralled under the shade of two trees in the school playground. School No. 795 of Villa Ygatimi takes pride in its commitment to the environment, a teacher informs us. A freshly planted tree stands in front of a newly painted sign that says, "We love the environment for the benefit of all." FMB's presence in the area since 1988 has helped foster this interest, she adds.

Esquivel begins her lecture. "I've seen the pictures that you kids have done throughout the school. You've done some real pretty drawings about the usefulness of trees, how they provide homes for birds in the forest," she says in a mix of Spanish and Guarani (one can't survive in rural areas without knowing the indigenous language).

"Did you know that you are one of the few towns that can still hear the song of the Pajaro Campana (the bellbird -- Paraguay's national bird that is revered in a popular song)? It used to be that song reached the outskirts of Asuncion. That's because you live next to a big forest that is one of the last homes for the Pajaro Campana in Paraguay."

FMB strongly believes that the Mbaracayu Forest Reserve will not survive without the help of its neighbors. Since the beginning, the foundation has developed an extensive outreach program that targets the people in the reserve's 280,000-hectare buffer area and important audiences throughout the country. Outreach has helped stem the tide of illegal hunting and harvesting of trees that was rampant on the property only a few years ago. Its aggressive environmental education program has helped develop support for the reserve at the highest levels of government and significantly raise environmental awareness among the Paraguayan people. But the challenge continues. Park guards still find hunters on the reserve, deforestation has crept up to the very edges of the property, and suspicion is rampant among reserve neighbors that Mbaracayu is actually a front for drug dealers from the United States.

"Some ask us, 'We used to be able to use the land freely -- why can't we now?"' says Polly Morrison, a population-environment fellow from the United States who is on staff with FMB.

Protagonist of Their Own Future

In a large, warehouse-like auditorium in Villa Ygatimi, 30 villagers are seated in a semicircle facing Nelson Garay, a sustainable development technician with the Fundacion Moises Bertoni. Garay asks the villagers to tell him what they consider to be the community's most critical problems.

"We really need a bank!" says Benicio Alvarenga, the town's mayor. "Yeah, if we had a bank, we wouldn't have to risk travelling on those dangerous dirt roads that are traversed by bandits," pipes in school teacher Emigdia Sosa.

From time to time, the participants pass around a strange-looking cup filled with a stewy green tea in a ritual reminding one of a peace pipe ceremony. The yerba mate, a relic from Paraguay's indigenous past, seems to have a soothing effect on the restless group.

"We need a competent doctor that lives in the village," adds another villager.

Garay writes down the participants' comments on a large flip chart. Later, he will encourage the group to drum up possible solutions. Garay and other FMB staffers are leading a series of workshops in six villages throughout the Mbaracayu buffer zone to raise awareness of the reserve. But in order to do so, FMB realizes that it needs to win the community's respect. Listening to the villagers and helping them meet their basic needs is an important strategy.

"We realize that conservation incorporates many things, like health and education," says agronomist Luvys Canete, the director of FMB's sustainable development program. For example, FMB recently helped the villagers acquire an ambulance.

The conservation group also finds itself playing another non-traditional role by introducing the villagers to the democratic process, says FMB biologist Victor Vera, Mbaracayu's acting director. Since time immemorial, Paraguay has been ruled by a succession of dictators. In February of 1991, the last of the dictators, Alfredo Stroessner, was overthrown, but getting used to democracy has been a slow process.

"People have been so accustomed to being told what to do and how to think," says Vera.

"This is the first time in history that these villagers have gotten together like this to express their problems freely," he adds.

As part of this democratic exercise, the villagers learned how to be protagonists of their own future. Workshop leaders encouraged the villagers to find solutions within themselves because FMB wants to avoid a dependency situation. FMB was thrilled with the level of enthusiasm.

"There were several times in the Villa Ygatimi workshop when they would stop the meeting and say, "okay, lets form a committee." For example, they established a committee to determine the legal boundaries of Ygatimi," says Morrison.

One result was particularly encouraging as far as Mbaracayu's future is concerned.

"The town mayor and some of the teachers offered to help us reach out to the 35,000 people in the buffer area to raise consciousness of the reserve. They asked for a meeting to organize a commission to organize this project, " says Canete. "That filled us with a lot of hope. "

The results were surprisingly similar throughout the villages -- even in Guyra Keha, the most "at-risk" community. Most hunters are suspected to come from this colony, established just three years ago on Mbaracayu's southeastern boundary.

"I think we made an impact...it was really positive," says Morrison. "When Victor Vera came out and said that hunting is illegal in the reserve, they (residents of Guyra Keha) seemed to take that well. I felt like it was a discussion between two equal parts."

"They all seem to understand that it is important to keep resources for future generations. They would like to have their children see forest when they grow up and swim in a clear stream."

Mendoza Rojas, a mechanic from Villa Ygatimi, was one of many attendees who understood the importance of working with FMB.

"I think its very important to protect nature. Through the forest you receive oxygen."

Farming the Forest

In addition to the workshops, FMB has administered a sustainable farming program in the buffer area since 1988. FMB is concerned not only about the loss of biodiversity but the permanent damage that deforestation and other intensive farming activities can cause to the area's weak soils, says Canete. Once the protective vegetative layer is removed, these lands are exposed to the hot sun and can lose their usefulness. Furthermore, strong winds and rain storms can sweep soil away.

"It is important not to break the coverage because the soil is very fragile in this area," says Canete.

To address these issues, the foundation helped area farmers establish agricultural committees, which have grown from two to 18 in the last eight years. FMB meets regularly with these committees and shares information with them about sustainable farming techniques. For example, FMB technicians have convinced farmers to plant yerba mate, a cash crop that can be grown in the forest. They've also encouraged farmers to plant trees along riverine areas and windbreakers to prevent sedimentation and erosion. Farmers are also learning about the importance of planting nitrogen-fixing legumes to maintain soil quality.

As part of this effort, FMB is also reaching out to the area's two predominant indigenous communities: the Ache and the Guarani. The Ache are a hunter-gatherer society and until recently knew little about farming. Now that they're leaving behind their traditional nomadic life-style, the Ache are beginning to settle in permanent colonies along the reserve's edge. The FMB extension workers recently helped the Ache plant their own gardens and are teaching them sustainable farming techniques.

The Guarani Indians, on the other hand, have been farming for centuries. FMB is finding that it has a lot to learn from them. After living in harmony with nature for so long, the Guarani have learned to take good care of the soil. For example, instead of plowing and dispersing seeds on the bare ground, the Guarani plant seeds by puncturing the ground with a simple stick. To avoid crop failures, the Guarani diversify crops. They also use some organic materials to control pests. Not only is FMB encouraging the Guarani to continue using these methods, extension workers are also sharing these ideas with Paraguayan campesinos, many of whom are of Guarani ancestry.

"The campesino begins to understand and value those methods, because in the old times their grandparents used that," says Canete.

"We are trying to teach them to appreciate their agricultural tradition," he adds.

Introduction
The Fundacion's Story
Of Bats and Ectoparasites
Learning to Preserve

All Paintings are © COPYRIGHT PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW and were provided by The Electric Art Gallery - All Rights Reserved. - Text © Juanita Thigpen, Fundacion Moises Bertoni - OneWorld Magazine is Hosted By The EnviroLink Network - Produced by webStories,Inc. - Copyright © 1996, webStories, Inc. All Rights Reserved.