Project Summary
Countries: Ecuador
Delivery Partner: Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja (UTPL)
Project Partners: Sociedad Ecuatoriana de Derecho Forestal Ambiental (SEDEFA), Terrambiente Consultores
Principle Investigator: Professor Omar Malagon, Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja
Project Description
The Ecuadorian Amazon region has few and very marginal economic opportunities for local communities and farmers. Economic stressors usually trigger the need to extract valuable resources from primary forests, i.e. high value timber species. Some of these species can be used for essential oil production.
The legal, economic, and biophysical technical parameters, as well as the potential for essential oil production of these promising species, will be assessed through robust scientific methods. This will serve to establish a sustainable climate-smart industry as an economical alternative, producing highly demanded essential oils. This in turn will halt biodiversity loss of selected species while contributing to local livelihoods.
Photograph (detail): Fährtenleser
