Jatun Sacha Foundation

The Jatun Sacha Foundation is a private Ecuadorian Non profit NGO (nongovernmental organisation) founded in 1985.The purpose of this organisation is outlined on its website as:

:"Foundation Jatun Sacha is dedicated to the conservation, investigation and management of ecologically important habitats, environmental education and community development."

The name Jatun Sacha is derived from the local Quichua (Kichwa) language, variably translated as 'big tree', 'big trees', 'big forest', 'big wilderness', or 'great wilderness'.

Network of biological reserves

A major part of this foundation's function is the ownership and management of eight biological reserves which are found throughout Ecuador, which range in size from around 4 square kilometres to just over 25 square kilometres. Each reserve has an associated Biological station with infrastructure to support volunteers who come to help with such tasks as reforestation, environmental education at nearby schools and research into sustainable agricultural practices. Volunteers may also assist with scientific studies of the local flora and fauna undertaken by biologists at these stations - the facilitation of scientific research being another function of the biological stations-. Of the eight reserves, two are located east of the Andes in the Amazon basin, two in high altitude ecosystems in the Andes mountains, three in the west of the country in more coastal ecosystems, and one station on the Galápagos islands. These reserves include:

Amazon Reserves
* Jatun Sacha Biological Station
* Tsuraku Community Biological Station and Reserve

Andean Reserves
* Guandera Biological Station
* La Hesperia Biological Station

Coastal Reserves
* Bilsa Biological Reserve
* Congal Biomarine Station
* Lalo Loor Biological Station

Galápagos Reserve
* San Cristobal Biological Research Station

Affiliated organisations

The foundation works cooperatively with many other conservation groups such as Great Wilderness (Jatun Sacha Foundation's U.S. affiliate, legally known as Jatun Sacha USA), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and Conservation International (CI), while volunteers are found and placed independently or through volunteer organizations such as their New Zealand based partner organisation, the Global volunteer network.

Criticism

Jatun Sacha is involved in bioprospecting and has a history of not paying its local workers and displaced a range of local communities when taking over the land that make up its commercial research stations [ [http://colonos.wordpress.com/2007/05/03/jatun-sacha-the-long-sneaky-arm-of-pfizer-et-al/ Jatun Sacha involved with Pfizer] ] [ [http://colonos.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/jatun-sacha-once-again-or-how-to-volunteer-for-the-greater-good-not-for-profit/ Jatun Sacha and volunteering] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.jatunsacha.org Website of the Jatun Sacha foundation]
* [http://www.volunteer.org.nz Website of the global volunteer network]
* [http://www.greatwilderness.org Great Wilderness] , Official website for Great Wilderness, a California-based international non-profit acting as Jatun Sacha Ecuador's US affiliate