The article is in Spanish. Translation below

Reaching the botanical garden of Sarayaku takes effort. It is on a small hill of primary forest. From the river, you have to cross an extensive chakra and follow a trail where traces of the winter still remain. Fallen trees and shifting ground make the passage difficult. There is no sign announcing the garden. But as soon as the slope begins, the first planted wayuri trees appear. Some reach at least one meter in height and are around 15 years old. In this place, the project has planted more than 200,000 plants.

Sacha Runa Yachay is the name of this space and means "the knowledge of the jungle." It is dedicated to the research and recovery of native species. At the summit there is a small house that functions as an educational space. There, students from the community take botanical tours and rest. It can also receive researchers who come to the territory to carry out monitoring and scientific explorations. It is, in a way, a small scientific station inside the jungle.

A botanical garden in the Ecuadorian Amazon safeguards buen vivir

It is called Sacha Runa Yachay and works as a small scientific station inside the jungle. In the heart of Sarayaku, families of the community sow native seeds and plants that have been disappearing from the territory

Over time, the process expanded and today the women of Sarayaku manage seven nurseries, one in each community that makes up the people. These spaces are dedicated to reproducing and sowing native seeds and plants that have been disappearing from the territory. In addition to wayuri, they have recovered edible species that now grow around the educational centers and the residential areas.

Sowing wayuri so as not to yield to zinc

The traditional house of Sarayaku has a circular structure supported by pillars of resistant wambula wood (Minquartia guianensis). "These strong beams form the heart of the house," explains Eriberto Gualinga. Over the years, the wood takes on an aged appearance, as if it were rotten, but on the inside it becomes hard and compact, almost like a fossil.

For the roof, wayuri (Pholidotachys synthera) is used, a palm whose leaves are prized for their quality and resistance. Obtaining them, however, involves a journey. "Wild wayuri grows in places increasingly distant from the community, so families usually travel to Teresa Mama, a community located about three hours from Sarayaku, where it still grows wild," says Gualinga.

The first reforestation efforts concentrated on this species, although reproducing it is not easy. Wayuri takes about two years to germinate, grows slowly and requires care, especially during pruning. When cutting, it is necessary to leave several leaves and preserve the central part of the plant so that it stays alive, explains Sabine, a researcher on the Sarayaku seed recovery project.

When they are harvested, the leaves are grouped into wangu, which means "bundle of leaves." Families prepare and tie them to make them easier to transport. It is collective work done as a family and in minga. Each load can weigh around 50 kilos and must cross the bush until reaching the river. Because of the weight, it is sometimes necessary to divide it among two or three canoes. To thatch a house where a family of six people lives, around 200 wangu are needed.

The process also demands speed because, once harvested, the leaves must be woven while they are still fresh. One person can prepare about four bundles a day. All the work must be completed within a maximum of one week, because when the leaves dry they crack, says Gualinga.

Eriberto Gualinga builds his house surrounded by his family. His two children, his wife and his sister-in-law take part in the various tasks, while young people from the community and students from the school join in the construction. While participating, they learn the techniques that the construction of a traditional house requires.

This is how one learns here, by doing. Being part of the mingas is an opportunity for the young people of my family and of the community to maintain the knowledge of this type of construction that gives us a good life," says Gualinga.

More and more young people in the community have other occupations and have less time to go deep into the forest in search of palms. Faced with that difficulty, zinc appears as a cheaper and quicker-to-install alternative. However, zinc sheets change the atmosphere inside the houses, accumulate heat and make more noise when it rains.

The latest census carried out by the Sarayaku Government Council in May 2026 recorded 362 houses with zinc roofs, compared with 346 with traditional roofs

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The search for native seeds

At seven in the morning, three female monitors and an ancestral guide who knows plants head into the jungle. They walk between two and three kilometers in search of native seeds. One of the monitors carries her eight-month-old baby on her lap, who stays attentive to the sounds and movements of the living jungle. María Malaver, another of the monitors, moves forward in silence with a bowl made of leaves in her hands. In the center she carries some brown seeds that contrast with the intense green of the leaf.

Each species has its own moment of collection. In the two years the project has been running, they have managed to recover at least 67 species and have set themselves the goal of planting 90,000 seedlings over the next two years. On this outing they are looking for seeds of two medicinal plants: sapuwaska (Dolichandra cynanchoides), which benefits arterial health, and challwakaspi (Goeppertia standleyi), used to treat respiratory conditions. "During the pandemic, challwakaspi was consumed a lot in the community, so now we need to reforest it," explains María, a monitor and researcher on the project. On each outing they can collect between 10 and 30 seeds of different species, which are then taken to the seven nurseries, one in each of the communities that make up Sarayaku.

Among the species they have managed to recover are wayuri (Pholidostachys synthera), challwakaspi (Goeppertia standleyi) and wuambula (Minquartia guianensis). With each outing, the monitors have learned to recognize ever smaller seeds amid the dense vegetation of the jungle. Gabriela especially remembers the chuncho, a timber tree whose seed took her time to identify. "They are very easy to confuse because their seeds look a lot like the little wings of flying ants."

When the project began, the elders of Sarayaku drew up a list of approximately 200 species that they no longer saw near the community. Gabriela Santi, monitor of the Sarayaku native seed recovery project and youth leader, did not know almost half of the species on the list.

"These years have helped me to be able to identify the seeds. For me and my companions it has been striking to be able to have this knowledge of the jungle," she says.

In addition to the collection, the monitors devote one day a week to systematizing the information on the seeds and plants found. They record their characteristics and take photographs to document each species.

Mozambique has formally protected Mount Mabu, a hotspot of endemic wildlife and home to more than 200 species of butterflies, located in the Lugela district of northern Mozambique.

"In 2021, China formally established its first batch of five national parks, including the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest. With a total area of 4,269 square kilometers, the park spans nine cities and counties and accounts for about one-eighth of Hainan Island's land area. Monday marked the fifth anniversary of its establishment.

Over the past five years, construction of the park has made solid progress. According to the latest figures from the Administration of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, 91 new wildlife and plant species have been discovered, and more than 95 percent of Hainan's primary forest and over 55 percent of its natural forest have been effectively protected."