Скачать или смотреть Saving the Palo Santo Tree

In the endangered dry forests of southern Ecuador, the Palo Santo tree provides much needed income to a population with limited resources. For countless generations, harvesting the tree’s valuable incense has been accomplished through deforestation.

With the help of Nature and Culture, the community is now able to harvest the tree’s oil from the Palo Santo fruit, leaving the trees intact to grow, reproduce and renew the remaining portions of tropical dry forest. In June 2014, the project was awarded the United Nations Development Programme’s Equator Prize for its outstanding effectiveness and its ability to reduce poverty through conservation and sustainable business practices.

Also in 2014, UNESCO declared the region a Biosphere Reserve, encompassing 1.25 million acres of pristine dry forest. Nature and Culture worked extensively with schools, national and local governments, farming communities and ecologists to ensure that the dry forest region was recognized as a top global conservation priority.