Choco-Andes Corridor

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Choco-Andes Corridor

• Conserving biodiversity and livelihoods in two
  globally important hotspots of biodiversity,
  the lowland choco and the western Andes slopes
• C. Ronald Carroll, Univ. of Georgia
• Rebeca Justicia, Univ. of Georgia and Fundacion
  Maquipucuna

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Maquipucuna lodge
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Buildings constructed from local sustainable
material

• Majority construction is with native bamboo
• (reputation as poor mans wood)
• Two international awards for eco-tourism and
  community development

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Choco-Andes Corridor

• Conserving biodiversity and livelihoods in two
  globally important hotspots of biodiversity,
  the lowland choco and the western Andes slopes
• C. Ronald Carroll, Univ. of Georgia
• Rebeca Justicia, Univ. of Georgia and Fundacion
  Maquipucuna

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Buildings constructed from local sustainable
material

• Majority construction is with native bamboo
• (reputation as poor mans wood)
• Two international awards for eco-tourism and
  community development

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Young sunlit leaves are favored. Riders may ward
off phorid fly parasites
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Fungus mycelia with new leaves (left)
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Mature Atta nest at San Luis, UGA Costa Rica site
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The worst parts are the hairs !
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Dendrobatid frog
Docileas long as you dont make a fist. Worst
parts are the hairs.
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Emerald tree boa
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Male Saberwing Hummingbird at defense
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Quetzals, toucans, and many other fruit-eating
birds are major dispersers of tree seeds. Their
ecosystem service maintains the forest. This
Quetzal is holding a fruit of a wild relative of
the avocado.
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Choco-Andes Corridor

• Conserving biodiversity and livelihoods in two
  globally important hotspots of biodiversity,
  the lowland choco and the western Andes slopes
• C. Ronald Carroll, Univ. of Georgia
• Rebeca Justicia, Univ. of Georgia and Fundacion
  Maquipucuna

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Buildings constructed from local sustainable
material

• Majority construction is with native bamboo
• (reputation as poor mans wood)
• Two international awards for eco-tourism and
  community development

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Ancient Incan and Yumbo trails extend between
mountains and lowlands. Known as coluncos, they
are worn deep by centuries of use.
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Class for ecotourism guides
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Tagua palm
Chonta palm
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Carvings from tagua nuts
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Shade-grown organic coffee

• 260 family coffee growers in project
• Direct marketing
• Maintain highest quality beans
• Profit to grower is four times more

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Dancing goats discovery of coffee in Ethiopia
mountains
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Shade-grown coffee
Rainforest
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Coffee summary

• Direct marketing, brand naming and premium
  quality brings 4X profit to grower
• (Choco-Andes Coffee under 1000 Faces brand)
• Surrogate forest overstory in bird-friendly
  shade-grown organic coffee shelters forest birds
• Growers alliance receives advice and information
  but not direction

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Chocolate

• Food of the gods

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Cacao growers in our project are
afro-ecuadorianos and indigenous chachis.
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Cacao was the drink of the Mayan nobility and the
beans were monetary currency
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Aztec nobility with cacao drink. Note serpent god.
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Chocolate introduced into 18th Century Europe
remained a luxury drink
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The alkaloids in chocolate are mildly addictive
and induce the release of endorphins. Besides
behaving as a pain regulator, endorphins are also
thought to be connected to physiological
processes including euphoric feelings, appetite
modulation, and the release of sex hormones.
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Hand sorting for quality important for premium
quality chocolate
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Small cacao flowers are pollinated by a midge
whose larvae live in forest litter.
Monillia pod disease.
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Black Cocoa Ant controls several major cacao pests
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Indonesian cacao farmer carrying bags with palm
leaves and ant colonies. Bags will be suspended
in cacao trees.
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Chocolate processing

• Fat (cocoa butter) is extracted
• Remaining liquid or powder is the base
• Small amounts of cocoa butter and sugar are added
  to reduce bitterness
• Milk added to make milk chocolate
• White chocolate made from cocoa butter

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Benefits of dark chocolate?

• Dark chocolate contains flavenoids, polyphenols,
  and releases nitric oxide in blood
• Relaxes blood vessels and reduces blood pressure
• No benefit from white chocolate
• Am J Clin Nutr 2005 vol 81

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Major producers and consumers of chocolate
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Note that the world price of cacao beans has
declined steadily since a peak in the mid-1970s.
Generally cost of living has increased steadily
over this period.
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Bamboo used for

• Low-cost renewable housing
• Source of farmer income
• Reduce pasture erosion
• Increase biodiversity
• Reduce deforestation
• Sale of carbon credits

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Maquipucuna lodge
Constructed mainly with palm and bamboo
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Large amounts of carbon are stored in bamboo
roots. Our bamboo has a clumping habit and this
has important ecological consequences.
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Carbon stock storage

• Bamboo soil 60.8-123 Mg/ha
• Pasture soil 33.4-75.3 Mg/ha
• Bamboo biomass 51.8-95.6 Mg/ha
• Pasture biomass 3.53-8.14 Mg/ha
• Lower C/N under bamboo
• Lower bulk density under bamboo
• Deeper C storage under bamboo??
• Mg1000kg of carbon

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Carbon sequestration the newest initiative

• RICOH corporation in Japan purchased one million
  dollars in carbon credits
• In return we reforest 640 hectares of degraded
  pasture with native trees that will sequester
  carbon (above and below ground)
• 150 hectares are designed (we hope) as tropical
  equivalent of Temperate Zone FACE forests

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Degraded pasture conversionGuadua or forest?

• ChoCO2 CDM project over 20 years
• 523 ha of degraded pasture
• 165,997 tCO2 reforestation with CDM guidelines
• 1,263,000 tCO2 from harvested Guadua
• 7.6X more CO2 stored with Guadua

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Pasture conversion cont

• Each 100 ha of Guadua after 5 years generates
  approximately 106,000 USD annual gross revenue
  from harvest sales plus carbon credits and
• Reduces demand on timber from forest lands.
• Rate of deforestation in bamboo project area is
  now approximately 0

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Site suitability for Guadua in the
Choco-Andes Corridor. Red has highest suitability.
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Environmental education is fundamentally
important to long-term sustainability
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Coffee, chocolate, birds, and people migrate
between the forested environments of Ecuador and
Georgia. Therefore, we think of this connection
as Our Shared Forest.
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Our Shared Forest

• The forests of Ecuador and the US are linked by
  several processes
• 1. Bird migration
• 2. Coffee and Chocolate trade
• 3. Exchange of students and faculty
• 4. Exchange of environmental education
• programs

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THE END
Ron Carroll rcarroll_at_uga.edu