EDUCATION
Very importantly, the Flor de la Amazonía Animal Rescue Group focuses strongly on assisting strategic projects orientated to decrease the destruction of the natural habitats of these animals, working towards cooperation with the communities that live in these areas. Still today many indigenous communities in Ecuador subsist on precarious activities such as logging (deforestation), hunting (animal trafficking), agriculture and grazing (which on a large scale produce nutrient deficiency of the soil and loss of habitat). Providing other work options and alternative food resources, along with education, is the only path to work towards reducing the destruction of the natural environment that is prevalent in the general population. At the same time it gives them the opportunity to preserve and share their unique indigenous culture, by promoting their traditional art and crafts, their forms of music and dance, and spreading their knowledge about the huge variety of medicinal plants and foods found in the jungle – knowledge which they have passed on from generation to generation.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
It is very important to encourage the local communities to become more environmentally aware of the limits of their natural resources. During work within rescue centres, we strive to organise several educational talks each year with students of all ages, from both urban and rural areas. Using the power of education, we support educational projects such as the Arajuno Road Project (see www.youvolunteer.org for more information), which offers volunteers the opportunity to teach essential subjects to local schoolchildren. These actions help to create a stable learning environment and give a helping hand in all the community activities the project organises. The Arajuno Road Project is based on helping the Amazonian schools of the area improve their level of education so that when these children are adults they are conscious of the urgency to act upon the continuing environmental losses and degradation of the rainforests.