📸 Photo

The rainforest has ever since been a major part of my life. While visiting San José on the Tuichi River, I found out that the situation in the village was desperate; the small, isolated community was struggling for survival, forced to destroy their ancestral lands with their own hands. They had no options for income other than slash-and-burn agriculture, hunting, or working as cheap labour for the loggers and miners, who are in the process of overtaking the region. I met with the community leaders and heard their fears about the steady elimination of the rainforest villages, since the youth are lacking employment and thus forced to leave for the big city. So together, we initiated the Chalalan Project.

The Chalalan valley lies not far from the Tuichi banks, about an hour downriver from San José. It is the most amazing rainforest scenery I've ever seen in my life: monkeys hanging from palm trees and a lake surrounded by precious, undisturbed hills. The beauty of the place makes one's heart sing. So we obtained from the government an official concession of this land to the local indigenous people, and the community of San José declared it a protected area for conservation of nature and development of alternative economic routes for the forest dwellers. A group of volunteers, together with the indigenous community, worked with scientists and designers and engineers to build an 'eco-village.' Our goal was to prove that the forest could provide its inhabitants with