Education Center in Conservation and Sustainable Development (from CNEH-Peru)

Our Education Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development (CDS) is located in Oxapampa, Peru, surrounded by 15.5 ha of amazonian cloud forest, two streams, riparian forest, a reforested area, and cultivation areas with local fruit crops. It is located in the buffer zone of the Yanachaga Chemillén National Park, which covers approximately 120,000ha. At the center, we will provide training for local communities and set up examples and models of sustainable activities that can be replicated.

In our intern program, you will be given the opportunity to work on different projects in order to achieve sustainability and pass along information about these eco-friendly practices to local farmers. You will be able to work on the maintenance and cultivation of shade-grown coffee and other native fruit crops, the preparation and application of compost and compost tea to the crops, improving the greenhouse, seed selection and plant preparation for reforestation, design and construction of an irrigation system, and maintenance of the organic garden. You can also help to improve the facilities of the education center, participating in planning of the waste water system, helping to improve the trails, creating signs for the center, and creating educational information for farmers. You will have the opportunity to work with the local people on a daily basis, providing a richer and more complete volunteer experience and cultural exchange. Additionally, the interns will be able to investigate local medicinal plants and participate in water quality monitoring using macroinvertebrates, with the assistance of highly specialized biologists.

The pilot projects organized in the center will serve as examples for the local community and the center will provide assistance to spread these practices at the Biosphere Reserve Oxapampa, Ashaninka, Yanesha.

Our goals through training to local communities

- Reduce forest fires in the area by spreading awareness of alternative agricultural practices

- Promote sustainable living and thinking by providing a model which others can replicate

- Establish a baseline for forest and water quality and continue to monitor changing conditions through data collected by volunteers

- Produce organic, native crops to create a market for these products and encourage local farmers to do the same

- Link the gap between economically viable and environmentally conscious practices through example

- Join forces with the next generation of global leaders in the field of ecologically sustainable human progress.