For several years, Friends of Ecuador has been actively supporting Conciencia Amazónica, a conservation project led by RPCV David Goucher that has operated in the southeast of the country since 2019. We have some exciting updates on the project that we wanted to share.
Here are some choice extracts for a longer 5 page document which you are welcome to read in its entirety.
Since 2019, the foundation Conciencia Amazónica has been dedicated to improve environmental education in rural Amazonia in southeast Ecuador. By linking scientific investigation on private ecological reserves, and forming collaborations with Ecuadorian and International Universities, we generate exciting educational materials that we divulge to the local schools, high schools, and communities. In addition, our reserves serve as model farms that demonstrate to local land owners the possibility of ecologically friendly production while also maintaining areas of conservation with appropriate land management practices. Our motto is “Work with Nature, not Against her”.
In 2023, we purchased over 450 acres of cattle farms to begin implementing conservation and eco-friendly production strategies. We named the reserve after the primary donor for this project, Jack Agett, and his wife, Claudia Geary, whose kind donation will have a long lasting impact on a key area for biodiversity conservation.
To explore the interactions and ecology of these areas, we work together with the University of Azuay, Departments of Biology and Environmental Engineering.
One of the exciting notes in the update is about the discovery of new species of spiders:
“Close Encounters of the Arachnid Kind” – Feb 2026
In the last several years, Ecuador has been the site of major advancements in arachnology, the study of spiders. We invited an up and coming Biologist currently in a masters program of the University of San Francisco Quito, Pedro Peñaherrera, who currently has published 59 new species of spiders in Ecuador. After only 4 days of collecting spiders in the field, and several months into their classification, Pedro has identified 5 new species of spiders, and first reports of families of known spiders in Ecuador.
There are other notable achievements with university students.
University of Azuay students visit the Agett-Geary Reserve Students in their 2nd year of Biology from the University Azuay came to the Agett-Geary Ecological Reserve to investigate the altitudinal variations of plants, insects, and birds to witness the differences in ecological dynamics at different altitudes. By examining the interactions between insects, birds and flowers, imagine the dynamics between pollination of flowers, seed dispersals, and feeding patterns, across different altitudes.
Read the whole document for more amazing details!