The EcoMadera Project

The EcoMadera Project, run by the Pinchot Institute, is being implemented on the coastal plain of North Ecuador, the epicenter of mass deforestation in the country. EcoMadera was set up as part of an anti-logging project to save local forests and offer an economic alternative to deforestation. The project is premised on the belief that the most efficient conservation strategy consists of linking forestry to the markets, where the local communities get the greatest benefit from the forests by having them converted into arable farmland.

In 2009, EcoMadera merged with investors and local technicians for a local joint venture within the forestry sector. The company manages a forest reserve, production forests, forest restoration areas and plantings. It currently produces balsa laminated wood used for the construction of wind turbine blades. The next phase will consist of dramatically increasing the sustainably managed wooded area and producing hard wood parquet flooring for "green" construction markets.