La Reserva Forest Foundation and Sole Technology (etnies Shoes)
Let me start at the beginning.
In 2009 LRFF was working on a large forest preservation project, over 7000 hectares, and developing it as a REDD project for the voluntary carbon market. This would give us the financing necessary to pay landowners with existing forests payments for environmental services to conserve their forests rather than sell them for development or cut the trees for income. LRFF values indigenous people and this made us want to reach out to the local Maleku indigenous people and see if we could put their forests in the carbon project as well so that the entire community could have an income to improve their quality of life.
In December of 2009 we went with our friend Luis Josue Dominguez to the Maleku Reserve to meet his in-laws. We learned the real story of the Maleku people and were horrified, but let me recount it briefly here.
The Maleku originally numbered approximately 6000 individuals. During the conquest no one could see them because they would hide in the lush, green forests that covered all of their territory, over 11,000 hectares. In the mid 1800’s the “huleros”, or rubber barons, came south from Nicaragua in search of new sources for latex. The Maleku territory had an abundance of “chicle” trees, causing the gauchos to attempt taking the territory from the Maleku people.
The Nicaraguans were armed with guns and mortars. The Maleku had bows, arrows and spears to defend their territory. In the end the tribe was reduced to less than 600 members, the same number today. When the chief of the Maleku was killed in the dramatic battle that took place at the Rio de la Muerte, they split into separate Palenques (communities) and have not had a true Maleku chief since.
On that day in December 2009, Bienvenido Cruz Castro asked us if we would help the Maleku people recuperate their territory, the boundaries decreed by the Costa Rican government in 1976 as 2994 hectares, and restore 2/3 of this back to native tropical forest. They explained that all of the Maleku territory was coverred with lush forest, even after the invasion by the gauchos. The non-indigenous people came and took the lands from the Maleku and deforested it. Between 1961 and 1992 almost all of the Maleku’s original forests were destroyed.
We all agreed that the best way to recuperate their lands would be to find a way to buy the lands back from the non-indigenous landowners, avoiding any confrontation with them or the government. Bienvenido spoke that day of a map he had of the territory, which included over 8000 hectares, and within these 5000+ hectares extra are various sacred sites for the Maleku, including Venado Waterfall.
In June of 2010 Bienvenido called to tell us he had found the map. We went out and this is when the work began. The Maleku have been fragmented since the mid 1800’s and we knew that for a large land recuperation and reforestation project to benefit ALL of the Maleku people to be successful it would require unity between the three Palenques that share the territory. In September of 2010 we began this union by giving presentations at each Palenque, explaining the importance of creating a Tribal Council made up of equal members from each Palenque.
By the end of October the new Maleku Tribal Council had their Mission, Values and Vision set. We were ready to start fundraising. Right away I made the new Rancho Bienvenido project available for contributions. In late October 2010 LRFF received word from Roian Atwood, Corporate Sustainability Manager for Sole Technology ( http://soletechnology.com ), that the company had already approved a donation of $17,500, enough to buy 35,000 trees. He wondered if we knew where we would plant them and we immediately suggested the Maleku Reserve.
Four representatives arrived at La Reserva in December 2009, including Roian. We met with the Maleku Tribal Council and walked the Rio Sol that flows through all three Palenques. This is how the Rio Sol Biological Corridor project was born.
We are all very excited to be implementing this first project with the help of Sole Technology, but still have a long way to go as far as raising the matching fund necessary to finish. Etnies shoes new Jameson 2 Eco shoe is being announced soon. The campaign asks people to “Buy a Shoe, Plant a Tree”, you can see the ad at the beginning of this page. The trees will be planted in the new Rio Sol Biological Corridor. Please have a look at the project PDF’s on this page and contribute directly here at the Google button. Just fill in the comment box telling us that your donation is specifically for the Rio Sol project or any other you see listed and want to favor with a donation.
For this Chestnut-Mandible Toucan living on the Rio Sol,
Buy a Shoe, Plant a Tree and………………………..