GCI Environmental Grant Recipient 2023
Project: Waste management and environmental education in La Chimba, Ecuador
What is the mission of 8vos a los 30s?
8vos a los 30s is a project that connects geographic science with climbing to achieve sustainable rural territorial development. Through female and indigenous community empowerment, we contribute to changing the territorial dynamics of climbing development in the following territories in Ecuador: Cayambe, Cuyuja, Zumbahua, Cojitambo, and Estero del Plátano.
In the long term, we would have ten or more projects developed by indigenous women of rural communities in Ecuador, where we have rock climbing areas. These people will be part of the main characters in the climbing development of their territories. This is a social justice project with indigenous people and women in Ecuador. These social groups have been discriminated against, violent by others, stole their territories, destroyed their nature, and lived with high rates of limited education and poverty.
What is the history of your organization?
After the first Latin American Female Ascent of El Capitan by The Nose (2019), Andrea Castillo was thinking about a new project, where we can help people through climbing to reach their dreams and protect climbing places.
8vos a los 30s (“Octavos a los Treintas”) is a project that organizes annual rock trips over 10 years (2022-2032) with indigenous Ecuadorian women who then use the momentum, lessons and resulting film of the trip to implement a mountain project in their own indigenous community.
The name of the project originates from Andrea's motivation to one day climb 8th grade routes in her 30s, but it is also an analogy to the process involved in climbing routes of this level, in relation to how complex it can be to organize an international climbing trip for people from rural communities in a country with high rates of migration, poverty, hunger and crime.
Each year we produce an episode, and by the end of the project, we will have a nine-web series of short documentary episodes of stories from women of indigenous communities of Ecuador and their involvement with climbing projects. Produced and scripted by professional climber and rock instructor Andrea Castillo and directed by Bernarda Cornejo. Post-production is by artist Juan Fernando Rubio.
This project is inspired by Andrea’s pilot projects “Latitud Cero Climbing RockTrip Ecuador”(EpicTv/YouTube) and “Escalando desde lo local” (You Tube), (whose impact was recognized by the UN, 2020).
What are your current programs/areas of work?
Episode #1 was documented in Chilean Patagonia, and is the story of Fernanda Lechón: the first young indigenous woman from Pesillo (belonging to the Kichwa Kayambi people's territory). The small group climbs in northern Patagonia, takes a WFR (Wilderness First Responder) course, and provides menstrual education workshops. Episode #1 shows her process of training and her effort to join 8vos at 30s; the reality of being an indigenous woman in a developing country like Ecuador; the limitations that women live with respect to access to menstrual education and natural contraception; access to healthy food in Ecuador; and the contamination of the climbing sectors, inspiring the Amarumi family camping-cafeteria enterprise.
We are working on the side of the social-environmental project:
Social: a new camping-cafe named Amarumi (a word in kichwa language, meaning “strong woman”) that is central to the growth of the indigenous community of Cayambe hand-in-hand with the growth of sustainable climbing tourism, as rising numbers of climbers are impacting their local mountains in a multitude of ways. With Amarumi and other local stakeholders we want develop a strategy of waste management for the climbing crag: La Chimba (Cayamabe)
The GCI Environmental Impact grant will support the completion of the environmental side of the community project: the implementation of environmental tasks to address the impact of growing climbing tourism, specifically the management and prevention of human impact on Cayambe’s local climbing area of La Chimba.
What positive impacts are you creating?
- Management of human waste and impact in intervention area of La Chimba to accommodate larger numbers of visitors
- Public awareness of local specifies of flora and fauna, LNT ethics to protect endangered species
- Tools of waste management and training for the local indigenous people
- The local group/organization will have a voice at the table to be able to hold visitors and partners accountable for their part in the implementation and management of the environmental effort in La Chimba.
What are your organization's goals/vision for the future?
Vision: Our vision is to empower women and indigenous communities to catalyze planned development that will sustainably benefit indigenous territories near climbing areas in Ecuador. Then, to showcase the project to the world to inspire other women and indigenous communities around the world.
Through consciously building the community, the project introduces planning and accountability to help the indigenous community adapt to changing the territorial dynamics of climbing development in the following territories in Ecuador: Cayambe, Cuyuja, Zumbahua, Cojitambo, and Estero del Plátano.
Goals:
1. Empowerment of indigenous communities and women: Fernanda started the camping - cafe Amarumi to engage and benefit the Pukará community, belonging to the Kichwa Kayambi people. She and her family work with the medicinal and ancestral drink Chawarmishky.
2. Sustainable climbing development: We (stakeholders) discover a massive piece of rock in the Andes, close to the city, 2 hours from Quito to La Chimba-Cayambe. In 2021, we found this magical place where you can see the Cayambe volcano while climbing a 5-star route of Andesita volcanic (lava). Developers wanted to start as soon as possible, so Andrea Castillo suggested planning the climbing area with sustainable climbing development to bring equity between climbers with nature and indigenous rural communities. It’s a fantastic process of volunteering and a community job. Over the years, it has had excellent results. In 2023, we have 21 climbing routes, one amazing hostel, a camping cafetría, and for the first time, local indigenous climbers.
3. International solidarity: Subsequently, the episode will be released for international film contests for six months and finally uploaded to the Internet to be shared by our supporters on an international stage. With this visibility and with our supporters, we direct support and resources to the community project.
Anything else you'd like to add?
By the end of 2023, we stop doing our direct intervention and continue five years of following researching and supporting Amarumi and the indigenous communities of Pesillo and La Chimba. This will be a study case of the Ph.D. in Geography of Andrea Castillo. She will study how outdoor activities like climbing can change the territorial dynamics of places that were agriculture and livestock farmers for decades. Five years later, we will measure the new data and compare it with the data of 2021 to realize the changes in territorial dynamics.
Learn More
WEB
mountainsbeyondborders.org/ecuador
YOUTUBE
Testimonio Fernanda en Chile: youtu.be/6_kTntkPzDU
Pitch: youtu.be/FVvHE806uf0
First episode: youtu.be/gEyFtTUegMY
Second episode: youtu.be/nQ4HNLNbpCI