Innovation tools used in PCAB are introduced to indigenous people in Ecuador

The experience of using Google Earth and Open Data Kit (ODK) to map resources and their traditional territories in the Brazilian Amazon is now being transferred to the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Workshops were held to kickstart the process in Tena and Quito, between 20 and 24 of March, when 22 Waorani indigenous were trained by the Conservation Team of Amazon (ECAM) under the New Technologies and Traditional People’s Program under a partnership with Fundación EcoCiencia, Amazônia 2.0 and Google Earth Outreach. A representative of the Human Rights Secretariat of Quito also attended. Another workshop to train four staff of EcoCiencia on ODK was also carried out.

As part of the  Sustainable Territories Program, supported by PCAB, ECAM and Google Earth Outreach teams have trained quilombola community members in three municipalities of Pará to map their traditional lands; these community members will conduct household surveys to bring information necessary to build a “Life Plan” that helps the community to set priorities for environmental and socio-economic territorial management.  This process can ultimately support a faster process for land titling for some of those communities.