Ecuadorians prove there's a new way to live in – and protect – the jungle

Sustainable tourism businesses in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve help protect exotic creatures like this caimán, which appears in the video below. Photograph: Rainforest Alliance

The communities in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve – one of the most fragile, biodiverse and magnificent ecosystems in Ecuador – have, together with the Rainforest Alliance, developed a sustainable tourism model that reduces environmental impacts, protects unique wildlife species and generates sustainable economic alternatives for indigenous people who call the rainforest home. The program has been so successful that the Ecuadorian government has adapted it for use in other protected areas of the country.

This video shows how sustainable tourism protects the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador.

It’s part of the Initiative for Conservation in the Andean Amazon (ICAA), a long-term regional program created by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that brings together more than 30 local and international partner organizations for the conservation of the Amazon biome in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.

This content is paid for by AMResorts in association with the Rainforest Alliance