So, what is it that you're doing, again?

I haven’t done a very good job of describing what my internship for Fundacion Runa consists of, so this post will be an attempt to make it as simple as I can.

Runa is a for-profit corporation, founded by two Brown graduates in YEAR. It buys Guayusa from local farmers, processes it in Ecuador, and sells it in the United States. Guayusa is a type of tea that is integral to the Kichwa culture in Ecuador. Traditionally, families will wake up at 4 to prepare it and spend time together sharing and interpreting dreams. It is high in caffeine content so it is their way of kickstarting their morning. Runa is the first company to commoditize Guayusa so there is still a lot that they do not know about it: where else it is grown, the best growing practices, whether all plants are clones of one original plant*, and the best way to prepare it.

Fundacion Runa is a nonprofit that was founded by one of the Brown graduates in an effort to ensure that the business does not begin to exploit the people or environment involved in Guayusa production. The Fundacion goes about this by, among other things, founding and fostering farmer cooperatives, measuring the economic effect of Runa’s business, and helping farmer maximize their Guayusa production. In regards to the protection of the environment, their philosophy is that, by giving monetary value to a plant that is traditionally grown using agroforestry, they are creating more value for property in the Amazon, making it more profitable to chose not to clear cut it. To be perfectly honest, this last sentence is so vague because I am still somewhat confused on how the rainforest is protected by the commoditization of this tea.

My project in specific is focused on creating a buffer zone around the Bosque Colonso, a protected forest in the foothills of the Andes. The idea is that we will provide different types of native timber trees to people living in Santa Rita and Alto Tena (Kichwa communities that border Bosque Colonso) so that they can strengthen the biodiversity of their chacras (see photo below) and also use the timber later on instead of the timber in the forest. We began the project by researching different native trees: their ecological and economic worth, their sensitivity to illnesses, and their natural habitats. We are now mapping the chacras (walking their borders with a gps) in Santa Rita and Alto Tena so that we can plan the distribution of the trees within them. Later, most likely after I have left Ecuador, the team will begin collecting seeds from within the forest, raise them in Runa’s nursery, and begin planting them.

Hope that clears things up a little bit!

*Guayusa is grown by cutting off a branch of one plant and sticking it in fertile soil, making it a clone of the original plant. Supposedly, the plant germinates naturally but it occurs infrequently, and the seeds are most often sterile.