Los Cedros Fund

Held in the mists of the Ecuadorian Tropical Andes, a scientific station works with local communities to protect a cloud forest known as Los Cedros (“The Cedars”). The station encourages artists, educators, and researchers to connect with and learn from Los Cedros, whose walking palm trees and old growth lift racket-tail hummingbirds and critically endangered brown-headed spider monkeys into the clouds. Decades of interdependent artwork and scientific discovery from the station—including over 100 publications—factored into the 2021 decision of Ecuador’s highest court to ban extractive practices in the forest by upholding Los Cedros’ constitutional rights to exist and to thrive.

This ruling set a monumental precedent for worldwide Rights of Nature efforts. Yet mining companies continue to apply pressure to Los Cedros communities and Ecuadorian authorities—and if mining comes to pass in Los Cedros, it will devastate one of the most biodiverse and endemic forests in the world. Home to thousands of wildlife species, Los Cedros spans 6000 hectares of mostly primary forest habitat. There, the threatened spectacled bear builds a tree bed to feast on aguacatillo berries (tiny avocados), and the elusive jaguar has left her tracks on the banks of waterfalls. In the abundant green shadows, undiscovered fungi, insects, and orchids flourish. A glass frog hides his heartbeat under a leaf.

As one of the rare places where humans can still drink directly from cascading rivers, this refuge also protects numerous watersheds crucial to downstream communities. So, the Los Cedros Fund will prove that the station’s approach of sustainably partnering with the cloud forest and surrounding communities is best for Pachamama—all of Mother Earth, including humans—in the long term.

The Los Cedros Fund is growing an endowment for the cloud forest to be financially self-sufficient. Honoring all who’ve protected the forest for decades, the Los Cedros Fund aims to offer this new watershed of perennial support to the forest and surrounding communities to keep artistic, educational, and scientific collaborations flowing.

We can only achieve this mission through the kindness and generosity of thoughtful donors like you.