by Aliyya Swaby:
(Aliyya is a sophomore in Pierson College who is spending her summer in Quito, Ecuador)
I was nervous about making contacts for my journalism project here in Ecuador. I felt like I was sending hundreds of e-mails, few of which were returned. The ones that responded were usually American NGOs working in Ecuador, but even they sent back less than helpful e-mails. I wanted solid dates, appointments I could mark in red on my calendar. Instead I received vague affirmations that they might be able to help.
Now that I’m here in Quito, I can see that there is just a different attitude towards planning. Tranquila or “be calm” is a phrase thrown around a lot in my homestay and usually directed at me. Whether it’s rushing to help with dishes after dinner or worrying about my next interview, it seems I could always use a breath.
And so it shouldn’t have been surprising that my first interview, with the Wildlife Conservation Society, took place not in an office building but on the couches in my host family’s home. I met with ecology and wildlife management coordinator Galo Zapata Tuesday afternoon to talk with him about the work WCS is doing to assess and protect the ecology of the Amazon. He insisted he come to the house because I had only arrived a few days ago and didn’t yet know the city. As we spoke, we took turns petting and playing with my host family’s four dogs. Muy tranquilo.
WCS sends groups twice a month to the illegal wild meat market in Pompeya, a small town at the edge of the Ecuadorian Amazon, to determine how it is changing over time. The market at Pompeya is one of many that sprung up after an American oil company Maxus Ecuador Inc. built the Pompeya Sur-Iro road running across the northwestern corner of Yasuni National Park in the Amazon. The road makes it easy for indigenous hunters to travel with their game outside of the forest, especially since the oil companies provide them with free transportation.
Why are these markets so popular?
“Money,” Zapata said simply. “Most hunters get to the market on Saturday, sell the meat, and spend all the money on alcohol.”
Sustainable hunting among indigenous tribes is legal and has been going on for years, but biologists are sure that overhunting will change the entire structure of the rainforest.
This weekend I am headed to Pompeya with WCS to see one of these markets myself. In the past six months, Zapata said, the Ministry of the Environment has been cracking down harder on the meat markets. Though a well-intentioned effort, this may only lead to better hidden markets elsewhere in the forest.