Botanical Garden of Chontachaca

Chontachaca is in the Manu National Park buffer zone in Cusco, Perú. It is a place with a huge variety of species but with no resources (tecnology, education, etc.) to preserve them. There is no presence of state institutions so people are in a state of abandonment. We are commited to build a Botanical Garden which will not only serve as a place to preserve the biodiversity, but also as a place that preserves local knowledge such as medicinal plants and cultural practices through popular education. It will offer work oportunities for local people that already have projects with butterflies and orquids and are missing resources to make them happen. The Botanical Garden will also work as a lodge where tourists can stay and consume the local products. We already have 14 hectares of land to work in the place. 

Chontachaca is the first populated point in the Kosñipata district, which is the entry of the Manu National Park. To get there you have to take a 6 hours ride from Cusco city, there is no phone signal, no universities or schools, no health care center, so if people want to get a job they have to go somewhere else. Because of the lack of basic services people tend to search activites that are damaging the ecosystem, such as the butterfly hunting and irresponsable harvesting that contaminates rivers. This affects not only the local environment but also globally. The butterfly hunting and the climate change has led to the extinction of some species. The Chontachaca region is one of the most rich in water sources such as rivers, rain, and lagoons but it is no longer potable because of contamination. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 1316This situation is getting worse because of narcotrafic in the next populated point. 

The Botanical Garden is an opportunity to generate monetary incomes through tourism, it will also help in the social cohesion, community sense and so, help in the preservation of the cultural patrimony. The idea is to get the community involved in the process so they also can grow awareness of the impact their actions have in the environment but also skills to mantain it better.

The main benefited people will be the Chontachaca community, but as the first populated point in the Kosñipata district and the entrance of the Manu National Park, people in the whole district will be benefited because of the tourism. We also believe it could be an incentive to the rest of the populated points to develop projects such as this one. The Kosñipata district lacks a lot of basic services and, since there aren't government institutions, people there and all over the country will have to take the lead and propose solutions working as a community. We have been there to diagnose their problems, and the principal one is also the lack of resources, people have projects in mind, but the organisations that go there, build tourism points that don't benefit the communities at all, so local people mistrust the presence of external institutions. So, it is very important to use the land we have to build a place that will serve as a reunion point for community members, a recreative, educational and working point. In this way, it can solve their needs in an intersectional way (social cohesion, working and educational development, natural and cultural preservation).

The Botanical Garden project has been designed as a sustainable project. We want local people to be in charge of the main activities there, because they know what their needs are. The main objetive is also the natural preservation, because the Manu National Park is a very important place  for the whole world. It has a huge variety of flora and fauna that belongs to everyone. Local people will understand it better if we give them opportunities to improve their lives. We cannot propose an environmental project if they are lacking basic services and ways to get money to survive.

We are in the starting stage of the Botanical Garden project with the organization Patronato de Cultura MacchuPichu. In April and May we did the first and second visit to Chontachaca which was mainly to make a diagnosis on the community. With the diagnosis we know understand the complex difficulties the locals go through, which is very important before implementing any project. 

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