Vilcabamba eco-lodge Izcayluma begins campaign to change the future

Horseriders near the Izcayluma Eco-Lodge

Examine the word responsibility —  response-ability — the ability to choose your response. Proactive people realize their responsibility; they do not blame circumstance, conditions, and surely not others, as a reason not to be responsible. Our behavior is a product of our own conscious choice, based on values rather than difficulty, or the conditions that surround us.

Towards that end, we acknowledge that humanity as a whole has been woefully irresponsible in caring for the Earth and that we all must raise our hands to offer support for Mother Earth. It is time for all of us to commit to fundamental change from our selfish ways to one of stewardship.

• 150 million tons of single-use plastic is tossed away every year
• 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean yearly
• 150 acres of Amazonia rainforest is clear cut every minute, 24-hours a day, totally 78 million acres
• 20% of Amazonia is already gone and may never return

Global warming is a reality that will shape the lives of all future generations. This “State of an Environmental Emergency”, prompted the Izcayluma Eco-Lodge family in Vilcabamba to initiate the Izcayluma for the Future project, which seeks to address what we can do to promote a sustainable planet.

• Since its founding in 1998, Izcayluma Eco-Lodge has transformed an overgrazed
  

  Izcayluma in Vilcabamba.

  cattle ranch by planting over 8,000 trees and creating a wildlife sanctuary, tripling the number of birds, butterflies, squirrels, and foxes. Deer are slowly returning

•  An active on-site apiary provides sustainable pollination as well as delicious honey for our guests
•  Single-use plastic will be eliminated at Izcayluma; a part of our policy to become carbon neutral in 2020, and enhance our waste-management programs

Izcayluma is proud to be the largest private employer in Vilcabamba,  providing 30 “social insurance” jobs. Over 100 people are supported when you visit Izcayluma.

Further efforts in our community include establishing a youth center for at-risk teens.

Our Izcayluma for the Future project includes working with government officials to further protect Podocarpus National Park by purchasing additional land adjacent to the park as a buffer against unscrupulous development and destruction.

Izcayluma needs your support!

Central to the Izcayluma for the Future project is establishing the, 1,000,000 Trees for Vilcabamba Initiative. This program includes growing a nursery of native plants to be distributed at no cost to the community to assist them in providing additional habitat for local wildlife.

Financial support is needed!

The Izcayluma Eco-Lodge is leading a pilot program in February 2020, to begin the reforestation of fire-damaged land.  The first effort includes planting 10 hectares (25 acres) with a variety of trees in collaboration with the Ecuadorian Army, and the City of Loja.

Izcayluma is currently in negotiations to purchase an additional 30 hectares of overgrazed cattle-land to reforest and protect in perpetuity.

A donation program to raise the required $65,000 is ongoing.

Your financial support will reap benefits far beyond the tranquil environment created at Izcayluma. Your donations are fundamental to our ability to make substantial changes needed to protect Mother Earth.

Please help us help others. The fund-raising goal for this year is $150,000.

For more information and to donate to the project, email izhcayluma@yahoo.de or phone (07) 3 02 51 62.