Establishment of Junín Community Reserve to revalue and defend the forest

Location: Parroquia García Moreno, valle de Íntag, provincia de Imbabura, Ecuador

Timeline: 1998-2015

As a strategy of resistance to the advancement of large-scale mining in the Íntag area, local populations established community reserves to protect territories. The Junín Community Reserve was one of them, created in 1998 to protect and reclaim the land. Those territories included a native forest which had been impacted by mining exploration activities during the 90s. Community members purchased land in the threatened forest in order to create the reserve, establishing a community management system which allowed them to seek for sustainable productive alternatives.