Our strategy emphasizes the empowerment of local landowners and communities, encouraging them to actively participate in the sustainable management of their land. Our approach combines:
We support the establishment of locally-owned reserves that serve as models to inspire broader conservation in the surrounding communities and landscapes. This builds local capacity and grassroots support for conservation efforts, sowing seeds for long-term conservation led independently, without direct support from Ceiba or other external sources.
Ceiba has operated in Ecuador for over 20 years, and has strong connections with the communities where we work, as well as federal and local governments.
Ceiba deeply respects the role that local people, communities, and institutions play in the protection of natural resources. We work closely with community members, private landowners, and local governments to encourage long-term, locally driven advocacy for conservation and sustainability.
Ceiba supported the establishment of the Lalo Loor Dry Forest Reserve, which protects 180 hectares of forest on Ecuador's coast, through signing a conservation easement with the reserve’s owner, Sr. Eudaldo “Lalo” Loor. Ceiba remains an active partner in supporting the Reserve's conservation, restoration, education, and ecotourism programs.
We are establishing a biological corridor on coast of Ecuador through sponsorship of a Conservation and Sustainable Use Area, enhancing connectivity and species migration within this critically threatened ecosystem. This project protects and reconnects the last fragments of Ecuador’s highly threatened coastal dry forest, of which only 2% remains.
Ceiba has promoted habitat protection for more than two decades, beginning with establishment of El Pahuma Orchid Reserve. We apply legal tools to strengthen protection of habitat on private lands. To establish El Pahuma, we signed the first conservation easement in South America involving a private landowner and a conservation organization.
We conduct research to inform mitigation strategies against a variety of threats facing tropical plants, animals, and habitats. Dynamic internship and volunteer opportunities invite young professionals to advance their training by working at our sites to support our conservation and development programs.
Ceiba offers a number of world-class study abroad programs in partnership with the University of Wisconsin and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. In the communities around the reserves we've helped establish, we provide environmental education to local schools, and training to local teachers.
Ceiba is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1997. Our mission is to connect tropical nature and sustainable livelihoods through habitat conservation and environmental education.
Our name is inspired by the Ceiba tree, a giant of tropical forests, which provides a home for animals and plants in its lofty canopy. Ceiba trees are found throughout Central and South America, and are widely viewed as a symbol of intact forest and revered as a protector of both humanity and nature (more).
Our actions support, enhance, and illuminate the value of nature, both intrinsic and instrumental.
We promote strategies for protecting and restoring ecosystems while improving human well-being and livelihoods.
We respect the values, dignity, knowledge, contributions, and perspectives of our partners and the cultures in which we work. We believe people of all ages, genders, and races should have equal access to opportunity and knowledge.
We believe access to information empowers people to act in sustainable ways.
We believe that stimulating positive change relies on building trust by making enduring commitments to stakeholders and communities.
Ceiba Foundation for Tropical Conservation celebrates diversity, equity, and inclusion in our staff, students, volunteers, and communities with whom we collaborate. Our commitment to these values is central to our vision of a world where people and biodiversity thrive because of each other. Respect for diversity in all forms is a source of strength through which we build a welcoming and inclusive environment and an inspired and innovative workplace.