Los Visionarios – Articles and Publications

Ecuador's natural resource attributes allows it to take special advantage of the entire spectrum of renewable energy technologies and resources: fuelwood, wind, hydro, solar, fuel alcohol, biogas, energy crops, geothermal, and others such as marine current generators. Today Ecuador is heavily dependent on petroleum exports for foreign exchange earnings, but shortly after the year 2000 Ecuador is expected to become a net importer of petroleum products. The application of renewable energy technologies and energy conservation measures is the only way to reverse this trend.

There is a tremendous emphasis being placed today on identifying sources and technologies for increased use of locally available renewable or alternative energy 77. The type of energy needs and technologies in every community will be very much contingent on the geography and types of activities carried on in the area 69. Energy sector cooperation among developing countries may be promoted on the grounds of similar energy resource endowments, and the use or need for similar energy technologies and know-how 68,77. "There have been many cases of such cooperation, at both the regional and international level 68."

"Commercial energy consumption has increased quite rapidly in developing countries during the last quarter century", with "developing countries remaining heavily dependent on petroleum sources 68." "A number of evaluations show that some renewable energy technologies can be more economic (and sometimes more reliable) than conventional technology options, even at crude oil prices below US $20 per barrel, if the right conditions are met 68." "Renewable energy sources, properly managed, can play a central role in accomplishing the economic and social objectives of energy self-sufficiency 69."

Many international cooperation projects have been carried out to develop and promote renewable energy technologies, but commercial adoption and widespread diffusion of these technologies has been limited 68. "The experience gained from existing pilot demonstration projects would aid in evaluating the viability of the technology. For some [renewable energy] technologies the application is well proven and no further demonstrations are necessary 69." Insufficient information on proven technologies, and the underutilization of the results gained from research and development, have limited wider diffusion of these technologies. Efforts made by individual countries and through international cooperation will determine the long term impact of renewable energy on developing countries. 68

Modest amounts of energy provided by some simple alternative energy technologies, can make a substantial contribution to raising the standard of living for the rural poor in developing countries.

THE PROBLEM OF FUEL WOOD

"Fuelwood and charcoal, together with agricultural residues and animal wastes, represent the largest share among renewable sources of energy in terms of physical energy input 68." Over 2 billion people in developing countries depend on biomass energy to meet basic energy needs, such as cooking and heating 68. Large amounts are also used for agriculture, electrical generation, and both large and small-scale industry 67,68.

Little work has been done to organize fuelwood production and consumption to take advantage of its potential sustainable utilization 69. "The majority of the population of the developing world lives in areas where fuelwood scarcity is acute 68." Scarcity of wood and charcoal is a problem throughout most of the Andean region 72. Consumption of biomass is greatly outstripping sustainable production.

Heavy reliance on fuelwood collection for energy has resulted in deforestation, soil erosion, and desertification. As forest are destroyed and fuelwood becomes scarce, agricultural residues and animal waste are increasingly utilized as substitute fuels. This leads to further environmental degradation and soil depletion, as these substances are not returned to the land to maintain fertility. 68

Due to the high level of dependence of many developing countries on fuelwood, proper management of existing forest resources is essential 69. "About 50 million hectares [123.5 million acres] of trees would need to be planted in the developing world by the end of the century in order to bring about a better balance between supply and demand of fuelwood. This would require a five-fold increase over 1982 planting levels world-wide, and a fifteen-fold increase in Africa 68." Other plant materials can also be grown for fuel. Many will outproduce wood, and some have superior combustion characteristics 73.

Up to 80 % of the basic energy needs of villagers in some developing countries is for cooking. "One half of the world's wood crop is burned as fuel, often in inefficient open fires or poorly designed stoves 69." "Despite the advances in efficiency [of wood stoves] that have been made in some countries, the use of open wood fires for cooking is still very common 69." "The inherent inefficiency of burning wood in this manner is cause of great concern 69." Improved stoves could save half of the wood normally used in open fires, theoretically putting natural growth ahead of the cutting rate. 71

Major successes in reducing fuelwood and charcoal usage have been achieved in small scale industries, such as pottery and brick firing, by replacing antiquated kilns and combustion chambers; by adopting correct methods of firing and cooling, based on scientifically correct data and procedures; and by implementing other improved production procedures that reduce product defects 70.

As an example in the transfer of technologies between regions with similar environmental features, by researching brick making technologies in regions having laterite soils, one would discover a new brick making technology developed in Guyana, using this type of soil, that produces unfired bricks exceeding U.S. building codes by five times 62.

The information on simple, low-cost, high efficiency wood stoves for space heating, that has been developed in North America, can be transferred to cool mountainous regions of the tropics. Some ancient designs of space heaters, such as the Japanese earthenware kamado, are also very efficient. 69

Biogas production and solar energy can also help resolve the fuelwood crisis.

BIOGAS

Biogas production is a simple and well proven technology at any scale, from home production to industrial units. Biogas technology produces both methane and fertilizer from human or animal waste. Vegetable matter may also be incorporated into the mixture. Methane is the principal constituent of natural gas, and may be used the same as natural gas, for cooking and home heating, to produce industrial heat, and to fuel automobiles. Biogas produces more energy than is produced by burning livestock manure for fuel, and the nutrient-rich sludge can be used to fertilize crops. A well managed biogas system offers an inexpensive, clean, efficient, and inexhaustible source of energy 67.

SOLAR ENERGY IN THE TROPICS

The sun is more intense in the tropics, because it shines directly overhead and doesn't filter through as much of the earth's atmosphere, as it does in higher latitudes. This effect is compounded substantially in tropical mountain highlands. Photovoltaic cells will thus generate more electricity in the tropics than in temperate latitudes. Other solar applications are also more effective in the tropics, and in cloudless arid regions. Other promising applications for solar energy in developing countries include agricultural dryers, solar food ovens, and solar water heaters. Solar technology as a source of industrial heat has a long history of use.

Running an electric grid to remote areas can cost more than the electric generating technology. For this reason photovoltaic technology may be cost-effective for supplying electricity to remote homes and villages, where electrical needs are modest 67.

Solar food ovens are surprisingly efficient, especially in the tropics, and even more so in arid regions where firewood scarcity is most acute. The use of solar ovens eliminates the need to gather fuel wood; a major time consuming task where shortages exist. Solar agricultural dryers and solar water heaters are other applications that can reduce the need for fuelwood or other fuels.

Due to the high efficiency in the tropics, and ability to provide a safe and renewable source of energy, solar applications can make a special contribution to the modernization of developing countries. The potential for the creation of new markets for solar technologies in these countries is enormous. This offers a highly desirable area for the creation of new manufacturing industries in developing countries, for the local marketing and export of solar technologies.

WATER POWER

Small-scale hydroelectric projects offer certain advantages "such as providing electricity in areas the electricity grid doesn't reach, and to implement the projects with locally available technical, industrial, and financial resources. They may, therefore, constitute a promising local energy development option for many developing countries."

Very small hydroelectric generators can be made from inexpensive automobile alternators or generators. One may also be built by modifying an electric water pump, and reversing the flow of water. These simple, homemade technologies can provide a viable means for producing small amounts of electricity for remote dwellings, farms, and small villages. These homemade generators would be suitable for basic energy needs such as lighting, educational radio and television, small scale grain grinding and agricultural processing, and other similar applications.

Traditional use of water power can be greatly improved upon with new design engineering, for mechanical water pumping, grain grinding, sugar processing, and numerous other mechanical operations.

CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF TROPICAL RAIN FOREST

Deforestation in Ecuador is occurring at the rate of 340,000 hectares (839,800 acres) annually. Due to rapid population growth, it's estimated that Ecuador will almost certainly be completely deforested in ten years. "Virtually nothing has been done to reverse deforestation in Ecuador's humid lowlands." "Tropical deforestation is the major threat to biological diversity in Ecuador." "Rules of land tenure in many countries confer title to forest land on parties who 'improve' it by clearing the forest for some other use 47." In Ecuador undisturbed forest is, by definition, unproductive, and made freely available for "development", but before title is given at least half the land must be cleared. This policy forces indigenous forest dwellers to clear their land, to keep encroaching colonist from doing so and claiming title to their land.

One way of saving the tropical rainforest is to work with governments to develop land use planning surveys, based on the sustainable economical use of the land. The economic criterion for efficient forest management is that land areas should be devoted to the uses that yield the greatest potential economic benefits. "Applying the efficiency criterion means that land most valuable as a watershed protection forest would not be converted to crops [or] a forest most valuable as a recreational park would not be harvested for timber... Government policies frequently ignore this criterion for efficient resource use ."

Wild fruits, Brazil nuts, rubber, resins, essential oils, medicinal substances, rattan, fibers, woods, seeds, botanicals, flowers, and a wide variety of other products flow from tropical forest into commercial channels. Although they receive little promotion or development attention, their aggregate value is substantial. Exports of such products from Indonesia reached $125 million per year by the early 1980s. Tropical forest also contribute countless insecticidal and pharmaceutical chemicals, disease and pest resistant genetic material for plant breeders, and important new food crops. "These products are a small fraction of the potential sustainable yields of the tropical forest, a potential arising from their biological richness, only a fraction of which has been investigated – let alone utilized."

Tropical rain forest are a primary focus of nature tourism, which is a $19.5 billion annual business, and is increasing at the rate of 30 percent annually. Tourism is one of Ecuador's most important sources of foreign exchange earnings. The Amazon Basin and other natural sites are Ecuador's major attraction. In a world of diminishing natural resources, to conserve Ecuador as a treasure house of biological diversity, for all the world to come and see and to appreciate, is a wise and valuable investment with permanent economic return.

Small portable sawmills, with the right management plan and training, offer a viable sustainable alternative to large scale clear-cutting by industrial logging interest. Though the immediate financial returns are not as great as what the logging companies offer, royalty payments for cut lumber is greater than for cut logs, and production is sustainable over time. The economic potential of the other forest commodities can still be developed, the integrity of nature is preserved, and native forest people are not forced to relocate, preserving their heritage and knowledge of the land. With the financial incentives being offered by logging interest, the destruction of the rainforest, in many cases can only be prevented by providing the indigenous land-owning communities with portable sawmills, that enable them to carefully log a small part of their forest at a time. With portable saw mills timber cleared for gardens and plantations can be cut and sold.

PROTECTING NATURE PRESERVES FROM COLONIZATION

National parks and refuges throughout Latin America are under constant threat of invasion by new settlers. "Ecuador has a well planned National Park system on paper, but has had little success in keeping settlers from invading its parks once they become accessible from the.. expanding road system." No effective means of control or delineation has been discovered yet.

In 1987, the Ecuadorian Government declared an area of 130,000 hectares (321,100 acres) as an "Ethnic Forest Reserve," in recognition of the Awa Indians land claim. One hundred thousand hectares (247,000 acres) was later added as a buffer zone.

The Awa Indians have cleared a 250 kilometer (155 mile) strip of land, 15 to 30 meters wide (50 to 100 ft.), to delineate their forest reserve. The Awa, working with the Rainforest Information Center, is planting the strip with native fruit and forestry trees, easily distinguished from the surrounding vegetation. Sustainable forestry and land use designs are being developed, and education programs implemented, to help stabilize agriculture in the surrounding region, and prevent land degradation, which increases colonization pressures. This is the first attempt to surround undamaged rainforest with an ecological barrier, and is a model project for the protection of pristine rainforest and tribal populations in other regions.

AN INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS

Ecuador would be an excellent location to establish the center of an important new international research institute for the study of breeding, culture, and propagation, and shipping, processing, and marketing of tropical and subtropical fruits.

"No really international body for research into tropical fruits has so far been founded, yet there is a great need for one. It could do for fruits what International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has done for rice, or Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) for cassava." "Many tropical American fruits have not diffused to tropical Asia and Africa; the converse is also true. Hence, development agencies should develop and support a worldwide network for studying, acclimating, and distributing [tropical] fruit crops."

North-western Amazonia is the richest area of diversity for tropical fruit germplasm in South America. Ecuador produces a diversity of commercial fruit crops, from tropical papayas in the lowlands, to temperate apples in the highlands. With Ecuador's tropical and temperate climates breeding and research can be conducted on both low-chill temperate climate fruit crops and cold-tolerant tropical fruits. Production of low-chill peaches, apples, pears and other temperate crops in the tropical highlands has received much attention in recent years, and further research is needed.

Ecologically sound perennial tree crops and agro-forestry (integration of trees with field crops) are key elements of sustainable agriculture. Tropical tree crops, which are naturally adapted to tropical soils and rainforest environments are the most appropriate and ecological food crops to produce on converted rainforest soils. Although central to the development of sustainable agriculture in the tropics, research on tropical tree crops is negligible.

There has never been more popular and scientific interest in tropical and subtropical fruits as there is now. Until recently the most authoritative reference work on tropical fruit culture was published in 1920 (Manual of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits by Wilson Popenoe). In the last few years numerous popular and technical publications have been published on the subject, indicating the new interest in tropical fruits, while new foods of all kinds from around the world are finding acceptance in world markets.

The development of miniature or dwarf tropic and subtropic fruit trees, and dwarfing rootstocks, for dense plantings, is an important area requiring research. Dense plantings of compact trees offer higher yield per acre than full size trees which require wider spacing. Production cost are reduced with dwarf trees because pruning, spraying, and harvesting is faster and easier. Because energy for vegetative growth is converted to fruit set, dwarf and simi-dwarf fruit trees usually begin bearing at an earlier age, and often produce more fruit per tree than full size trees. Dwarf trees are sometimes so precocious and prolific that care is required to keep the weight of fruit from breaking the juvenile limbs of young trees.

The development of high density planting systems for tropical fruit crops is necessary to increase yields and reduced production cost to be competitive in world agriculture markets. Dwarfing rootstocks can also help reduce the space requirements needed to conserve germplasm of tree crops, in germplasm repositories and seed and increase orchards.

Adapting the photo period of temperate crops to the short day length of the tropics is an area for research.

PREHISTORIC AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SPACE AGE

Traditional technologies have undergone a selection process over centuries of empirical testing, hence they are very likely to represent optimum solutions, for the particular conditions under which they were developed. It is quite possible that these traditional technologies can be improved and rendered useful if modern science and engineering is used to understand and clarify the rational core of these ancient practices.

Archaeologist have discovered many prehistoric agricultural technologies, developed by primitive cultures, under many varied environmental conditions around the globe. These primitive agricultural practices would make interesting educational displays in botanical gardens, representing the biogeographic regions where they were discovered. Some of these techniques have been found to be highly productive and efficient, and to have important applications in our modern world.

For instance, about 3,000 years ago on the high planes of the Peruvian Andes, an ingenious form of agriculture employing platforms of soil, surrounded by ditches filled with water was developed. "Modern-day Peruvians working with archaeologist have reconstructed some of [these] ancient farms, and the results have been amazing. They have found, for instance, that this method can triple the yield of potatoes."

"This prehistoric technology has proved so productive and inexpensive that it is seen as a possible alternative for much of the Third World where scarce resources and harsh local conditions have frustrated the advance of modern agriculture."

"The combination of raised beds and canals has proved to have remarkably sophisticated environmental effects. For one thing, it reduces the impacts of extremes of moisture. During droughts, moisture from the canals ascends to the roots by capillarity, and during floods, the furrows drain away excess runoff.

"For another, it reduces the impact of temperature extremes. Water in the canals absorbs the sun's heat by day and radiates it back at night, thereby keeping the air warm and helping protect crops against frost. On the raised beds, nighttime temperatures can be several degrees higher than in the surrounding region.

"For a third, it maintains fertility in the soil. In the canals, silt, sediment, nitrogen-rich algae, and plant and animal remains decay into a nutrient rich muck. Seasonal accumulation can be dug out of the furrows and added to the raised beds, providing nutrients to the plants."

THE CONSERVATION AND STUDY OF "SUPER PLANTS"

Of all the benefits plants can offer, perhaps the greatest is the potential to repair the damage we have already done to the earth. Plants are the first colonizers of damaged, hostile environments, from devastated wasteland to natural salt land and lava flow. A number of plants that will grow on toxic sites have been found. No matter how impoverished, imbalanced, or toxic a soil, plants will be found that will grow there, with leaves, root structure, and chemistry tailored to fit.

"The Australian government, working with private enterprise has been putting together a package of their most promising management techniques, technologies, and plants (some nearly indestructible) for dealing specifically with stabilizing and reversing the global desertification problem. They believe this will develop into a billion dollar annual export for them."

Due to the severity of the environmental crises facing the world today, it would be desirable to move swiftly towards developing a similar approach applicable to many other adverse environmental extremities. Gardens and research centers should be established to collect and study "super plants" capable of surviving in the adverse environmental conditions of a world gone wrong; from nuclear war, depleted ozone, global warming, acid rain, rising sea levels, eroded and depleted soils, drought, desert, air and water pollution, unwieldy weather conditions, and other man-made and natural environmental extremes; plants and trees that are heat and scorch resistant, able to thrive in acid or alkaline soils, resistant to pest and disease (which are said will increase due to global warming), fast growing plants and trees (that can consume high amounts of carbon dioxide to counter the greenhouse effect), salt and wind resistant coastal plants, fire resistant plants, extremely cold hardy plants, cold hardy and wind resistant high altitude plants, plants and microorganisms that fix heavy metals and toxic waste, and plants capable of surviving a combination of unpredictable adverse conditions.

If we continue to degrade our environment, alter the climate, and destroy the atmospheric ozone, the availability of food crops and other useful plants capable of surviving under such unfavorable conditions could be critical in the future. Hardy plants adaptable to many environmental extremes will also be needed to establish life on Mars and the planets of other solar systems, as humanity outgrows its Earth home, and moves into space, spreading the miracle of life throughout the universe.

The Americas are particularly rich in plants that are naturally adapted to extreme harsh conditions. Almost all of the cactus family are endemic to the Americas. Many desert plants have been used by native people for generations, for food, medicine, and fiber. A single botanical garden and international research center can be established in one location in Ecuador, encompassing tropic, subtropic, and temperate climate arid lands, for the conservation and study of desert flora and drought resistant plants from around the world.

By bringing attention to the necessity of collecting and conducting research on such "super plants," further attention is brought to our environmental plight. As the public becomes more informed, it is hoped that people and nations will begin to take the steps necessary to live in harmony with the planet and to save our precious earth.

AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR THE CONSERVATION OF CROP GENETIC RESOURCES

Ecuador is an outstanding location for the establishment of an international center for the conservation of species and crop genetic resources. Botanical gardens can be established in Ecuador, in a multitude of climates, for the conservation of species from around the world, especially from the tropics and subtropics.

A diversity of highly educational gardens may be established in each of Ecuador's 30 climatic zones modeling the ecologies of each parallel bioregion of the earth that shares similar climatic features, with education and demonstration centers exhibiting each bioregions appropriate indigenous technologies, and useful native craft plants, industrial crops, timber species, food plants, and medicinal crops. Botanical gardens may also be established representing the 12 world centers of diversity for our food and economic crops.

Botanic gardens have long been involved in introducing economic plants to new regions and conserving their genetic diversity. The World Peace Garden can help establish important new crops in the Andean Bioregion, and introduce many promising but neglected South American native crops into other parts of the world.

Botanical gardens can contribute to the future of agricultural productivity by conserving germplasm of many promising but underutilized and neglected food, medicinal, and industrial crops, and wild relatives of crops, which are used in plant breeding to impart resistance to pest, disease, drought, and to adapt crops to many other adverse environmental conditions. Since most crop plants were domesticated in the tropics and subtropics, botanic gardens in developing tropical countries can play a critically important role in the conservation of minor crops and wild relatives of our cultivated crops.

Botanic gardens can help maintain the genetic diversity of plants that cannot easily be preserved as frozen seeds, or in tissue culture. Seeds of many tropical plants do not remain viable long, or survive freezing. Tissue culture techniques do not work, or haven't been developed yet for many plants. Botanical gardens are important sites for the conservation of recalcitrant plants, that must be preserved as living specimens.

A FROZEN UNDERGROUND SEED BANK

A seed banks may be located in a frozen underground cavern, in the frigid high mountains of Ecuador, to prolong the storage life of orthodox seeds, and to store frozen embryos of recalcitrant germplasm. Cooling would be provided at reduced cost by nature.