About our project:
The Minga Reforestation Project is a sustainable reforestation project in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions in northern Ecuador. With every tree you plant, you can help to remove one tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere in the long term. In doing so, you not only contribute to climate protection, but also help to protect the incredibly high biodiversity of the world’s most endangered rainforest! In addition, you are helping to create jobs in a region where there are very few jobs. And for you, you can offset CO2 emissions and thus already live climate-neutrally today.
What we urgently need to do, nature has been able to do for a long time - namely to extract CO2 from the air! We rely on nature and want to reforest deforested areas in one of the most biodiverse regions of the world with the Minga Reforestation Project. More than 300 tree species grow naturally per hectare in northern Ecuador. And many more plant species grow on the trees: orchids, bromeliads, mosses, etc. We plant at least 80 tree species per hectare and then let nature take over until a stable ecosystem emerges, which makes an important contribution to climate protection. The areas are part of the Dracula Reserve, an approximately 20km2 nature reserve founded by the Botanical Garden of the University of Basel with the aim of protecting the valuable primary forests at the transition between the cloud forests of the Andes and the tropical coastal forests of the biodiversity hotspot Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena. We want to contribute to this, together with the Dracula Reserve Association and our local project partner, the Equadorian foundation Ecominga.
Minga - The word Minga comes from the Quechua word Mink’a. It refers to a group of people who do work together for the community. We have named our project Minga Reforestation Project - in reference to our partner Ecominga and - because in our opinion this is exactly what the world needs for climate protection: Doing something together for the good of the whole world - this is the only way to achieve great things! Together with our partner in Ecuador, we form a strong Minga to achieve our goals - become part of it! The Minga Reforestation Project is our gift to the world, which gives us so much - let’s give something back!
One of over 30 hummingbird species found at our reforestation site: The Crowned woodnymph 
Here is one of three toucan species: The Crimson-rumped toucanet 
The most common family of birds in northern Ecuador are the tanagers: Here two Flame-faced tanagers 
Not even the pollen on its beak affects its beauty: The Rufous-gaped hillstar 
Nature has not spared the Red-headed barbet with colour either...
What makes our project special:
The special thing about our project is that we are not only planting trees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but that we are also giving back to nature the species-rich habitat that it provides for countless animals and plants in the Ecuadorian rainforests: Besides three species of monkeys, more than 300 bird species, pumas, ocelots, spectacled bears, snakes, dozens of frog species and many more live in the vicinity of our areas. Our project partner Ecominga not only constantly discovers new animal and plant species in the reserve, but also protects the areas of the reserve and in the future our reforested areas with rangers. Ecominga is a very renowned foundation in Ecuador in the field of biodiversity protection, but also in researching the sheer incredible of the region’s biodiversity. The biodiversity in the region of the reserve is about five times greater than that of Central Europe. These are therefore very valuable areas. We want to restore the lost areas in order to stabilise the remaining ones. We are also working with a very experienced forest engineer as a consultant who has successfully planted over a million trees in similar projects. He could support us in planting as many species as possible and do the important monitoring after the trees are planted. With the expertise of our partners, the sustainability of the Minga Reforestation Project is assured!
We will reforest areas like this. Normally, more than 300 tree species grow here per hectare. Cleared, the areas are worthless for agriculture after a few years. 
This is what an intact forest area looks like at our location - The trees are full of epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants). They make up the extremely high biodiversity! 
The epiphytes grow up to the highest branches and are a habitat for many animal species such as frogs. 
Orchid species of the genus Dracula are particularly common here and, what's more, they are beautiful: here a Dracula gigas! 
Large parts of the tropical Andes in Ecuador have already been cleared. That is why we want to give more space to nature in the region again.
For this we need your support:
By supporting our reforestation project, you help to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in the long term. In order to reach the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement, reducing emissions alone is no longer enough. According to the IPCC, we must remove 10 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere - every year! By supporting our project, you contribute to this.
Our funding target is at least 20,000 Swiss francs with a stretch goal of 25,000 Swiss francs. With 25,000 Swiss francs, we can collect our own seeds in the forests of the reserve, set up a tree nursery in the reserve, reforest around four hectares of near-natural rainforest and maintain this for three years until the young forest can continue to grow independently.
We plant about 1,000 trees per hectare. For every CHF 5,000 we can plant another hectare. This is a long-term commitment to nature and our climate that is definitely worthwhile! Our goal is to collect well over 25’000 CHF. Who knows - with your help we might reach 50,000 or even 100,000 francs!
And by the way: Our association is tax-exempt. That’s why we can send you a donation receipt for donations of CHF 100 or more!