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Seed Guardians of the Amazon: A Family's Solitary Fight to Save Endangered Plants
The Pucha family operates a seed bank on a 32-hectare farm, rescuing endangered Amazon plants to regenerate rainforest after 50 years of logging, Ecuador's Ministry of Agriculture said.
- Ramón Pucha, seed collector and botanist, runs El Picaflor, a 32-hectare seed farm in the Indigenous Quichua community of Alto Ila, 128 kilometers southeast of Quito, where his family collects seeds from endangered plants and raises seedlings sold or gifted to neighbors.
- Faced with declining seed crops, Ramón Pucha says `That is my legacy` for his children and the Amazon rainforest, as climate change and droughts halt seed production in large trees.
- Venturing deep into the jungle, Ramón Pucha sometimes spends up to five days alone searching while his wife, Marlene Chiluisa, plants seeds and their son Jhoel prepares to succeed him.
- The family’s conservation struggle remains solitary with little outside support, while environmentalists warn that President Daniel Noboa’s decision to merge ministries threatens the landscape.
- Recognized by the ministry as a `living laboratory`, El Picaflor serves as a vital seed bank in a logged area while Ecuador’s `rights of nature` reputation faces risk.
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15 Articles
15 Articles
Seed guardians of the Amazon: A family’s solitary fight to save endangered plants
On a recent journey into the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle, Ramón Pucha realized he was being trailed. Fresh puma tracks now lined the path alongside his own footprints. Unfazed, he continued his trek, focused entirely on the precious cargo he carried — seeds from some of the world’s most endangered plant species.
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources15
Leaning Left3Leaning Right2Center9Last UpdatedBias Distribution64% Center
Bias Distribution
- 64% of the sources are Center
64% Center
L 22%
C 64%
14%
Factuality
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