More than 167,000 acres located in the Napo watershed in the central Amazon have been put into a conservation reserve by the Ecuadorian government and named the El Chaco Municipal Reserve. The watershed protection was achieved through collaboration with the government by the MacArthur-supported Nature and Culture International, which will now host training sessions for El Chaco representatives to further develop a watershed protection program that will focus on the management of conservation activities and funds. The area is home to six of Ecuador's 13 indigenous communities and faces threats that include deforestation, development, and erosion.
