Each year, Big Canopy Campout selects a grassroots organisation to focus all fundraising efforts on.
Money raised from sales of custom BCC products, campout events and personal donations are collected over one year to support the work of those dedicated to protecting native forests.
At the heart of BCC is connection and communication and we make every effort to tell the stories as they are told from the people on the frontline of resistance.
Fundraising for Forests
BIG CANOPY CAMPOUT IS WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES FOR 2024
OUR 2023 CAMPAIGN
For the past three years, BCC campaigned for the SËRA Foundation, a group of indigenous youth forest defenders of Siekopai nationality from the community of Siekoya Remolino in the Ecuadorian Amazon. We were honoured to support these remarkable young leaders in their struggle to protect their ancestral lands and culture from extractive industries, such as oil and palm oil.
In 2023, BCC supported the SËRA Foundation by funding an expedition of professional tree climbers and herbalists to share skills, knowledge and techniques requested by the community to create sustainable sources of income and improve food sovereignty.
“While Indigenous people represent less than 5% of the population, they safeguard 80% of the planets biodiversity within their territories yet make up 40% of the total environmental defenders killed worldwide.”
Global Witness, 2020
Once living across an immense 7-million-acre territory that stretched from Ecuador into Colombia and Peru, the Siekopai are an indigenous nationality whose number has dwindled from 30,000 to just 1600. They currently survive in a 50,000-acre fragment of rainforest, surrounded by oil exploitation and oil-palm monoculture plantations.
Due to increasing environmental issues such as contamination and logging, vital food sources are becoming scarce. The Siekoya Remolino community is under enormous pressure to fell its forest to make way for oil-palm plantations. In order to keep resisting financial offers from extractive companies, alternative sustainable sources of income are urgently needed.
To resolve the dual challenges of food security and sustainable income, the Siekopai are turning to the plants and trees within their territory. With traditional uses for over 1000 medicinal plants, the Siekopai have an encyclopedic knowledge of local flora.
One solution is the morete palm (Mauritia flexuosa), a native and keystone species that takes up to 20-25 years to mature. Its fruits can be used to make a wide variety of products such as juices, jams, desserts and oils for cooking and skincare. Morete products are in high demand in Ecuador, as the fruit is known for its delicious flavour and medicinal qualities.
Plants of Resistance
The Siekopai’s Story
While the morete palm grows abundantly in the Siekopai territory, the tree is tall and has no branches, making the fruit difficult to pick.
In the interests of conserving their territory, the residents of Siekoya Remolino are unwilling to fell the trees, leaving the fruit unharvested; an untapped and valuable resource.
This project will train members of the Siekoya Remolina community to climb the palms, allowing for abundant, safe and sustainable harvests into the future. Products made with the fruit will be used for consumption within the community and external sale.
Past campaigns
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After the success of our 2021 & 22 campaigns, BCC are delighted to continue supporting the SËRA Foundation in 2023.
This year we will focus on raising funds to help create a sustainable source of income for the community to continue to live in harmony within the forest.
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In 2020 BCC were DELIGHTED to support Bob Brown Foundation and join them in the fight to protect one of the last remaining areas of temperate rainforest in the world, takayna / Tarkine.
As a constant source of inspiration since BCC began in 2017, Bob Brown Foundation continue to encourage the community of forest ambassadors with their consistent and determined frontline action protecting the environment.
Their grassroots activism based on a solid foundation of science and research is exactly the kind of organisation that BCC wishes to stand alongside in our bid to promote people and projects protecting the future of our forests.
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In 2017 Big Canopy Campout was created in response to a World Land Trust project protecting primary rainforest in Borneo. For the next two years BCC raised funds towards the preserving of these natural habitats.
World Land Trust (WLT) is an international conservation charity that protects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats.
Working through a network of partner organisations around the world, WLT funds the creation of reserves and provides permanent protection for habitats and wildlife.
Do you have a story you’d like to share?
We are always looking to share stories from those working to protect our native forests and all that live amongst them. Whether it’s a story of ongoing resistance, success, disappointment or hope please get in touch so we can support, feature and share your work.