BCC 2024 Update
2024 is more than half way through, it’s been three months since our appearance at the Deutsche Baumpflegetage in Augsburg, and despite us taking a bit of a step back from things this year, it has been an eventful year nonetheless. Our annual campout event is on hold for the year, along with our usual fundraising activities, but there have been many important developments keeping us busy as we follow up on the Siekopai project and explore avenues to set up a sustainable future for Big Canopy Campout.
We were delighted to hear that construction of the Siekoya Remolino rainforest laboratory can finally begin, and that the necessary licences and permissions have been acquired. Understandably these sorts of preparations take time, especially given the challenging location of the Siekoya community, and alongside this there has been a process involved in agreeing upon the exact location where the lab is to be built.
As the Siekopai will be producing and storing products with the intention to sell, there are certain requirements in regards to electricity and water supply which have proved somewhat challenging given the community’s location in the jungle. Over the past months the community have come together to decide upon a location where the lab can benefit as many people as possible, whilst also working within the parameters dictated by Ecuadorian hygiene laws.
Now that a location has been agreed, we have sent the remaining $12,000 which shall go directly towards the building costs. Juan Arcos, a distillation expert who has been working closely with the Siekoya community, was instrumental in securing a funding grant for an additional $3,000 which bumps the overall funds up to $15,000. This sum of money will cover the building costs, and ensure that standards are met whereby the laboratory is suitable for purpose. The jungle environment in which the Siekopai live, being such a rich and immersive ecosystem, can make this kind of sterile environment difficult to maintain, and limited water and electricity supplies exacerbate the challenges of this greatly. It is possible, however, for this to be achieved, and with the funds provided the community can build a laboratory which overcomes the challenges of the location, and can house the equipment they need to put into practice their aspirations for herbal work, establishing a source of revenue by utilising the flora of their local environment in a sustainable way.
While Bex has been keeping in touch about the herbal side of things, Vicki has been getting updates from the Siekoya climbing team, and passing on photos and videos of their progress to the rest of the expedition team. The Siekopai climbers who were trained during our 2023 expedition continue to practice and share their arboriculture techniques, instructing others in the community and connecting with other South American tree climbers. We’re delighted to receive photos and videos of community members gaining more and more confidence in the various techniques and seeing the climbers grow in confidence using the gear which we left with them. Confidence has grown to such a degree that the Siekopai tree climbing team has been teaching others in the community some basic techniques, sharing the joy of accessing the canopy with the security that the equipment provides them.
KËNAPUTIYO Grupo Escaladores
Since the expedition last September, the Siekoya Remolino tree climbers have established the very first Amazonian tree climbing group (KËNAPUTIYO Grupo Escaladores, where climbers from different parts of South America can connect and collaborate, allowing an increasing number of indigenous climbers to bolster their skills and safety in the trees.
They have been reaching out further afield, and have created opportunities to collaborate with other indigenous communities in different parts of the jungle who have been trained, in some capacity, to use Western rope access techniques and equipment. The goal of this collaboration is to adapt and fine-tune the techniques to better suit the types of trees which they find themselves climbing. Since the expedition last September, the Siekoya Remelino tree climbers have established the very first Amazonian tree climbing group, where climbers from different parts of South America can connect and collaborate, allowing an increasing number of indigenous climbers to bolster their skills and safety in the trees.
Ceibo Tree
Climbing a 50m+ Ceibo tree over 500 years old for the first time!
Earlier this year we were delighted to premier our documentary, Climbing Through Cultures with Siekoya Remolino, at the Deutsche Baumpflegetage Kletterforum. Soon after this we began to submit it to film festivals around the world, and so far we have been officially selected for two this year, Inheritance Festival and INKAFEST. The audience in Augsburg comprised of many of our supportive BCC community, and many of our sponsors, and so it was very important to us that the documentary showcasing the work of the expedition be shown there before anywhere else. Now that the documentary has premiered, however, we are eager to show it to audiences who may not be as familiar with Big Canopy Campout, nor the Siekoya Remonlino community.
Climbing Through Cultures
Later in the year, from the 21st October till the 26th, INKAFEST will be celebrating 20 years of their mountain film festival in Arequipa City, Peru, and have selected Climbing Through Cultures to be shown on one of these days.
First up is Inheritance, a film festival showcasing environmental-themed films on TV channels in England and Northern Ireland, with a live-stream available on their website. Climbing Through Cultures had its first Inheritance showing on the 18th July, and is scheduled in again for the 27th. This is a fantastic opportunity for our UK based supporters to check out the full documentary, and get an insight into last year’s expedition. Later in the year, from the 21st October till the 26th, INKAFEST will be celebrating 20 years of their mountain film festival in Arequipa City, Peru, and have selected Climbing Through Cultures to be shown on one of these days. This is very exciting for us, as it could spur greater awareness of the plight of the Siekopai to a predominantly South American audience. We eagerly await the decisions of more film festivals from around the world, and with these two upcoming festivals we now have an even greater platform to spread word of the ongoing plight of the Siekopai. Each and every opportunity which comes our way to help share the Siekopai story with the world are also opportunities to showcase the incredible ingenuity of the Siekoya Remonlino Community to fight back and secure a future for themselves on their own terms.