Low-cost, sustainable methods of revegetation for erosion control are implemented by  Ecuadorian Kichwa community using locally available materials  

Working in community, agrarian Kichwas of Cotopaxi province in the Ecuadorian Andes are using native trees and shrubs, wood stakes, locally-woven erosion mats, and rock supply to revegetate eroding slopes.  Erosion, caused by road construction, placement of water supply infrastructure, vegetation burning, and crop cultivation on steep inclines, is prevalent throughout many montane cloud forest areas.  Costs and lack of effective techniques have been barriers to corrective action.  In 2009, during Engineers Without Borders irrigation work, EWB members and villagers began discussion of erosion control projects.  The projects, jointly implemented in 2012 and 2013, included native tree and shrub plantings, installation of contour ditches to promote water infiltration, placement of erosion control mats, and installation of live-stake woody barriers and wind breaks.  Village students grew out 300 hundred native woody species from stake clippings.  The community built rock structures which included plunge pools, check dams, cross vanes, bank armoring, and toe walls.  Local education included field trips and class room instruction, distribution of booklets documenting appropriate native plants for erosion control, erosion control techniques, and the community’s project work.  During the 2015 EWB monitoring trip, most sites were in good to very good condition with very satisfactory plant growth and greatly increased soil stability.  Enma Sacatoro, a village woman and recent university graduate with a concentration in environmental protection, now directs revegetation for erosion control throughout a wider area.