CEANM is a self-financed organization and relies on the generosity of volunteers to improve facilities, maintain trails, and monitor the protected forest. CEANM also provides opportunities to volunteers to work for and with them for a fun and enriching way to appreciate the unique beauty of Mindo while living with a local family and experiencing Ecuadorian culture.
Stream along a trail in the Reserve.
Entering CEA via the tarabita over the Mindo River.
A trail in the Protected Mindo-Nambillo Cloud-Forest.
MISSION
The Corporación Ecológica, Amigos de la Naturaleza de Mindo (CEANM) is a non-government, non-profit organization, comprised of members of the community dedicated to conserve and to preserve the Protected Forest and Vegetation of the Mindo and Cordilleras Mountains of the Nambillo and its surrounding areas, in addition to improving the relationship between human beings and their natural surroundings, and in this way, develop new life alternatives. CEANM is found in the northeast of the Province of Pichincha in the Canton San Miguel de los Bancos in the Parish of Mindo, Ecuador.
CEANM will efficiently administer the goods of the Organization to attain economic sustainability, in addition to execute projects that benefit the Forest and its surrounding communities and that complement related projects with external funding.
CEANM will maintain a work group in the community that is dedicated, participative and capable and that shares the Mission, Vision, and values of the Organization.
We are from the community and work with members of the communities of Mindo, Lloa, and Nono with the support of the government, NGOs, academic institutions, and national and international cooperative bodies that share our interest in conservation and sustainable development of rural communities.
VISION
In 5 years, the Protected Mindo-Nambillo Cloud-Forest maintains its native species and is the most important natural area in Northeast Ecuador.
CEANM holds discussions concerning conservation that encourage the communities of Mindo, Lloa, and Nono and the owners of the Protected Cloud-Forest to get involved in the activities of ecotourism, scientific tourism, scientific investigation, and sustained management of natural resources of the forest such as medicinal plants and woods, in order to create new work opportunities in the communities.
Additionally, the children and youth form part of ecological clubs and continue to participate as members of the Corporación Ecológica, Amigos de la Naturaleza de Mindo CEANM) throughout their lives.
The communities of Mindo, Lloa, and Nono trust and maintain a good relationship with CEANM and thus become successful examples of conservation of natural areas, as recognized by NGOs, governmental and international bodies, and CEANM. The communities work with an advisory council where representatives from all of the sectors related to the Protected Mindo-Nambillo Cloud-Forest and its zones of influence can collaborate with one another.
CEANM offers informative tourist packets and recreational tourism, as well as investigates new opportunities for tourist attractions that exist in Mindo. CEANM will have increased its number of self-run projects and increased the economic potentiality of reforestation, in addition to managing the external resources from development organizations, thus working to maintain the economic sustainability of the Organization.
We have a work group that is comprised of people from Mindo, Lloa, and Nono who actively participate in all of our activities and share our Mission, Vision, and values. CEANM has formed alliances with environmental groups and our directive council is comprised of men and women of the community of Mindo.
Friends of Mindo 