Feria del Ambiente, Quito

Some photos from the first ever Feria del Ambiente in Quito June 14-17. FONAG (the organization with which I work, Fondo para la Protección del Agua) staffed a stand among other organizations throughout Quito and Ecuador that work on environmental issues.

Wonderfully, throughout Ecuador there are many organizations that concentrate on everything from air quality, trash collection, environmental education to reforestation, indigenous communities and university environmental studies. Unfortunately, not many work together to synchronize their efforts – they continue having their own isolated niches, whether thematically or geographically.

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Picture 1: A view from the second floor of the Feria (Centro de Exposiciones en Parque La Carolina). The blue truck with the balloons on the hood is FONAG's mobile education center - replete with posters, a giant puzzle, and other environmental education materials.

Picture 2: Some of the FONAG team. From left to right: Mattias (from France, working with FONAG and IRD on agricultural themes in Tabacundo, northeast of Quito), Veronica (local university student doing her thesis on hydrologic modeling in Cuenca de Río Pita), Galito (messenger/supporting manager for FONAG), Nicólas (half Ecuadorian-American, doing a brief internship on reforestation), Jaqueline (my in-country advisor), me! In front of us is a model of the Cuenca de Guayllabamba - the major river that passes through the Metropolitan District of Quito.