Mimi Foyle, a U.S.-born fruit grower and conservationist, has lived and worked in the Andean Chocó región for five decades. She spent the first 11 of those years in the Colombian portion of the Chocó—a highly species-diverse biogeographic region that stretches from Panama through Colombia and Ecuador, where it runs from the Pacific lowlands onto the western slopes of the Andes. Since then she and her husband Jamie West have lived and worked in Pacto, a parish located 500 meters above sea level in the forested foothills of Ecuador’s Andean Chocó. There, she founded and co-owns a 31-hectare (77-acre) private natural area called the Río Guaycuyacu Reserve. The reserve produces 600 species of tropical fruits while stewarding 15 hectares (37 acres) of native forest. Foyle is a co-founder of the National Corporation of Forests and Private Reserves of Ecuador (CNBRPE). The CNBRPE is exploring carbon and tax credits as means of financing private reserves, few of which receive any government support. Foyle spoke recently with EcoAméricas correspondent Mercedes Alvaro.
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