WWF Ecuador and Ceiba Support Green Recovery Efforts with GRRT Training

The April 16, 2016 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck northern Ecuador impacting the coastal provinces of Esmeraldas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Guayas, Santo Domingo and Los Ríos. The most severely impacted province was Manabí, where approximately 35% of homes were damaged or destroyed. Overall, it is estimated that 720,000 people were impacted by the earthquake and over 29,000 displaced.

In response to the disaster, WWF Ecuador supported relief efforts and is providing guidance on environmentally responsible approaches to recovery. As a part of this effort, WWF Ecuador and The Ceiba Foundation for Tropical Foundation held a four-day training on the Green Recovery & Reconstruction: Training Toolkit for Humanitarian Aid (GRRT)—the first training of this kind in Ecuador. The training was provided with support from WWF teams in the US and Guatemala (in Guatemala, WWF has translated the GRRT to Spanish and has conducted several GRRT trainings with communities, NGOs, and government agencies).

The Ecuador GRRT training brought together community members, officials from the Ministry of Housing and Development, the Red Cross, engineers, and representatives from local nongovernmental and community organizations to learn practical skills for improving  earthquake recovery and reconstruction efforts by eliminating or reducing negative environmental impacts.

The training covered all 10 GRRT modules, with a special focus on:

·         Opportunities for Green Recovery and Reconstruction

·         Construction

·         Water and Sanitation

·         Livelihoods

The training drew from participants’ experiences and discussions included alternative building materials, such as bamboo, and alternative livelihoods, like agroforestry for coffee cultivation. This training was the first in a series of green recovery activities, and succeeded in bringing together a diverse group of participants prompting them to collectively begin to reimagine how to improve development outcomes while also contributing to disaster risk reduction.