El léxico es una herramienta para darle al proyecto su propio lenguaje. Al nombrar los conceptos que surgen en Olón Yaku, hacemos visibles los valores y prácticas que lo sostienen. No son palabras abstractas, sino términos que nacen de la experiencia comunitaria y del territorio.

It is a strategy to balance conservation and economy. The project seeks alternatives to mass tourism, focusing on care for the environment and long-term viability. Sustain emerges through the project’s relation with the community

From the meeting we noted that sustainability in Olón Yaku is not a generic idea but a practice of “sostener” — to hold, to support. It links economy, conservation, and community assemblies that ensure continuity.

Una Minga es una práctica viva (de origen Quechua) que articula el trabajo colectivo, la reciprocidad y el cuidado del territorio. En la Minga cada quien aporta lo que puede: tiempo, saberes, materiales o cuidado, para construir algo que pertenece a todos, donde la reciprocidad y la colaboración se vuelven modos de aprendizaje.

Una Minga contiene capas de sentido cultural, político y relacional que se transforma con cada lugar que la pone en práctica. En Olón Yaku, la minga es el corazón del Bosque Escuela, una manera de construir y sostener el espacio entre todos. A través de la Minga, el aprendizaje sucede haciendo, y la comunidad se forma en el acto de trabajar lado a lado. En otros territorios, la Minga se ha convertido en una forma de resistencia: una manera en que las comunidades afirman su autonomía y defienden su territorio, sus saberes y su derecho a decidir juntas.

ENG

A Minga is a living practice (of Quechua origin) that weaves together collective work, reciprocity, and care for the territory. In a Minga, each person contributes what they can: time, knowledge, materials, or care, to create something that belongs to everyone, where reciprocity and collaboration become ways of learning.

A Minga carries layers of cultural, political, and relational meaning, its meaning shifting with each place that enacts it. In Olón Yaku, Minga is the heartbeat of the Forest School, a way to build and sustain the space together. Through minga, learning happens through doing, and community takes shape in the act of working side by side. In other spaces, it has also become a form of resistance: a way for communities to affirm autonomy and defend their lands, their knowledge, and their right to decide together.

“I only protect what I know.” Knowledge here is not only academic information, but shared experience with the forest. It is built by walking trails, recognising animal tracks, naming species, recalling local wisdom, and passing it on through generations. The project understands that to care for a territory one must first learn to feel and inhabit it. Environmental education becomes a daily practice. Knowledge acts as a bridge between community and nature, and as the seed of long-term conservation.

In the meeting, this phrase was lifted directly from the interview. It crystallises the educational dimension of Olón Yaku: conservation cannot happen without knowledge, and knowledge emerges from embodied, everyday encounters with the forest.

Más que una administración formal, se entiende como cuidado compartido del territorio. En Olón Yaku surge desde prácticas comunitarias como la minga y desde la transmisión de conocimiento: cada persona que aprende a reconocer el bosque se convierte en guardián del mismo

Durante la reunión, relacionamos esto con la noción de parentesco de Donna Haraway. La administración responsable aquí no es una gestión verticalista, sino una corresponsabilidad: tejer lazos de cuidado entre las personas y los seres no humanos del bosque.

ENG

More than formal management, it is understood as shared care of the territory. At Olón Yaku it emerges from community practices like the minga and the transmission of knowledge: each person who learns to recognise the forest becomes a guardian of it

During the meeting we linked this to Donna Haraway’s notion of kinship. Stewardship here is not top-down management but corresponsibility: weaving bonds of care between people and non-human beings in the forest.

How can a project maintain a balance between conservation, community and economy without falling into extractivist logic?

"la minga entendida como trabajo colectivo propio de las comunidades andinas en el desarrollo de la infraestructura turística de base comunitaria. .... a través de las mingas y otras formas de organización y trabajo colectivo, las comunidades estudiadas han propuesto formas de turismo sustentable y autónomo." Ruiz, Hernández, Coca, Cantero y Campo (2008)

La minga como experiencia política y organizativa (Lopez Cortez 2018)

Sustain names both collective resistance and the material, economic and communal fabric that enables a project to endure. Who is involved in this process? And can these groups operate under the notion of a Minga?

Ante el peligro constante de la deforestación del bosque natural en Olón, Ecuador, el proyecto Bosque Escuela Olón Yaku busca precisamente eso: que la comunidad local conozca, explore y aprenda del bosque para reconocerlo como parte de su vida cotidiana. Solo a través de esa experiencia directa, de escuchar, tocar y comprender el entorno, puede surgir un verdadero sentido de pertenencia y cuidado.

Amid the constant threat of deforestation in the natural forest of Olón, Ecuador, the project Bosque Escuela Olón Yaku seeks precisely that: to encourage the local community to know, explore, and learn from the forest so they can recognize it as part of their everyday life. Only through direct experience, listening, touching, and understanding the environment, a true sense of belonging and care emerges.

Un ejemplo concreto es el movimiento #KimsakochaNoSeToca, que se desarrolla en Cuenca, Ecuador. Este movimiento busca proteger la laguna de Kimsakocha, un espacio natural y cultural que forma parte de la identidad local. Gracias a la participación activa de la comunidad, conociendo el lugar, aprendiendo sobre su valor ecológico y cultural, y tomando acción directa, se fortalece un vínculo de pertenencia que motiva su defensa y conservación. Aquí, como en cualquier espacio que nos importa, solo aquello que conocemos y sentimos cercano se protege de verdad.

(ENG) We are not only talking about architecture or public spaces: this idea also applies to our communities, our forests, our streets, and the movements around us.
When we get to know, explore, and experience something, we begin to feel it as our own. That closeness sparks care and commitment, as seen in protecting a park, defending a right, or supporting a collective project.
The unknown leaves us indifferent; the familiar moves us to act.

A concrete example is the #KimsakochaNoSeToca movement, taking place in Cuenca, Ecuador. This movement aims to protect Kimsakocha Lagoon, a natural and cultural space integral to the local identity. Through active community participation, getting to know the place, learning about its ecological and cultural value, and taking direct action, a sense of belonging is strengthened, motivating its defense and conservation. Here, as in any space that matters to us, only what we know and feel close to is truly protected.

• ¿Qué espacios o lugares en tu ciudad sientes que realmente son tuyos y por qué crees que los cuidas?

• ¿De qué manera conocer y vivir un lugar puede motivar a las personas a protegerlo, ya sea un parque, un bosque o un derecho social?

(ENG) We truly care for what we know and feel close to. This applies to our neighborhoods, parks, forests, and social movements.

• Which spaces or places in your city do you feel truly belong to you, and why do you take care of them?

• How can knowing and experiencing a place motivate people to protect it, whether it’s a park, a forest, or a social cause?