“In Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, solar-powered boats are a boon for the trees”, 2 December 2023

Since 2016, the Indigenous Achuar people have navigated a fleet of solar-powered boats along the Amazonian waters of eastern Ecuador, enabling them to sell wares at markets, carry out administrative tasks in cities, monitor for illegal loggers, ferry around wildlife-spotting tourists and study at school…

The project, set up by the Ecuadorian nonprofit Kara Solar and staffed on the ground by Achuar people, is a showcase for sustainable infrastructure development in the Amazon rainforest, an ecosystem that is quickly disappearing amid road-building and development…

Since the turn of the century, Ecuador has lost about 2.3 million acres of tree cover, which is about 5% of its previous total…

"Mining, logging and extraction of natural resources like oil require the building of roads, which cause pollution, deforestation and brings outsiders that can dilute local cultures," says Sofía Jarrín Hidalgo, Ecuador adviser for the non-profit Amazon Watch…

To date, Kara Solar has built six electric boats – serving nine communities and hundreds of passengers along 60 miles of routes in Ecuador…

The project began with a decade of discussions with Achuar communities before the first solar boat set sail, and is still led and inspired by the Indigenous groups…