{"id":6512,"title":"The Inspirational Tale of Omar Tello","description":"The former Bank Accountant in Ecuador who decided to protect our planet by regrowing the Rainforest....in his garden.","content":"

Our planet needs pioneers. People with a vision, a dream, and the determination to pursue it for the benefit of the natural world. This blog is about one person who is 'un' paving the way for others.<\/p>

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This is an inspiring and beautiful story we learned recently about 63yr old Omar Tello. A former bank accountant in Ecuador who bought some farmland to grow something for himself. A rainforest.<\/p>

What we are doing now to preserve nature isn't enough. We should plant the forests we destroyed and give back what we took from the world - Omar Tello.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Omar Tello was uninspired and unfulfilled as a bank accountant and his job had \"become like a prison\" to him. He had grown up as a boy surrounded by nature and in love with the forest. and in 1980 he had a wild idea. He decided to buy a piece of pasture land and give it back to the rainforest and has since spent over 40 years turning a baron seven hectare area of grazed land back into a thriving, biodiverse oasis of pristine forest, fulfilling an ambition which is ongoing today.<\/p>

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Frustrated and saddened by the continual deforestation of the Amazon, Omar began his project by working every hour around his job at the bank, seeing little of his young family. Firstly he re-fertilised the soil on his land with free, waste sawdust from the local town. Then with his brother, travelled far and wide to areas of the Amazon being deforested where he harvested precious seeds and saplings to save, nurture and plant in his rainforest. He now has thousands of flourishing species of plants and trees which has in turn, encouraged wildlife to inhabit his forest. His land may only be several hundred metres in length and width but now provides habitat for thousands of species of insects, over 400 species of spider, an increasing number of monkeys, pythons and even a rare species of Glass frog.<\/p>

It has been a labour of love and continual education for Omar, which he now passes onto his grandchildren in the hope they will continue his work.<\/p>

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This isn't the end of the story though. Omar has proved that we can successfully reforest previously farmed land. He is the first to do so and is now passing on his knowledge to other farmers in Ecuador who are keen to restore their land through a scheme called Humans For Abundance<\/a> set up by Maria Jose Iturralde. This scheme is funded by any people in society who care about the future of the planet. These local farmers believe in the need to preserve the forests so rather than farm their land with crops or cattle for a living, they are paid through donations to restore their land to rainforest. Maria doesn't refer to this project as a charity, she calls it an \"ecoservice\" and likens it to paying someone to clean your house, just on a much larger scale where the \"house\" is our planet.<\/p>

Humans For Abundance has a far better chance of success thanks to Omar passing on his experience and knowledge. All of it derived from his love for the wildlife, the rainforest and the crazy idea he had 40 years ago.<\/p>

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