From the Andes to the Amazon: preserving Ecuador’s water resources
By increasing global awareness of watershed issues in Ecuador, we hope to minimize the exploitation of the environment and the people who depend upon it.
Make your pledge to help preserve free-flowing rivers in Ecuador!
The ERI just launched its annual fundraiser on the Pledge platform. Make your PLEDGE now to help preserve free-flowing rivers in Ecuador. You can also text the key word ERI to 707070, to donate quickly on Pledge. The rivers in Ecuador are under unprecedented threats. Our annual fundraiser is essential to meet the growing financial needs of our river conservation efforts in Ecuador. We greatly appreciate the ongoing support provided by all of our generous donors to help preserve free-flowing rivers in Ecuador.
January 15 – 18, 2026
Tena, Napo province, Ecuador
WORLD CLASS JUNGLE WHITEWATER – CELEBRATING THE FREE-FLOWING JONDACHI!
The 12th annual Jondach Fest will be held
January 15 – 18, 2026
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Thank you for joining us to celebrate, honor, and promote the Jondachi River as an invaluable resource of global importance for tourism and natural heritage, in Ecuador.
¡Salvemos al Río Jondachi!
The Jondachi, one of the last remaining free-flowing tributaries to the Amazon and Ecuador’s premier kayaking destination, is threatened by poorly conceived hydroelectric development.
The Jondachi was slated to be dammed in January 2015. The Ecuadorian Rivers Institute’s legal defense of the Jondachi and the exposure generated by the first Jondachi Fest have effectively stalled out dam development…for the time being.
We need global support to continue fighting for this legendary and iconic river. Our goal is to secure a protected river designation for the Jondachi watershed, which will set an important precedent for future conservation of threatened rivers within the Amazon Basin.
The ERI’s defense of the Jondachi River represents a pioneering strategy for international river conservation, engaging local stakeholders and promoting a clear alternative for resource management by preserving the Jondachi as a wild and scenic, free-flowing ecological corridor from the Andes to the Amazon, and to the Atlantic Ocean.
Learn more about our efforts and the Jondachi River below:
Please do everything you can to stop this project. The losses and devastation it would create are so monumentally large and long term.
Great scenes of the Jondachi Fest and the gathering of local people and international kayakers, clearly showing the spirit of conservation and reaffirming it’s importance as both a cultural resource – core to the identity of local communities – and a world treasure in biodiversity and ecotourism!!!
I stay in 12/2016-1/2017 the first time in equador.I paddled the pia tua for 4 runs.
I like this river so much.Its one of the greatest river i saw ever.
Hope we could save this river for us and the next generations.
Jürgen from southgermany.
Que vivan los ríos libres 🙏