On Sunday, 10 June 2018, the El Zorzal Private Reserve in Duarte province was awarded the coveted Atabey Award in the category conservation. The award was received by brothers Jaime, Jesus and Ana Angelica Moreno and El Zorzal director, Sesar Rodríguez during the awards ceremony held at the National Theater.
The Atabey award recognized the efforts of foreign and Dominican investors to develop the country’s first private reserve with a business focus. The Moreno family of Helados Bon-fame had already created the structure for the public Quita Espuela scientific reserve nearby. Taking advantage of the knowledge acquired in reserve management, the family took the step to purchase a large tract of land from the Ortega family to implement a model that allowed for conservation and farm production at the same time. The objective is that the pilot program can be replicated elsewhere in the country.
On Monday, 11 June 2018, El Zorzal cacao buyer, Erica Gilmour from Canada, visited to meet with the small-scale farmers that make all the difference in her award winning chocolate. Gilmour, owner together with her spouse Drew of the Hummingbird Chocolate of Canada, came to see for herself how cacao is farmed, harvested and processed at El Zorzal.
The taste of the El Zorzal organic cacao convinced jurors at the London Academy of Chocolate to award her the silver medal in 2016 and the coveted Golden Bean for the Hispaniola bar in 2017. “The idea of combining conservation with production is wonderful,” the chocolate maker told Diario Libre when interviewed during her visit. On both occasions, Hummingbird was competing with 15 global prestige chocolates, including Akesson’s from England, Amedei from Italy and Michel Cluizel from France.
“I do not know another model of this nature. This is the kind of initiative that we must replicate around the world,” said Gilmour, fascinated by the work carried out by the farmers and organizations operating in the reserve.
El Zorzal Private Reserve is a 1,019-acre bird sanctuary that belongs to the National System of Protected Areas of the Dominican Republic. It is located in the Cordillera Septentrional and has an extension of 7,000 tareas (1 tarea = 629 square meters). 30% of its entire territory is dedicated to the production of organic cacao.
The project also generates revenue through the sale of carbon bonds through the Plan Vivo program – funded by the Scottish capital foundation Plan Vivo – a financial mechanism that seeks to take advantage of the carbon produced in areas adjacent to the reserve legally owned by small scale producers.
The reserve is named for El Zorzal, the tiny Bicknell Thrush bird (Catharus bicknelli) that every year migrates from northeastern USA. The Moreno family convinced Jamie Phillips, president of the Eddy Foundation, to invest in the project and create the public-private reserve. Phillips continues actively involved.
The project is developed on findings from the doctoral thesis of Charles Kerchner that sought to create a better wintering habitat for the Bicknell thrush while creating a sustainable market for farmers. Kerchner is now a cacao buyer himself and active in bringing business deals from abroad to the reserve.
Sesar Rodríguez, director of the Dominican Environmental Consortium (CAD, is the private reserve director, bringing to the project the vast connections and experience in environmental works in the country.
Read more:
Diario Libre
Ontario East
Hummingbird Chocolate
El Zorzal Reserve
Legacy CEPF
18 June 2018
