Place we protect in Ecuador

Ecuador is a country merely the size of Nevada that harbors an incredible range of landscapes. The eastern slopes of the snow-capped Andes that bisect the country drop off into dense Amazonian forests, and its western slopes become coastal lowlands along the Pacific. Offshore, the famed Galapagos archipelago lies some 620 miles from the mainland.

Despite its relatively small size, Ecuador has nearly twice as many birds as the continental United States. The country also harbors more plant species than all of North America. Although protected areas cover more than 18% of the country, they don’t provide sufficient protection for all of Ecuador’s biological richness.

The Nature Conservancy began working in Ecuador in 1984. Collaborative conservation with partner organizations began in the Galapagos National Park. Since then, projects have expanded to include other marine areas and mainland regions of the country.
The Conservancy is supporting conservation efforts in Condor Bioreserve, a conservation management area that includes 6 million acres of biodiversity-rich páramos (high-altitude grasslands) and Andean and Amazonian forests that span seven protected areas as well as farms and ranches. The Conservancy is also working with partners in Podocarpus National Park, the only protected area in the southern Andean part of the country, which harbors more than 500 bird species.

Along the Pacific coast the Conservancy is working in the dry tropical forests of Ecuador. These highly threatened forests harbor many unique species due to the annual cycles of drought and rain to which they have had to adapt.

Strategies being applied across Ecuador include the creation of new protected areas and the strengthening of protected areas systems; collaborating with owners of private properties and indigenous communities to conserve biologically important areas on their lands; and working with policymakers and funding agencies to include biodiversity considerations in infrastructure development projects.