The Need to Protect Global Forest Ecosystems

Widespread deforestation over the past half-century represents one of the most profound and rapid environmental impacts in the history of the planet. Globally, over 60 percent of temperate hardwood and mixed forests has been lost, along with 30 percent of conifer forests, 45 percent of tropical rainforests, and 70 percent of tropical dry forests. Since the 1980s, the average worldwide rate of clear-cutting (reducing local forests to 10 percent or less of their original cover) has been close to 1 percent per year.

The impact of this deforestation on biodiversity has been automatic and severe. As habitat shrinks, sustainable species numbers fall exponentially. Generally, the reduction of a habitat to one-tenth its original area eventually causes the fauna and flora to decline by about one-half. While, the removal of 90 percent of the habitat allows about half of the species to remain, the removal of the final 10 percent wipes out the remaining half.

Global Importance of Biodiversity and Biodiversity Conservation in Ecuador

Despite its relatively small size, Ecuador has a wide range of habitats, and is home to one of the most biologically diverse flora and faunas in the world, including a high percentage of endemic species. For this reason, Ecuador has been designated as one of the earth's 17 "mega-diverse" countries.

For example, Ecuador is home to over 1,600 species of birds, one of the richest avifaunas on Earth. Nowhere else is there such incredible avian diversity—17% of the world's total number of birds—found in such a small country.

In Ecuador (with 120,000 km2 of tropical forest remaining in 1990), the annual rate of deforestation between 1980-1990 was 1.98 % or 2,380km2 per year (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations). With deforestation occurring at such a rate, many of the habitats that are home to this biological diversity have become critically threatened. Ecuador is one of the highest world priorities for conservation initiatives because of the country's high biodiversity and endemism combined with its high rate of deforestation.

The increase of Ecuador's human population is leading to the colonization of many formerly wild and sparsely populated areas. With the spread of human activity comes an increasing amount of deforestation that is destroying many key habitats for wildlife.

The Existing Protected Areas System in Ecuador

What can be considered as the start of the modern conservation era in Ecuador began in the mid 1970s under the impetus of an internationally funded program to identify and protect representative samples of Ecuador's basic biogeographic regions. Prior to this, the only significant land-protection effort in Ecuador was focused on the Galápagos Islands, portions of which had been declared a national park as early as the early 1960s.

Under this program, Ecuador's system of major national parks and reserves was established: a series of large areas of intact or relatively intact habitat that, taken together, did indeed incorporate a fairly comprehensive and representative cross-section of Ecuador's ecological diversity. The system was basically in place by the early 1980s, though the actual protection and management usually did not commence until much later, and is still not totally effective in some areas. Very few areas have been added to the system in subsequent years.

This government-supported system of major parks and reserves represents a tremendous accomplishment. No less than 12% of Ecuador's territory has now been incorporated into the national system. Management issues and difficulties do exist in virtually every area, but thanks to this system, populations of most Ecuadorian bird species, including many sensitive and habitat-restricted ones, are protected.

Ecuador's national parks and reserves do not, however, adequately represent Ecuador's vast biodiversity. Note in particular the system's strong bias toward areas in the north and east. Only one unit, Podocarpus Nation Park, exists south of Cuenca. There is a reason for this: the original system was specifically designed to protect large areas of relatively intact habitat. The areas that were then set aside typically encompassed remote and inaccessible terrain; most of them still are. But such large areas simply did not exist in the more densely inhabited southern and western portions of Ecuador, not even in the 1970s. As a result, these sectors of the country - even then recognized as supporting imperilled biodiversity elements - tended to be passed over in the planning process. And they continue to be badly under-represented, with the result that many of Ecuador's bird species that are most at risk hang on in small patches of usually degraded, unprotected habitat.

The private sector, particularly NGOs, have begun to step forward in the interest of conserving Ecuador's biodiversity. The notable examples are Fundación Natura, Fundación Jatun Sacha, Fundación Maquipucuna, and Fundación Jocotoco. Each organization has now taken the lead in establishing small reserves for their biological values.

The efforts of some of these organizations has begun to focus specifically on the degree of threat to important, under-represented regions or species. One can thus envision a complementary system in which the government manages its large and often relatively remote protected areas, and the private sector fills in the gaps with a series of smaller, often more accessible reserves designed to protect species and ecosystems that otherwise would be left out. A representative sample of the more important privately owned reserves is given below.

• Bilsa Biological Station (sw. Esmeraldas)
• Buenaventura Reserve (s. El Oro)*
• Cabañas San Isidro (w. Napo)
• Cerro Blanco Reserve (w. Guayas)
• El Tundo Reserve (sw. Loja)
• Guandera Biological Reserve (se. Carchi)
• Jatun Sacha Biological Station (w. Napo)
• Loma Alta Ecological Reserve (w. Guayas)
• Maquipucuna Reserve (w. Pichincha)
• Pasochoa Reserve (cen. Pichincha)
• Río Canandé Reserve (s. Esmeraldas)*
• Río Palenque Scientific Station (s. Pichincha)
• Tapichalaca Reserve (s. Zamora-Chinchipe)*
• Tumbezia-La Ceiba Reserve (w. Loja)
• Utuana Reserve (s. Loja)*
• Yanacocha Reserve (cen. Pichincha)*
• Yunguilla Reserve (s. Azuay)*

* designates a Fundación Jocotoco reserve