Ecuador
This map shows the Condor Bioreserve, including the national parks and protected areas in Ecuador.
The Compendium of "Studies of EIA Practice in Developing Countries" is a companion volume to the UNEP Environmental Impact Assessment Training Resource Manual. It contains a series of case studies of EIA (and elements of SEA) practice in developing and transitional countries. The case studies have been prepared by EIA specialists from developing countries to exemplify how the EIA...
CONDESAN (Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion) is a 10-year-old group of more than 70 organisations — national and international, public and private, and including universities, Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) centres, development NGOs, research institutions, government agencies, municipalities and producer associations. A key...
Data from legal records, management plans, and interviews with 63 local experts reveal the substantial expansion of 15 protected areas (PAs) of forest in Ecuador and Peru during the last two decades. Combining results for these PAs, the area under protection increased by over half, from 5,760,814 to 8,972,896 ha, with the Amazonian PAs adding the greatest expanse. Most of this expanded land...
The tropical Andes region has extraordinary biological diversity with considerable endemism. The complex topography, climate, geology, and biogeographic history of the Andes have helped create a high turnover in species over distance and along steep environmental gradients. The humid montane and premontane forests of the tropical Andes compete with the lowland Amazonian forests in species...
A live fences project in Ecuador sought to associate the idea of environmental recovery, characterised by an agro-ecological focus, with a perspective on social and economic development. Cultivation of the Opuntia cactus and the cochineal insect (Dactylopus coccus), environmentally and culturally adapted to the region, permitted the recovery of several degraded areas and...
We estimated the above-ground net primary productivity of 5 semi-natural Andean pastures: 2 páramo grassland plots (430 and 512 g/m2/y), 2 plots in cleared montane forest (70 and 110 g/m2/y), and 1 in an intensive agricultural setting (1359 g/m2/y). The páramo and montane forest plots demonstrated very low productivity compared with the lowest...
Accelerated soil erosion is a common and environmentally destructive consequence of development, especially in mountain regions. Soil erosion is of special concern in agricultural lands, but agriculture is only one of many development activities that greatly accelerates soil erosion processes. Road building, trail use, excavation, extractive activities, and construction also can cause severe...
Andean landscapes are rich with examples of traditional land uses that have proven sustainable over centuries, contribute to biodiversity and other natural values, and are living examples of cultural heritage. These landscapes and the diverse array of values they represent are, however, exceedingly vulnerable. As countries in the region strengthen existing national systems of...

