In Ecuador, 137 areas have been identified that are key to the conservation of global biodiversity. One of the parameters they have in common is that they house unique or endangered species. As they are endemic, that is, they are not found anywhere else, their loss adds up to the countdown to the affectation of the planet’s ecosystems.
As a society, is there a national awareness of being part of the list of the 17 most megadiverse countries in the world and of the responsibility to preserve all that biodiversity?
David Parra, a researcher at the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation, indicates that non-governmental organizations (NGOs), like the one he works for, and even some communities try to complement state protection policies for biodiversity. “Each bit of forest is a whole world, but in general I think we are a bit schizophrenic, because on the one hand we have very good legislation, including the issue of rights of nature, I don’t know of another country with such a good legal basis, but with serious problems of application of this regulation. From the State there are successes, but other decisions go in the opposite direction, ”he replies.
During the last decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, it was possible to conserve very important areas that are not within the national system of protected areas, says Parra, with awareness-raising processes and de facto protection measures, because they are not framed by law.
“We have few pieces left compared to what there was, but now the threat is the policy of promoting mining and even oil exploitation. In the 1970s and 1980s (of the 20th century) the biggest obstacle was the expansion of the agricultural frontier, the Law on (Baldías and) Colonization Lands, which are not so bad anymore, but there are new threats”, acknowledges the specialist.
The 137 areas that are within the national territory and are key to global biodiversity will be evaluated by a group of experts from various NGOs. The objective is also to add other areas to this list that are already threatened. The first step to preserve them is for them to be identified by science.
60% of those already included are within the national system of protected areas, says Parra, and of the rest (40%) some are part of private reserves, are protected by communities, are indigenous territories or are conserved by the Decentralized Autonomous Governments ( GAD).
“When the analysis is finished, there will be more than two hundred key sites for world biodiversity that are in the country. They are places with conservation priority, it does not matter who actually manages them, the issue is to preserve them”, says Parra.
The most threatened ecosystems and those that are rich in biodiversity are in the northwest of Ecuador. “The little that remains in Esmeraldas is unprotected at the mercy of the loggers, except for a few small pieces that are in private reserves or on the edges of the Cotacachi-Cayapas and Mache-Chindul ecological reserves.”
A similar situation exists in the provinces of Pichincha and Imbabura, according to Parra. “Another critical area is what remains in the coastal ranges like Chongón-Colonche. All dry forests in general are very poorly protected.”
The third large block that has biodiversity in danger is in the south of the country, in the provinces of El Oro, Loja and Zamora Chinchipe, which are home to dry, cloudy and Amazonian forests. “A fourth and last is the foothills on both sides of the Andes, because new roads have recently been opened that cause the loss of biodiversity.”
The reappearance of species thought to be extinct, such as the jambato toad (Atelopus ignescens) rediscovered in the province of Cotopaxi after 30 years of being considered missing, is one of the factors taken into account when establishing key areas for global biodiversity.
The ultimate goal of the evaluation underway, says Jorge Rivas, conservation director of WWF (acronym in English that corresponds to the World Wide Fund for Nature) Ecuador, is to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss by 2030. “In this theme we all have a role. As citizens we must reduce the ecological footprint by changing consumption habits, especially those that lead to food waste. Generating it requires energy, carbon, water, and there is a loss in production, transportation, in the markets and even at home”.
Conservation also requires financing, because the communities that conserve, as in the case of indigenous territories, need state support. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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