Andean cloud forests are the world’s highest biodiversity priority, with the greatest number of endemic species. Many NCI conservation program focus on conserving these forests, a spectacular ecosystem with a great diversity of colorful tanagers, orchids and butterflies. Due to their geography and climate, southern Ecuador and northern Peru are among the most diverse areas within this priority ecosystem, and here NCI focuses its efforts to conserve this priority ecosystem.
NCI has several initiatives to work with local communities to create natural reserves. Near Zamora, we are assisting the Shuar communities of Yacuambi gain legal designation and ownership of their ancestral territories, covering 50,000 acres of virgin cloud forests. Further south along the Andes we work with two communities has led them to establish the Angashcola Community Reserve, which protects 3,500 acres of their cloud forests within the Colambo-Yacuri Protected Forest of 180,000 acres. More recently, we are working with the Ecuadorian government to demarcate Forest Patrimony throughout southern Ecuador, which may potentially protect 227,000 acres of land.
In northern Peru, we are supporting the Peruvian Association for the Conservation of Nature (APECO) to strengthen management of the Río Abiseo National Park, Alto Mayo Protective Forest and Cordillera de Colán Reserve, that together protect one million acres of pristine cloud forests. We are also working to conserve the highly biodiverse remnants of the western-slope Andean cloud forests at Cuyas and Aypate, where we work with local communities for its protection, establishing conservation programs and increasing awareness.
Regarding science, since 1997, NCI and the German Research Fund (DFG) have been working in partnership on one of the most important scientific programs sponsored by the German government outside of Germany, at the San Francisco Scientific Station located in the cloud forests of southern Ecuador. Research conducted at the station during its first ten years has recorded a number of biodiversity records, reaffirming the importance for conservation in this region.
NCI, in cooperation with local governments and other institutions, supports the creation of the Podocarpus - El Cóndor Biosphere Reserve. The Reserve would enclose portions of the Amazonian, Andean, and Páramo forests, as well as regions home to the indigenous Shuar and Saraguro cultures. This area is rich with natural resources, and a place where sustainable development is still possible. Recognizing the environmental importance of these forests, NCI has also worked to protect this region's watersheds--the primary sources of water for the surrounding cities and towns.
