National parks and biodiversity conservation
The country boasts some fifty protected areas (including eleven national parks), representing almost 20% of its surface area. They protect areas with different climates and biotopes, ranging from the western coastal plains (Costa) to the Amazon basin (Oriente), via the Andes (sierra) and the Galapagos Islands.
Located south of Quito, in the Andes mountain range, Cotopaxi National Park protects remarkable biodiversity in a variety of biomes: rainforest, tundra, páramo (large herbaceous plains of the high plateau) and eternal snow. It is home to the world's highest active volcano, Cotopaxi, at 5,897 metres, which humanist scientist Alexander von Humboldt attempted to climb in 1802. Cotopaxi, like all equatorial glaciers, could disappear by the end of the century. The cause is global warming, which has already melted more than half the surface area of the country's seven glaciers.
Cajas National Park, also in the Andes, protects highland wetlands. Classified as a Ramsar site, it is home to a wide variety of birds and Inca vestiges, including a trail that can be followed for several kilometers.
Machalilla National Park, located on the coast and also classified as a Ramsar site for its remarkable wetlands, preserves exceptional biodiversity, including endangered species such as humpback whales and Galapagos albatrosses.
The country also boasts the Galapagos Islands National Park, located on the eponymous islands, whose endemic species helped Charles Darwin establish his theory of evolution during his exploration in 1835. In November 2021, former president Guillermo Lasso proposed an extension of almost half the surface area of the Galapagos Marine Reserve in exchange for a reduction in the country's debt. In 2022, this innovative proposal led to the extension of the park by some 60,000 km2 and the creation of "bonos azules", state loans whose capital is earmarked exclusively for ocean protection, from 2023 onwards. This operation was made possible thanks to the intervention of Credit Suisse, which simultaneously repurchased over $800 million of the country's foreign debt. The idea is to create an ecological corridor with other protected areas in neighbouring countries, in order to protect the migration of marine species, among other things.
In the Amazonian part of the country, the Yasuni National Park stands out. A UNESCO biosphere reserve, the park is one of the world's 19 "megabiodiversity" regions. This exceptional territory, where indigenous communities have managed to coexist in a balanced way with non-humans, is however threatened by oil extraction. Former president Rafaël Corréa initiated a project between 2007 and 2013 to protect the area from oil exploitation, in exchange for an international financial contribution (Yasuní-ITT initiative). Following insufficient fund-raising, oil extraction was finally implemented. Indigenous communities, whose worldview is based on a human-non-human continuum (as shown by anthropologist Philippe Descolan, who lived with the Achuar for several years), have managed to maintain a balance with all living things. Today, the Achuar are involved in a number of development projects, including ecotourism in the Kawapi area and a Naku health center for the Sapara. Also worth noting is the Cuencas Sagradas initiative, in partnership with indigenous organizations and the Pachamama Foundation, to set up a zone protected from all exploitation. In 2023, this initiative led to a referendum confirming the ban on mining the Yasuni subsoil.
When agriculture and livestock farming threaten living things
Intensive, export-oriented agriculture (flowers, bananas, palm oil, etc.) is a threat to both biodiversity and the climate. They lead to deforestation, the segmentation of natural environments by road construction, and land degradation by chemical inputs. Deforestation exacerbates global warming and promotes soil erosion and impoverishment. Pesticide-laden runoff contributes to the contamination of natural environments. Industrial shrimp farming, for its part, contributes to the destruction of mangroves, which are reservoirs of biodiversity, store carbon, protect groundwater and act as barriers against coastal erosion. This type of farming also leads to over-fishing of fish... to feed the shrimps. These activities, which take place at the expense of food crops, also threaten the country's food sovereignty. The economic system in place does not favor peasant farming, granting tax advantages to large-scale farmers. For example, palm oil exporters are exempt from foreign exchange export taxes. However, it is worth noting that alternative projects based on agroecology, driven by local populations and supported by NGOs, are spreading throughout the country.
Extraction and energy at the heart of the struggles
The Amazon basin is a battleground between defenders of Mother Earth and promoters of extractivism. Although the country enshrined the rights of Mother Earth (Pachamama) and buen vivir in its Constitution in 2008, the reality on the ground is more fluid. To cite just one example, the Huaorani community, led by the emblematic figure of Nemonte Nenquimo (Goldman Prize for the Environment 2020), was able to win its case against an oil company in 2019, following a complaint of land and air contamination by flares (447 flares are said to be operating within the territory in question). The local courts ruled in the community's favor, banning all operations in the area. In 2021, Ecuador will ratify the Escazu Agreement, the first environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to oil exploitation, mining projects (open-pit gold mines) and hydroelectric dams threaten ecosystems and local populations. The construction of wind turbines has led to the over-exploitation of balsa, the wood used in wind turbine blades. Here too, progress has been made, with the creation of a sustainable balsa wood industry by a Huaroanis cooperative.
