Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
struggle with issues associated with environmental poverty: problems
with water quality, sewage management, air pollution, industrial pollu-
tion, and municipal solid waste (Southgate et al. 1995). Sixty-two percent
of Ecuador's 13 million people are urban dwellers (World Bank 2006).
Ecuador is also useful to study because of its environmental richness.
Ecuador represents a “biodiversity hotspot.” Despite being a small
nation, about the size of Colorado or Nevada (283,560 square kilome-
ters), it has four distinct bioregions: the Galápagos Islands, the coast, the
sierra, and the Amazon. Scientists count it among the top ten megadi-
verse countries in the world on the basis of its high number of plant and
animal species, and its high number of endemic species. It contains over
20,000 plants, a fi fth of which are endemic. The small nation contains
10 percent of the world's plant species and 17 percent of the world's bird
species (Manosalvas et al. 2002).
Ecuador's rate of deforestation is 1.4 percent, higher than the average
rate in Latin America of 0.4 percent (World Bank 2006). In the period
from 1990 to 2000, Ecuador's forested area decreased from 43 to 38
percent (World Bank 2004). This is especially troubling to international
conservationists given Ecuador's high degree of biodiversity. They have
worked with nongovernmental organizations and the state to help
preserve lands. The percentage of land protected nationally is very high:
18 percent (compared to 11 percent in Latin America, and conservation-
ists' goal of 10 percent worldwide). However, the government has
permitted oil extraction and other environmentally damaging activities
within protected areas. This damages the ecosystem (soil and water
contamination) and risks the health of indigenous people living in the
Amazon region.
In addition to the socioenvironmental problems related to oil extrac-
tion in the Amazon basin, some of Ecuador's other problems include
destruction of mangroves due to shrimp farming, diffi culties stemming
from tourist development of the ecologically sensitive Galápagos Islands,
and environmental health problems caused by pesticides used in the
production of cut fl owers and by fumigation along the Colombia border,
which is part of the U.S. “Plan Colombia,” designed to eradicate coca.
While all of these problems affect both nature and humans, on a
spectrum some have a more direct and immediate impact on nature and
some a more direct and immediate impact on humans. For example,
deforestation has a more direct and immediate impact on animal ecosys-
tems and other areas of the natural world, while industrial pollution
in cities has a more direct and immediate impact on human health.
