Eco-Travel - Adventure Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands - page 63

Tropical Wet Forests
The western rainforests near the north coast and the Colombian bor-
der continue to provide habitat to some of the most diverse species in
all of Ecuador. Regionally, this area receives even more rainfall than
many parts of the upper Amazon Basin, and bird life is prolific. Many
sections have been transformed for agricultural development, but
such places as the Cotocachi-Caypas Ecological Reserve still provide
protection for large expanses of these biologically rich areas.
We lose over sixmillion acres of mountainous cloud forest cover, glob-
ally, every year. This is 1½ times faster than the global rate of tropical
deforestation. Ecuador contains seven million acres of cloud forest,
an area that provides virtually all of the water for local villages and
watersheds. Farmers annually cut down 126,000 acres of this total, or
1.7%, per year. In one particular Ecuadorian cloud forest, studies re-
vealed that in a six-month period, the vegetation gathers one million
gallons of water by intercepting Pacific Ocean mists. Over the same
period, a comparable deforested area converted to pasture collects
100,000 gallons. Deforestation has resulted in the drying up of entire
watersheds in many regions.
A few stunning forests remain intact and they are more than worth
visiting. These places are renowned for their birding, wildlife view-
ing, and photographic opportunities, which provides an economic al-
ternative for locals. Several coastal cloud forests continue to provide
habitat for spectacular animals such as the howler monkey and
jaguarundi, as well as the kinkajou, blue morpho butterfly, and a fab-
ulous array of bird species.
The Sierras
With the exception of private nature reserves, intact forests in the
highlands of Ecuador are few and far between. Agricultural use of
this land dates back to pre-Inca times in the earliest settled commu-
nities. The Andean countryside is now a quilted checkerboard of agri-
culture. Regardless, the snowcapped volcanoes of the Sierras are
awe-inspiring. And the páramo grasslands on the slopes of the moun-
tains remain relatively intact and are fascinating places to visit. Na-
tional parks such as Cotopaxi continue to protect native flora and
fauna in these areas.
Today'smajor threats to the human and natural environment include
litter, pollution, and refuse frommajor urban centers, along with un-
treated sewage effluent in the main watersheds. In addition, steady