www.mobot.org | Research Home | Search | Contact | Site Map | |||||||
|
||||||||
QUICK SEARCH MO PROJECTS: Africa Asia/Pacific Mesoamerica North America South America General Taxonomy Photo Essays Training in Latin America MO RESEARCH: Wm. L. Brown Center Bryology GIS Graduate Studies Research Experiences for Undergraduates Imaging Lab Library MBG Press Publications Climate Change Catalog Fossil Plants MO DATABASES: W³MOST Image Index Rare Books Angiosperm Phylogeny Res Botanica All Databases INFORMATION: What's New? People at MO Visitor's Guide Herbarium Jobs & Fellowships Symposium Research Links Site Map Search |
In 2006, three new protected areas were declared by the Ministry of Environment in the Cóndor region, and the formally protected areas in the Ecuadorian part of the Cordillera del Cóndor now comprise more than 30,000 hectares. Except for the upper Río Nangaritza area, virtually all of the protected areas include only the sandstone plateaus. The western slopes of the Cordillera del Cóndor, with non-sandstone geological substrates and with vegetation types and floristic elements distinct from the sandstone plateaus, are almost all in private hands (although often without full legal title to the land) and are rapidly being deforested by local residents, to extract timber and establish cattle pastures. Conservation of the western slopes of the Cóndor, if it is to succeed, will require initiatives of the private or non-governmental sector. One initiative is being made by the copper mining company, EcuaCorriente, that is developing plans for a large-scale open-pit copper mine in an area of mineral-rich igneous rocks in the Río Quimi area. As compensation for the environmental impact of the copper mine, the company is planning to purchase and conserve a nearby area of intact forest that includes an altitudinal transect from the sandstone plateau summit at 2000 m elevation, down to the river valley bottom at 900 m, thereby protecting a full range of vegetation types on the western slopes of the Cóndor range.
|
|
||||||
© 1995-2024 Missouri Botanical Garden, All Rights Reserved 4344 Shaw Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63110 (314) 577-5100 |
Technical Support | |||||||