Bolivar Provincial Conservation Area Safeguards Water from Ecuador’s Highest Glacier

Andes Amazon Fund applauds the creation of a new conservation area in Ecuador’s Bolivar province. Spanning 105,978 acres (42,888 ha), the provincial conservation and sustainable use area safeguards a continuous landscape of páramos, or high mountain wetlands, which provide critical wildlife habitats and water storage for half a million people. The new conservation area will also support sustainable livelihood initiatives and incorporate local knowledge for conservation.

The process to create the Bolivar Provincial Conservation Area began in 2022. Local communities, governments, and scientists, including those of our partner organization Ecopar/BYOS took notice of the growing threat of agricultural expansion in Bolivar. The central Ecuadorian province was losing fragile Andean ecosystems at an alarming rate. An area equivalent to over 4,000 football fields of nature is lost annually in Bolivar due to human activities. The new conservation area promises to reverse that. Through implementing restoration initiatives, providing economic alternatives to local people, and identifying key conservation areas, the province of Bolivar is setting its sights on a brighter future.

At an event in April 2024 celebrating the new conservation area, Bolivar’s provincial governor, Aníbal Coronel, said: “There are four pillars for provincial development, with the first being the environment. This first pillar (the care of water and life from the highlands) requires the active, planned, organized, respectful, and determined participation of everyone involved in the [provincial conservation area].”

Acknowledgements

The Bolivar Provincial Conservation Area was created thanks to the dedication of the Decentralized Autonomous Government of the Bolivar Province, local communities, and our partners at Ecopar/BYOS.