The San Francisco Scientific Station is set in a region where three of the world’s highest priority conservation areas including dry, cloud, and Amazonian forest come together. This pro-active research center is devoted to generating useful eco-system and social information, and the training of promising young Ecuadorian scientists, for the conservation of the high-priority tropical mountain eco-systems of southern Ecuador. Over 165 peer reviewed publications, providing useful information for policy makers, who make decisions impacting conservation and development, have been generated by both international and Ecuadorian researchers. Previous to this effort, decisions impacting both the forests and people’s lives in Ecuador’s southern Andes were made based on incomplete information.
The Scientific Station in the “hottest of hotspots” at the lowest elevation portion of the Andes, known as the Huancabamba Depression, this research facility is easily-accessible and is within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of Loja, the capitol city of the Loja Province. Comfortable facilities can accommodate up to 35 researchers. The station offers ample work space for researchers and offers meals, internet access, nursery production area, a comfortable dining hall and meals, radio communication, a herbarium, a computer laboratory, telephone access, and a 15 kilometer network of footpaths to diverse research sites inside the forest reserve. There is a full time administrative and support staff available to help researchers with logistics, materials and to get to and begin work at potential research sites.
In 1997 the German Foundation for Investigation launched, and in 2007 has renewed and expanded a multi-disciplinary, Research program-concentrated at the station-aimed at understanding ecosystem components and processes. Their new program “Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of a Megadiverse Mountain Eco-system in South Ecuador” is focused on linking research to effective conservation management actions. In addition researchers are examining the potential for different land use strategies with regard to a sustainable use of the forest network, and are developing models for evaluating various conservation and development scenarios. Extremely valuable information is now available for the Research Station managers, local famers and communities, and for government officials and policy makers. This information has also been made available to the biodiversity research community via refereed publications.
Nature and Culture Ecuador serves as the facilitator for informing community and policy makers in regards to considering and applying this valuable research information in regards to decisions on land use and forest management. The management emphasis is on forest conservation and forests provisioning services such as water and other livelihood options, and preserving these services via appropriate land use and strategies. A key component is that for each research project a young, promising Ecuadorian student is trained, with the intent that these individuals will in the future assume important political positions of responsibility in regards to eco-system management, conservation, research and education in Ecuador. This research also guides the development of practical reforestation and fruit production alternatives as ways to conserve forest.
Poverty is one of the drivers of deforestation, which in turn leads to an environmental poverty cycle, and environmental degradation, which then feeds back and results in a more profound poverty for already poor households which rely on natural resource use.
The San Francisco Station and the German Foundation for Investigation are committed to work with local farmers, communities, municipal governments and National Protected Area representatives to 1) conserve forest biodiversity and supportive ecosystem processes, 2) to rehabilitate degraded forest areas in ways that guarantee eco-systems services, i.e. water and 3) guarantee better, sustainable, livelihoods for the local population contributing to forest conservation.
Information regarding research projects and publications of first phase in: www.bergregenwald.de
Information about second phase: www.tropicalmountainforest.org
Newsletters
Newsletter - 1/2008
Contact us:
Pedro Paladines, ecsf@naturalezaycultura.org, Administrator.
Joerg Zeilinger, jzeilinger@web.de, Scientific Coordinator.
Felix Matt, fxmatt@web.de, Scientific Coordinator.
Information: stationmanager@tropicalmountainforest.org
Donors: German Research Foundation & Nature and Culture International.
