Protecting threatened forest in the Andes Mountains
In collaboration with the municipality of Cascales, Andes Amazon Fund and the MacArthur Foundation, Nature and Culture created Cascales Municipal Conservation Area in the critical upper Napo River watershed in Ecuador. The new area protects 152,021 acres of threatened forest along the highly diverse eastern slope of the Andes Mountains.
Located close to Cayembe Coca, Sumaco Napo-Galeras, and Cofán Bermejo national protected areas, Cascales will establish critical connectivity in the region. Specifically, the area will maintain migration corridors for vulnerable and endangered species, such as the northern pudu deer (Pudu mephistophiles), vulnerable spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) and jaguar (Panthera onca).
Cascales is one of six municipalities in the Water Route Association, formed to support and promote water-based recreation and tourism on the Napo River. Nature and Culture is supporting the association with large-landscape conservation which includes creating municipal protected areas and establishing a local water fund, that will provide long-term protection to the area’s ecosystems.
