BIODIVERSITY IN ECUADOR: HISTORY AND REALITY

Abstract

Review by Luis Carrera De La Torre President of Ecuador's Advisory Commission on Environmental Means and Secretary Pro Tempore of the Treaty of the Amazonian Cooperation, Av. 10 de Agosto No. 3560 y Mariana de Jesus, Edificio Metrocar, 4to. piso Quito, Ecuador. Estrella, Eduardo, LA BIODIVERSIDAD EN EL ECUADOR: HISTORIA Y REALIDAD. Quito: Museo Nacional de Medicina del Ecuador, Organizacion de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentacion(FAO), Secretaria Pro Tempore del Tratado de Cooperacion Amazonica, 1993. 103 pp. ISBN: 9978-82-404-9. Estrella, Eduardo. BIODIVERSITY IN ECUADOR: HISTORY AND REALITY Quito: National Museum of Medicine of Ecuador, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Secretary Pro Tempore of the Treaty of Amazonian Cooperation, 1993. 103 pp. ISBN:9978-82-404-9. The review was translated by Janet Groff Greever, Robert Hook and Carolyn Hook. Nature was excessively lavish in Ecuador, Eduardo Estrella tells us in this documented study. Its residents have been blessed with a great privilege, and at the same time, with a tremendous responsibility. Because of its spatial characteristics, Ecuador has been and continues to be a privileged place to live. We read that, once, the world's record number of amphibian species could be found in Santa Cecilia, Ecuador. World record numbers of species place Ecuador, in spite of its very small size, among the first rank of countries on the planet: fifth in birds, seventh in reptiles, third in amphibians, sixth in butterflies. According to recent analyses, Ecuador has twice the plant and animal species of the United States and Canada together, four times more than all of Europe, and the largest number of plant species per unit of area in the Americas. We are proud of this information, but we find that in Santa Cecilia there now remains almost nothing of this biological wealth because of the desolation caused by plundering. Stubborn and aggressive people in this country are rapidly destroying the forest, which is the habitat of this tremendous biodiversity. The result of the incredible depredation in this century is that only 6% of one of the richest tropical forests in the world remains. Quinine and rubber for world use originated in the Choco Forest on the coast of Ecuador, the last remnant of which is located in the province of Esmeraldas. Continuing present rate of deforestation will bring about the total disappearance of the Ecuadorian Amazon forest in twenty years. Recently, four hundred and seventy-three fish species were recorded on a small part of the Napo River, in Ecuadorian Amazonia. In Europe, fewer than two hundred species are recorded. The increasing hydrocarbon contamination by mining and agro-industry in that same part of the Napo River could lead to a world record disappearance of fish species. World registers also tell us ninety-percent of the world's biodiversity is found in the tropical and subtropical zones of developing countries. Eighty percent of the world's population relies on native knowledge of medicinal plants for health care. A large percentage of food -- for example, corn, potatoes, beans, cocoa, and tomatoes -- originated in the biodiversity of the tropical areas of South America. We are also advised by the Food and Agricultural Organization that twelve plant species and five animal species supply more than three-quarters of human nourishment. Further, only four plant species (of which two, corn and potatoes, originated in our lands) and three animal species provide more than half the world's food. At the same time, we are reminded that in tropical forests, at least two thousand edible species have