Protected areas
They are clearly defined geographical spaces, recognized and managed, through legal means or other types of effective means to achieve the long-term conservation of nature and its ecosystem services and associated cultural values (Dudley, 2008, p.10).
They are land and / or sea areas specially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, as well as natural resources and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal means or other effective means (IUCN, 1998).
In Ecuador, the protected areas represent approximately 20% of the conserved national territory, they are framed in the maximum category of protection according to national environmental legislation, by Constitution of the Republic they are part of one of the subsystems of the great National System of Areas Protected (SNAP) known as Patrimony of Natural Areas of the State (PANE), distributed throughout the continental and insular territory, they harbor an important biological wealth, ecosystem services from which both urban and rural populations benefit, a landscape richness that allows tourism and recreation in part of them, and because of their ecological importance transcend borders that are internationally recognized.
The MAE, as the competent body to establish the national environmental policy and the processes for the administration, control, and regulation of the protected areas of the PANE, also works tirelessly to generate other tools such as guidelines that will be available to the Decentralized Autonomous Governments, Communities and private owners, who also have the possibility of declaring their properties as protected areas, in this way they will be fulfilling the constitutional mandate that also recognizes the Subsystem of the PANE, the subsystems of the protected areas of the Decentralized Autonomous Governments (GADS), Community and Private.
Currently, the (SNAP) is constituted by 50 protected areas, of which 49 are part of the Subsystem of the (PANE) and 1 of the Subsystem of the GADS. “Ministry of the Environment, Ecuador.
Protected areas of the Andes region
- Sangay National Park
- Cajas National Park
- Podocarpus National Park
- Yacuri National Park
- National Recreation Area Quimsacocha
- El Ángel Ecological Reserve
- Ecological Reserve Cotacachi Cayapas
- Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve
- Cayambe Coca National Park
- Antisana Ecological Reserve
- Pasochoa Wildlife Refuge
- Ecological Reserve Ilinizas
- Cotopaxi National Park
- El Boliche National Recreation Area
- Colonso Chalupas Biological Reserve
- Llaganates National Park
- Wildlife Production Reserve Chimborazo
Protected areas amazon region
- Ecological Reserve Cofán Bermejo
- Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park
- Fauna Production Reserve Cuyabeno
- Ecological Reserve Limoncocha
- Yasuni National Park
- El Cóndor Biological Reserve
- El Quimi Biological Reserve
- El Zarza Wildlife Refuge
- Ecological Reserve Cerro Plateado
- Ecological Area of Municipal Conservation Siete Iglesias
Protected areas pacific coast region
- Ecological Reserve Manglares Cayapas Mataje
- La Chiquita Wildlife Refuge
- Mangrove Wildlife Refuge of the Esmeraldas River Estuary
- Marina Galera San Francisco Reserve
- Mangrove Wildlife Refuge of the Muisne River Estuary
- El Pambilar Wildlife Refuge
- Ecological Reserve Mache Chindul
- Wildlife Refuge Islas Corazones y Fragatas
- Coastal Marine Wildlife Refuge Pacoche
- Machalilla National Park
- El Pelado Marine Reserve
- Production Reserve of Coastal Marine Fauna Puntilla de Santa Elena
- National Recreation Area Playas de Villamil
- National Park Recreation Area Lake
- Mangrove Wildlife Production Reserve El Salado
- National Recreation Area Los Samanes
- Santay Island National Recreation Area
- Churute Mangroves Ecological Reserve
- El Morro Mangroves Wildlife Refuge
- Marine Reserve Santa Clara Island
- Arenilla Ecological Reserve
Protected areas of the Galapagos region
- Galapagos National Park
- Marine Reserve Galapagos
Source: Ministry of the Environment, Ecuador