Introduction
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New, as-yet-unnamed orchid species.
Below, the advancing agricultural frontier. |
Ecuador is home to more than 4000 unique plant
species found nowhere else in the world; many of these are
threatened by the rapid deforestation taking place. The habitat
degradation that follows deforestation here threatens not
only the plants and wildlife but the well-being of the human
population, causing an exodus to urban areas and an accompanying
loss of dignity. In July 2005 a group of concerned scientists
and conservationists has started a foundation to do something
to save these plants and the other threatened organisms of
Ecuador's forests, and at the same time ensure that the local
people find a dignified and sustainable livelihood.. We are
Calaway Dodson, curator emeritus of the Missouri Botanical
Garden and renowned expert on Ecuadorian orchids, recently
decorated by the President of Ecuador for his half-century
of investigation here; Nigel Simpson, a founder of the Jocotoco
Foundation and enthusiastic conservationist, decorated this
year by the Queen of England for his conservation work; Homero
Vargas, former director of the National Herbarium of Ecuador;
Lori and Juan Miguel Espinoza, educators in Ecuador; Johanna
Mew, cofounder of a successful conservation foundation in
NW Ecuador; Ray Swanson, graphics artist and environmentalist;
Francesca Rota, well-known Ecuadorian artist; Ron Kaufmann,
biologist and orchid conservationist; Howard Teich, New Yorker
active in progressive causes; Simon Espinosa Cordero, universally
respected member of the Comisión
Anti-corrupción del Municipio de Quito; Jimena de Salvador,
biology educator in Ecuador, Juan Manuel Carrion, well-known
Ecuadorian ornithologist, conservationist and television personality,
and myself. The botanists on this board have personally discovered
or scientifically described many of Ecuador's endemic plants,
and all members of the board have an emotional tie to the
people and the beautiful forests we have studied or visited
here. We intend to work hard to save them while we still can.
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Lepanthes lophius, endemic
to a small area in eastern Ecuador |
EcoMinga is efficiently preserving
biodiversity by helping local people establish community reserves,
and when necessary directly purchasing and protecting strategic
previously-unprotected centers of endemism in Ecuador. We
also work with local communities and international tourists
to raise awareness about the value of Ecuador's biodiversity.
We enlist the help of any and all interested parties
We now have two reserves and a third is one the way. Please
see the EcoMinga
website for more information and for our US and
UK partner foundations who can accept tax-deductible donations
for us. Also see the article about us in
Plant Talk magazine.
EcoMinga's website
is www.ecominga.net
