Conservation In Ecuador

Ecuador has been recognized as a country with some of the widest ranging biodiversity in the world. This is due to the fact that Ecuador is a tropical country, and when in the tropics, organisms tend to flourish. But over the course of time, deforestation has all but eliminated their natural habitats. In the Amazon, roads once built for oil exploration paved the way for logging companies, followed by cattle ranching. Along the coast, the once plentiful mangrove forests have been removed to create artificial ponds to farm shrimp. Around 95% of the forests on the western slopes and lowlands have been converted into agricultural areas, mostly banana plantations. At this time, only a few pockets of native forest remain, mainly in private nature reserves.