Natural Heritage of Ecuador

According to UNESCO, natural heritage is understood as those extensions of the land containing one or more of the following requirements:

• Presence of natural or exceptional natural beauty phenomena and aesthetic importance.
• Presence of geological or physiographic formations that constitute the habitat of threatened animal and plant species: discover in this ecology article see the types of habitat that exist.
• Formations of natural areas with a Exceptional universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
• Formations of areas that result representative examples of stages of earth history: such as processes that gave rise to geological formations.
• Formations of areas that result Examples of ecological and biological processes occurred during the evolution of ecosystems.

The World Heritage Committee, belonging to UNESCO, is the one who declares an area as a natural heritage. Now, why is it important to declare a Natural Heritage of Humanity? Because in this way the area in question is positioned internationally, as an area that must be especially protected from anthropic activities They can degrade it.

As we have already explained what natural heritage is, we are now ready to learn about those regions of Ecuador that have been declared by UNESCO as a natural heritage of humanity.

The Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 kilometers from the Ecuadorian coasts. The archipelago consists of a total of 19 islands of volcanic originwhich are the habitat of unique species in the world.

Likewise, the Galapagos Islands are in the confluence of 3 sea currents, therefore the Oceanic biodiversity is very peculiar. For its part, the seismic and volcanic activity demonstrates the processes that gave rise to their geographical formations.

Together, the unique characteristics of the islands added to the geographical isolation of the archipelago gave rise to evolutionary processes, which allowed the development of fauna species that are not found in another place on the planet. These evolutionary processes inspired Darwin on his trip through the islands, in 1835, to formulate the Theory of evolution by natural selection. Some of the many of the emblematic fauna species of the Galapagos Islands that we will mention are:

• Giant turtles: 14 species of the genus Chelonoidis.
• Marina iguana, Amblyrhynchus Cristatus.
• 13 endemic species of pinzones: genres Geospiza, gallhynchus, Platyspiza and Pinaroloxias.
• Galapagos penguin, Spheniscus mendendulus.

By their natural value, the Galapagos Islands were declared a National Park in 1959 with the purpose of conserving practically the entire archipelago. Meanwhile, UNESCO declared to the Galapagos Islands as a natural heritage of Humanity in 1979 and only in 2001, the statement was expanded and the maritime territory that surrounds the islands was incorporated into heritage.

Interestingly, in 2007 UNESCO included the archipelago within the World Heritage List at risk, mainly due to the Excessive tourism and the proliferation of exotic species. Fortunately, the situation was reversed and the Galapagos Islands were removed from this list in 2010.

We let you consult this articles on the flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands to have more complete information on the subject.

The Sangay National Park is in the center of the country and covers the provinces of Morona Santiago, Tungurahua, Chimborazo, Cañar and Azuay. Presents an extension that exceeds 500 thousand hectares And within its limits it is possible to observe more than 300 lagoons and 3 volcanoes, of which 2 remain active. In addition, because the park has a high altitudinal range, a wide diversity of ecosystems can be observed, from tropical humid forests to glaciers.

As for the species that houses the park, it has more than 3,000 plant species, of which around 500 species are endemicwithin the latter the orchids stand out. For its part, the Sangay National Park is the habitat of approximately 500 species of vertebrate animals, being the Birds the most abundant group. The Andean Condor (Vultur Gryphus) and the mountain danta (Tapirus click) are the most emblematic animal species.

Drawing in time, the creation of the park occurred in 1975 with the purpose of keep the ecological singularity of the area and also the enormous diversity of flora and fauna that it possesses. In addition, the unique characteristics that the Sangay National Park presented earned him to be considered a natural heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 1983.

Discover how volcanoes are formed and why the condor is in danger of extinction in these other ecology articles that we recommend.

If you want to read more articles similar to Natural Heritage of Ecuadorwe recommend that you enter our category of ecosystems.