Welcome
Our mission
Fundación Cordillera Tropical's (FCT) mission is to contribute toward the conservation of Ecuador's exceptional biological diversity and hydrological richness. We concentrate our efforts in the Nudo del Azuay, a mountain range within the southern tier of Ecuador's Sangay National Park.
Our Approach
Since 2000 FCT has worked with area landowners and local communities to strengthen the protection of the approximately one hundred thousand hectares of montane cloud forest and high páramo grassland in the Nudo del Azuay. These ecosystems, which border and compose Sangay National Park, are designated internationally as part of the Tropical Andes hotspot, an area with high rates of endemism and threat.
Private landowners hold title to nearly 47% of the lands within the Nudo del Azuay with the Ministry of Environment managing the remaining public lands. 
This mix of public and private ownership necessitates a broad conservation approach to bridge private land conservation and strengthen public land protection. The centerpiece of FCT's work is to incorporate conservation of private lands into a region-wide conservation initiative. Economic incentives that recognize conservation trade-offs form the central pillar of this approach. Environmental education, scientific research, and training community park guards constitute critical components to support this vision. FCT is convinced that concurrent investments in human capital will increase conservation gains while simultaneously improving incomes for participants, and help to equalize distribution of benefits within communities.
Through these initiatives, FCT seeks to build a regional consensus on conservation that includes property owners, local governments, the administration of Sangay National Park, non-profit organizations and the residents of the Paute River watershed. The fundamental and inescapable goal is to support the conservation of these vestiges of native forest and páramo and its related fauna.
Where we work
The Nudo del Azuay, at the heart of Ecuador's Cordillera Real Oriental, includes ecosystems spanning the high mountain páramo to the Andean-Amazon piedmont. Singled out for its regional and global biodiversity, the Nudo del Azuay comprises some 96,000 hectares, the majority of which fall within Sangay National Park.
Map of the Nudo del Azuay
Map of the 2007 land-use in the Nudo del Azuay
Map of the communities within the Nudo del Azuay