Institutional Partners
Institutions that have worked with FCT on a variety of conservation projects:
Fondo Ambiente Nacional del Ecuador (National Environmental Fund of Ecuador)
The expansion area of Sangay National Park was decreed in 1992 but, twenty years later, boundary markers in the southern tier had not been put in place. Park initiatives could not proceed due to this uncertainty, and property owners in the border area were uncertain whether their property was in the park or not. Because FCT had the required cartographic capacity for this project, and its staff knew the residents of the park and had walked the terrain to be surveyed, the foundation was asked to landmark 42 km of the park’s boundary.
CELEC-Hidropaute (Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador-EP/Public Enterprise Electrical Corporation of Ecuador)
CELEC-Hidropaute is a state-owned hydroelectric company that produces more than 35% of Ecuador’s electricity at three generating locations on the Paute River. Hidropaute understands the critical necessity of protecting the watersheds of the Nudo del Azuay, which flow into the Paute. It has commissioned FCT through a variety of conservation measures to 1) generate conservation agreements with private landowners, 2) carry out a pilot program of restorative pasture management, 3) establish a hydrologic monitoring system on the Mazar River, and 4) establish a community park guard program to protect wild habitats within Sangay National Park.
Municipio de Azogues (Cañar) (Municipality of Azogues, Cañar), in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment, Azogues
When Sangay National Park was expanded in 1992, the expansion area included privately owned lands. The Ministry of the Environment needed to understand the location, size, and vegetation cover of the private properties within the park. FCT produced a map that defined the borders of private holdings, and this map is used by the municipality of Azogues to provide tax exemptions for property owners within Sangay.
FONAPA (Fondo del Agua para la Conservación de la Cuenca del Río Paute/Water Trust Fund for the Conservation of the Paute Watershed)
A critical function of watershed management is understanding how stream behavior reflects upland vegetation cover. When a forest is converted to a cornfield, or a páramo is plowed for the first time, how do sediment loads change? FONAPA financed a FCT stream monitoring program in four páramo and montane forest catchments in order to address this question.
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University of Wisconsin-Madison (Gaylord Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies)
FCT works to protect native fauna, which requires building partnerships with local communities. It is important to gain an understanding of the community’s perceptions of wildlife and its view of existing conflicts between domestic animals and crops—including predation by pumas, foxes, bears, and hawks, and damage to corn by parrots. The Nelson Institute collaborated with FCT to identify these perceptions. This included research specific to the Andean bear, including its habitat and the role of bio-corridors within the buffer zone of southern Sangay National Park.
University of Vermont
Watershed management requires a data-based understanding of stream behavior, including discharge and suspended sediments. In order to generate these data, FCT installed an automatic sampler on the Mazar River and currently monitors the stream systematically. The Mazar River Project is carried out by research associates of FCT and a hydrologist from the University of Vermont.
CELEC-HidroAzogues and the Rivera Parish Government
Sediments carried by streams degrade hydroelectric capacity and increase production costs; reducing sediment loads is therefore a primary goal of watershed management. The primary tool to achieve this reduction is reforestation. HidroAzogues partnered with FCT to reforest river margins in Rivera parish, with plans to continue this collaboration.
Ministerio del Ambiente (MAE/Ministry of the Environment), Azogues office
Sangay National Park’s management plan includes a variety of activities to which FCT has contributed. These include training for community park guards, the development of an early-warning system of illegal land use via satellite imagery, and coordinating scientific research projects and the sharing of research results.
Gruber Fellowship in Global Justice (in conjunction with Yale University)
A remote indigenous village within Sangay National Park, Guangra, was granted permission by the Ministry of the Environment to build a road that would expand access to markets and improve the provision of state services, including health, education, and potable water. FCT consulted with Guangra to prioritize their needs while generating confidence on the part of the community that their location within a national park was beneficial to their welfare.
