Ecuador is characterised by diversity.

In its geography, its people, and its nature, the country is incredibly varied. And, to conserve its forests, Ecuador is taking an innovative approach – which gives constitutional rights to its nature, and draws on the traditions of its many indigenous peoples.

We take a look at the background, and the progress that’s being made.

If you were asked to sum up Ecuador in a single word, you could opt for ‘diverse’.

It certainly applies to the people. No one knows the proportions for sure, but the largest ethnic group is the mestizos, or people of mixed indigenous and European descent, who are thought to make up around two-thirds of the 18 million population. Around a quarter are from Ecuador’s 14 main indigenous groups. The remainder are of direct African, European, Middle Eastern, and East Asian descent. And, although Spanish is the official language, 13 native languages are also recognised.

For the geography, the word is also fitting. Ecuador extends all the way out to the volcanic Galápagos Islands, located 1,400 kilometres off the west coast, where Charles Darwin first began to figure out the Origin of the Species. It also covers the fertile coastal region, the mountainous highlands and, of course, the rainforests of La Amazonía.

When it comes to nature, the word diverse is actually an understatement. Ecuador is classed as one of 17 megadiverse countries worldwide^[1]. And, for its size (at 280,000 square kilometres, so similar to, say, Italy or New Zealand) it is the most biodiverse place on earth – home to 16,000 plant species, 25% of which are endemic, and 1,700 bird species, including 140 types of Hummingbird^[2].

But, for the economy, the word is entirely inappropriate. The country relies heavily on commodities. Oil exports account for around a third of all public sector revenues, Ecuador is the world’s biggest exporter of bananas, and other commodities, like gold, cut flowers, soy, and cocoa, figure prominently. Ironically, the uptick in demand for wind power has also resulted in a recent surge in balsa wood exports (a component of most turbine blades). And, of course, all this extraction exerts considerable pressure on the country’s forests and creates tensions among the people who live within them.

Irrespective of its reliance on commodities, the authorities do clearly value the country’s natural resources. And, to help resolve the innate tensions, Ecuador has earned something of a reputation for innovative environmental reforms which draw heavily on the cultural richness and natural diversity.

Back in 2008, for example, Ecuador became the first country in the world to grant nature the inalienable right to exist and flourish. As part of the constitution, a set of codified rights of nature were enshrined, giving people the authority to petition on the behalf of nature, and requiring the government to remedy violations of these rights.

More recently, Ecuador’s highest court ruled that indigenous peoples’ consent for new oil and mining projects is required throughout the Ecuadorian Amazon. And, in setting out its ongoing plans and commitments for the conservation of its forests, the country has kept its indigenous peoples centre stage.

Ecuador’s commitment to deforestation is reflected in the pledges it has made under the Paris Agreement on climate change (the so-called Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs), including a 9% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, achieving net-zero deforestation at a national level, and restoring at least 30,000 hectares of degraded forest^[3].

The country is an active participant in REDD+ (the United Nations’ forest protection scheme, which channels funds to those countries that put a formal plan in place to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation), and is taking a coordinated, jurisdictional approach to the delivery of its REDD+ Action Plan. For example, the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment are working with the palm oil industry (in the guise of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) on certification for deforestation-free oil. They are also collaborating with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a five-year scheme, called PROAmazonia, which seeks to transform agriculture in the Amazonia region, promoting more sustainable farming practices, and establishing new markets for deforestation-free products.

More recently, the country has submitted proposals to the LEAF Coalition, the jurisdictional REDD+ scheme, launched in 2021 as a high-integrity platform for companies to buy emissions reduction credits – which promises to channel payments at speed, directly to the communities involved.

Ecuador subscribes to the view that the best guardians of tropical forests are the indigenous peoples who have always called them home. This is echoed in a 2021 report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Forest Governance by Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. From an analysis of 300 scientific studies in Latin America and the Caribbean, this concluded that forests in indigenous and tribal areas tend to be much better conserved than other forests – and, while indigenous territories cover a total of 23% of the Amazon Basin, they account for only 2.6% of carbon emissions^[4].

One of the pillars of Ecuador’s REDD+ strategy is the Socio Bosoque programme. First established in 2008, and run by the Ministry of the Environment, this supports the poorest private and communal landholders, especially in areas that are most susceptible to deforestation. It offers guaranteed yearly payments for forest conservation activities, a little like the sustainable farming end environmental incentives paid to farmers in countries such as the UK. So far, agreements have been signed to cover 630,000 hectares of forest, and recent analysis has shown that the impact extends well beyond the area covered by each agreement. On average, for every 100 hectares that farmers are paid to conserve, up to 15 additional hectares of forest clearing are avoided^[5].

Not everything is managed centrally by the national government. Ecuador’s provinces are also encouraged to develop their sustainable development policies, and one of the pacesetters is Pastaza, located in the east of the country, deep in the jungle of the Amazonia region.

The largest of Ecuador’s 24 provinces, Pastaza stretches for 30,000 square kilometres (about the size of the Netherlands). The most biodiverse area of this megadiverse country, Pastaza is remote, with paved roads being a relatively new development. Around 90% of the province is still covered by tropical forest. It is also home to seven of Ecuador’s 14 indigenous nations who, collectively, account for around 40% of Pastaza’s 115,000 inhabitants, and own more than 80% of its land^[6],[7].

Although Pastaza’s forest remains largely intact, it is under significant pressure from agricultural expansion, illegal logging and mining, and the unregulated construction of the roads that are needed to extract the related commodities. And, according to the provincial government, the indigenous people who have nominal control of the land face continual pressure and inducements to acquiesce.

As far back as 2011, the provincial government decided that, despite the presence of significant oil reserves, Pastaza would pursue a conservation-focused development path. And, given the demographics of the province and the tenure of its land, the indigenous nations should be the focal point. The next major breakthrough came in 2021 when an implementation plan was formalised, with seven indigenous nations as signatories, backed by US$52 million in REDD+ funding.

Through its sustainable development plan, Pastaza wants to curtail the dependence on oil and mining projects for economic development. Instead, it aims to rekindle the ancestral agroforestry systems of the province’s indigenous peoples and create new markets for the crops they grow. In this way, food security can be boosted, and livelihoods can be improved, while also conserving the natural forest and its ecosystems.

In the past, some REDD+ programmes have been criticised for pursuing a top-down approach and promoting the production of a limited selection of global staples, such as coffee and cocoa. In Pastaza, however, the emphasis is on traditional foods such as yuca (or casava), peanuts, achiote (a paprika-like spice and colouring agent), and vanilla.

Also, instead of intensive or mono-crop plantations, the aim is to encourage farmers to revert to chakras (or ‘swollen gardens’), the traditional agroforestry systems that mimic the forest’s natural composition. As well as providing a range of different subsistence crops and herbal remedies for indigenous families, these chakras also act as an extension of forest habitat for rainforest flora and fauna.

In the first phase of the Pastaza plan, more than 100 extended families are being helped to design and create chakras, after which the process will be extended to more communities. At the same time, market research is being conducted to identify star-performing crops – like achiote and vanilla – that are favoured within the region and have real commercial promise, and to identify end buyers and routes to market.

In parallel, incentives and agreements are being established to restore and conserve more than 1,600 hectares of land and water courses, extending the benefits and drawing on the learnings from the national Socio Bosoque programme.

In many ways, the Pastaza plan is seen as a test case for a landscape-based or jurisdictional programme – and one that could be replicated much further afield.

To draw attention to the programme, a delegation from Pastaza travelled to the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow in 2021, where it was heralded as the world’s first example of a jurisdictional REDD+ plan to be linked directly and inextricably to indigenous nations.

Its delivery is being coordinated by the NGO Nature and Culture International, which is active across much of Latin America, and regards the plan as a template. In the first instance, it is set to be a model for the neighbouring provinces of Morona Santiago and Zamora Chinchipe, and the vision is to open the door to more climate funding and, ultimately, to take the approach to other jurisdictions nationwide.

By recognising and celebrating its natural and cultural diversity in this way, Ecuador is extending its reputation for innovative environmental reforms and initiatives – and, hopefully, also bringing more diversity to its traditional economic model.