More than 4,000 hectares of native Amazonian forests are restored in eastern Ecuador

Ecuador’s Environment and Ecological Minister José Antonio Dávalos announced that some 4,000 hectares of native forests in the Amazon region have been restored. “These forests are the source of life and provide clean air, water, and recreational spaces,” he said last week. “They also essential for the preservation and protection of the fauna and flora, which is an invaluable heritage for Ecuador.”

About 4,000 hectares of native forests in Ecuador’s Amazon region have been replanted.

Over 113,000 trees of more than 30 species were planted at a cost exceeding $1.2 million, Dávalos explained. The Minister also said that the reforestation was part of the National Landscape Restoration Project developed in the Amazonian provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios in northeast Ecuador.

In a Ministry press release, Dávalos also stressed the importance of this program, arguing that its “recovery and restoration are essential to guarantee a prosperous and sustainable future.”

The document also mentioned that the reforestation project used the establishment and strengthening of community enterprises to support the sustainability mechanism of the project areas, which helped boost the economy of the communities while promoting inclusion and a gender focus in these areas, as well as offering alternative livelihoods for the beneficiaries.

The restoration was planned under the landscape approach in the Amazon region of northern Ecuador with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), through the National Landscape Restoration Project and PROAmazonia, and the execution of the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries.