For Immediate Release Contact: Greg Borzo (312) 665-7100 gborzo@fieldmuseum.org New ecological reserve creates model for indigenous, science-based stewardship of land Field Museum’s research helps convince Ecuador to conserve land CHICAGO – Ecuador’s Minister of Environment, Hon. Lourdes Lugue de Jaramillo, signed a decree on Jan. 30 creating a globally outstanding protected area in the Andean foothills of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian government took this important action based on the results and recommendations of a rapid biological inventory led by The Field Museum in collaboration with the Cofán Survival Fund. This marks the first time in Ecuador that federally protected lands have been placed in official custody of the resident indigenous people, in this case the Cofán. It could create a model for science-based stewardship of land by indigenous people. “Finally, we are getting legal support for protecting one of the wildest, least explored, most beautiful regions left on the globe,” says Randy Borman, executive director of the Cofán Survival Fund. “Abundant wildlife, high mountains, thick forests, crystalline rivers, a culture living intimately with its environment: this is a major victory for conservation.” The new 195-square-mile Reserva Ecológica Cofán de Bermejo lies in rugged terrain previously unmapped by scientists but familiar to the local Cofán residents. These are the Cofán foothills in northern Ecuador (Serranías Cofán), where the world’s most diverse mountain range rises out of Earth’s biologically richest lowland forests. The Serranías are a complex tangle of topography and biodiversity, with a mix of natural communities found nowhere else on the planet. “The wet slopes of the Andes pack unique species of plants and animals all along their length from Venezuela south to Bolivia,“ says Debra Moskovits, PhD, director of The Field Museum’s Environmental and Conservation Programs, who coordinated the biological research that led to the government’s decision to protect the foothills. “The new Reserva Ecológica adds a vital link to the chain of protected, distinct communities along the Andes.” The situation in these foothills is increasingly critical. A new, interoceanic highway that links the Atlantic to the Pacific and will be heavily traveled has split a once continuous expanse of forest. Waves of colonists already are following the highway, clearing and fragmenting the area. Illegal hunting and fishing have increased. Commercial logging companies have begun to cut hardwoods along the road, their chainsaws audible throughout the mountains. continue>>