Save an “evolutionary island” in Ecuador with Big Match Fortnight

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Life on the Edge
SAVE ECUADOR'S UNIQUE FOOTHILL FORESTS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
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The reserves of Río Anzu and Río Zúñac lie in the foothills of Ecuador’s eastern Andes. Described by Fundación EcoMinga President Lou Jost as an “evolutionary island”, the high-elevation cloud forest found here is a place where unique life can thrive.

Frogs, toads, orchids and magnolias are just some of the species discovered at Anzu and Zúñac over the last two decades. The wider area – the upper Río Pastaza watershed – has yielded nearly 100 new species, almost all of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

This watershed is a place of extraordinary biodiversity, roughly half the size of London yet home to more endemic plants than the Galapagos Islands. Oil, timber and agriculture industries are now threatening to tear apart these forests, pushing wildlife to the brink of extinction – but with your help, we know we can bring these species back from the edge.

By donating to Life on the Edge, you can help EcoMinga to expand Río Anzu and Río Zúñac, doubling the amount of land currently protected by the two reserves and handing a vital lifeline to an array of at-risk species, from Black-and-chestnut Eagles and Military Macaws to Mountain Tapirs and Spectacled Bears.

This year, for the very first time, every donation made to our Life on the Edge appeal during Big Match Fortnight (12-26 October 2022) will be matched to triple its gift value, turning a £20 donation into a £60 contribution to the appeal!

You now have the chance to have a greater impact for nature than ever before, at no extra cost to yourself.

Let’s save one of the most biodiverse places on the planet – together!
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Get all the details of our new appeal
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An introduction to Simpson’s Plump Toad of Rio Zunac
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Meet our partner Fundación EcoMinga
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Learn about Anzu's Quechua glabrescens orchid
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See the land you’ll be saving on this map
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Brush up on your Common Woolly Monkey knowledge
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“We might not get a second chance”

EcoMinga President Lou Jost on the importance of your support

Clockwise from top left: The upper Río Pastaza watershed; former Keeper of the Wild Jesús Recalde with current Keepers Santiago Recalde, Jordy Salazar and Fausto Recalde; Jaguar; Lou Jost.

The forests of Río Anzu and Río Zúñac I know well, from the days when the only way through were small streams and the trails left by Spectacled Bears and Mountain Tapirs. When we visited these last mountains on the edge of the Amazon Basin for the first time, my colleagues and I found an evolutionary hotspot teeming with undiscovered species. But even as we push to uncover the life of Anzu and Zúñac, our time is running out. New threats keep emerging, like the proposal of oil extraction projects and the conversion to crops such as naranjilla and balsa wood.

We at EcoMinga are racing against time, trying to buy unique, still-unprotected habitats before these options are taken away from us by deforestation. By expanding and connecting our current fragmented reserves, we can link them into a sustainable protected network, so that eagles, Jaguars and others can safely roam, under the eyes of our experienced Keeper of the Wild rangers.

In a crisis year for both people and planet, we can and must ensure that sustainable conservation and not extraction becomes the solution for these valleys of Ecuador. We might not get a second chance to do this, but with help from your donations to this appeal, I know that we will succeed this year – placing habitats home to hundreds of species in the care of the Ecuadorians who know them best.
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