Human Intervention  

Let's take an imaginary drive through the Andes. Leaving behind the big city with its traffic noises and pollution we reach the tranquil countryside. A broad valley, separating the two mountain ranges opens up before us, displaying small cultivated fields of wheat and lush green pastures where cattle graze peacefully. Among the open spaces little bluffs of eucalyptus and pine trees are interspersed and occasionally you see some horses and donkeys. Idyllic and beautiful to behold but all you have seen so far on this trip is not native to Ecuador and did not exist 500 years ago.

Man, who could be called the most powerful animal ever to have walked on earth, changes his environment to his liking and needs but unfortunately with consequences to other living species. As worldwide the human population grows exponentially larger on earth, other species have to yield, often to the point of disappearing forever from planet earth and that holds true for Ecuador as well.

In Ecuador, humans appeared 15 000 years ago and in the beginning lived in small numbers dedicating themselves to hunting and gathering. Those early people had little impact on the environment and it could be said that they were an integral part of it. But as soon as humans organized themselves into agricultural societies with permanent settlements, they began to change their surroundings. Forests were cut down to establish fields and the wood was used as a fuel for cooking. That safety of an settlement let humans prosper and their numbers increased. With that increase and better tools and increasing trade more and more nature had to serve men. With the arrival of the Incas and their agricultural and building abilities, changes accelerated, the valleys became further deforested with terraced fields and irrigation projects.

But the biggest and most detrimental changes to the native flora and fauna started with the arrival of the Spaniards. More land in the valleys were converted into huge haciendas and new introduced species like cattle and horses started to replace native animals like the llamas. Old world crops like wheat and barley were brought into the continent and exchanged with native ones like corn and potatoes. The conquerors brought also their favorite fruits and flowers with them. Predators, like the mountain lions and foxes became the target of the ranchers to protect their precious imported cattle and sheep. Apart from taking away habitat from native animals, the new animals themselves destroyed fragile lands as they were not well adapted to the new environment. Llamas over the millions of years adapted their hooves as to have minimal impact in fragile areas like the high paramo regions.

On the coastal plains, the Spanish started to cut down the dry tropical forests to grow cacao, which was the first big export boom. Later other fruits and crops followed and the forest had to yield more and more to the presently 5%, which is left of the original primary forests. Taking another imaginary drive to the coast you see large plantations of banana and African palm trees and fields of rice, all introduced species. Shrimp farms close to the ocean destroy the mangroves on the coast.

The more we move into the present, the worse the deforestation of the country became. With the invention of the chain saw, a man alone could cut down a hectare of rainforest within days to establish pasture for a few cows. As soon as a road is opened up, first come the forest companies, cutting down all the valuable hardwood trees and then come in the colonists, which move in to establish small farms in the area. Even the steep cloudforest regions on the two flanks of the Andes are nowadays under attack. Only the very steepest parts still have some primary cloudforests left with the rest gone forever.

In the Amazon basin of Ecuador, there are still large areas of primary tropical forests left but also its days seem to be counted. Oil fields started the development and small agricultural enterprises followed the newly built roads. Another oil pipeline is now being built to pump the petroleum from the Amazon over the Andes to the west coast, entering sensitive nature areas and changing primary habitats. A new major road like the planned Trans-Oceanic which will connect the Atlantic ocean in Brazil with the Pacific ocean in Ecuador will open further up the region and endanger this earth's last great and continuous biome.