Protecting a Garua forest in Ecuador: The role of institutions and ecosystem valuation

Ambio

Volumn 28, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 156-161

  Becker, Constance Dustin ^a  

^a KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECUADOR; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING;

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION; FOREST MANAGEMENT; INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK; LOCAL PARTICIPATION; NATURE CONSERVATION;

ECUADOR;

EID: 0032931420     PISSN: 00447447     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (45)

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25. According to the 1981 Forest Law, lands designated as Bosque Protector (protective forests) are to be managed for watershed and wildlife conservation. However, the language in the law is sufficiently vague that the type of vegetation required in a Bosque Protector is open to interpretation. The IFRI study found that very few local villagers had any understanding of the legal meaning or ecological intentions associated with the status of Bosque Protector. This was despite the fact that in 1987, Loma Alta petitioned the national government to make its hill forests into a Bosque Protector. The community's goal was not forest protection, but rather obtaining military intervention to uphold their tenure rights. In January 1995, the entire Colonche range was declared Bosque Protector.
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37. Trees and other vegetation utilize groundwater in proportion to biomass and photosynthetic rate. Given that the garúa season is not the growth season for the highland forests in the Colonches and that low rates of evapotranspiration would be associated with high relative humidity, the 10% estimate (based on temperate zone forests in the summer) is probably too low. Work in the Amazon indicates that 24% of water input becomes available as stream flow under lowland tropical forest conditions. Perry (43) gives 33% as a global average for throughfall in forested ecosytems.
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44. The author expresses appreciation to the many Earthwatch volunteers, Carmen Bonifaz de Elao,the Facultad de Ciencias Naturales (University of Guayaquil), Earthwatch Institute, and the IFRI research program for their contributions to the field research in Ecuador. I thank the Comuna of Loma Alta and INEFAN for permission to conduct social and natural science research at Loma Alta. Elinor Ostrom and Mark Hollingsworth provided important suggestions for improving the manuscript.
45. First submitted 11 March 1997. Accepted for publication after revision 1 August 1997.