Rob Williams Black-breasted Puffleg Eriocnemis nigrivestis Zoom In

Mindo, jewel of the Chocó

12-08-2003

"Where do birders go in Latin America? They go to Ecuador. Where in Ecuador? The Mindo IBA. It's become an icon for birders," says Ian Davidson, head of BirdLife International's Americas programme. "They fly to Quito, and within an hour, they can have their fill of western-Andes endemics."

Mindo, in the Chocó Endemic Bird Area, was the first IBA designated in the Americas, and received the money from the 1998 British Birdwatching Fair (BBWF). It's an island of forest surrounding an active volcano - a big island at 200,000 hectares, home to five globally threatened species, and 36 endemics. Among them is the Black-breasted Puffleg Eriocnemis nigrivestis - the 250 individuals at Mindo making up the entire world population.

Other Chocó endemics include Baudo Guan Penelope ortoni, Dark-backed Wood-Quail Odontophorus melanonotus, Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl Glaucidium nubicola, Giant Antpitta Grallaria gigantea, Moustached Antpitta Gralleria alleni, Long-wattled Umbrellabird Cephalopterus penduliger and Tanager Finch Oreothraupis arremonops.

Mindo IBA has been the focus of much attention from CECIA, the BirdLife Partner in Ecuador. Zoom In

"Some of the money also supported the growth of a local NGO, CECIA, dedicated to bird conservation in Ecuador." —Ian Davidson, Head of BirdLife's Americas programme

"The BBWF proposal was written to raise the profile of the area, but more importantly, to ground the conservation efforts: working with local communities, training guides, writing publications and doing research," Ian says. "Some of the money also supported the growth of a local NGO, CECIA (Fundacin Ornitholgica del Ecuador), dedicated to bird conservation in Ecuador."

The Mindo cloud forests were - and still are - being eaten away by forestry and agriculture, much of it carried out by local campeseros planting basic foodstuffs. But as ecotourism becomes more important - CECIA says there may be as many as 100,000 visitors each year - local people are coming to appreciate Mindo's value.

Unfortunately, Ecuador's primary revenue earner is not ecotourism, but oil, and within the last couple of years, a pipeline has been built through Mindo to carry heavy crude from the Amazon to California, passing through some Black-breasted Puffleg nesting sites.

Iain Campbell Cloud-forest Pygmy-owl Glaucidium nubicola Zoom In

"The pipeline is built along the tops of ridges, and there's a strong possibility that it will rupture"

Without the BBWF, however, Ian says things could have been a lot worse. "What the BBWF did was focus opinion and raise public support for Mindo locally, nationally and internationally. The government didn't change the path of the pipeline, but they did concede much stricter environmental enforcement, and created a US $16.9 million eco-fund directed to Mindo and five other sensitive areas along the pipeline. There's also an increased awareness among big multinational corporations that they can't do business in the country as they did before - they need to take the environment into account. In the long term I think this will lead to strengthening of environmental regulations, and increased responsibility by government and corporations. That's the jewel of the Mindo project - it's done things other projects have done, like conserve the site and train communities, but the bigger picture is much more exciting."

Unfortunately, for all their new environmental commitments, the government and corporations still insisted on building their pipeline across Mindo, an area of high tectonic activity. "The possibility of a volcanic eruption directly impacting the pipeline is minimal. The big issue is earthquakes," Ian explains. "The pipeline is built along the tops of ridges, and there's a strong possibility that it will rupture, which would mean heavy crude oil leaking into the Rio Mindo, upstream of the town of Mindo, contaminating the water supply, and bringing an end to ecotourism. The community would lose its major source of revenue. The geologists and construction companies say they applied the most rigorous techniques in building the pipeline. But the bottom line is, if you get an earthquake, there's nothing that's going to stop it. And I suspect that in our lifetime it will break."