Mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, saltwater marshes – these and other ‘blue forests’ are vital to coastal and island communities around the world
Ecuador
Conservation International in Ecuador (CI Ecuador) focused on mainstreaming information about mangrove ecosystem services into national policy frameworks and developing useful concepts, language and tools for policymakers to take actions on sustainable mangrove conservation and restoration.
All resources and guidance documents from Ecuador can be found on the resources page.
The Gulf of Guayaquil provides many ecosystem benefits and services including coastal protection, scenic beauty, blue carbon and food security. The project focused on informing key decision makers about both the biophysical information of the ecosystem services of mangroves and the economic value of those services.
Conservation International worked with local universities to conduct surveys and measure efficacy of mangrove conservation agreements, surveying six locations and 435 people including fisherman and their families.
Ecuador produced the National Biodiversity Policy and Strategy which addresses a range of themes in terms of process (participatory and decentralized governance) and substance (different ecosystems and species), as well as strategy of biodiversity as a quality of life measure.
Biodiversity of the Ecuador site
Blue Forests Ecosystems
Blue Forests Economy
The fisheries provide livelihoods and are managed through a partnership with fishing association concessions and the government through the creation of conservation agreements.
Ecotourism is popular in the Gulf of Guayaquil for bird, dolphin and whale watching. Two local associations work both to support sustainable ecotourism and fishing, they use socio manglar funds to design and built a flyover deck on a mangrove area. They take tourists who, in addition to doing the walking tour, sell crabs to tourists and show how to catch crabs.
Just outside the city of Guayaquil, the fishing is mostly recreational showing how the same service can support both livelihoods and recreation.