The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

11. Cultural landscapes of the Andes
watershed constitutes one of only three main access routes into the Ecuadorian Amazon. This
“gateway to the Amazon” has attracted consecutive waves of exploration and settlement: from
early 16th century Spanish explorers, to the more recent incursions of colonos, colonists from
other areas of Ecuador, particularly the provinces of Loja and Manabi, which followed the
opening up of the valley in the 1970s with the construction of roads to reach oil fields lower in
the Amazon forest. The most recent wave of exploration takes the form of (eco)tourism,
attracted here by the region’s spectacular rich biological and cultural diversity.
In Ecuador public land management regimes are perhaps the most common approach to
addressing tourism and resource management issues; typically these have followed the North
American model for national parks. The Quijos Valley has the largest expanse of protected
areas in Ecuador, with approximately 94% of the territory of the basin under official protection
in three sites: Antisana Ecological Reserve; Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve; and Sumaco
Napo-Galeras National Park and Biosphere Reserve. The rest of the territory is located in the
centre of these three conservation areas, an arrangement that resembles a reversal of the
Biosphere Reserve model in which the core is pristine, a buffer zone surrounds the centre and
extensive usage occurs in the periphery. In the Quijos river valley, the core pristine areas
surround the valley in the upper limits of the watershed, and the valley serves as a kind of buffer
zone. The Cumanda Ethnobotanical Reserve is located in this area, flanked by a colonization
front that has gone from timber exploitation, to the agricultural based naranjilla (Solanum
quitoense) boom, dairy production, and most recently, adventure and ecotourism, including
trout fishing, whitewater rafting, trekking and bird watching.
The “reverse” Biosphere Reserve model of the Quijos river basin fits perfectly with the
principles of a Category V protected landscape, because it helps consolidate a huge con -
servation corridor (within what has been proposed by The Nature Conservancy as the Condor
Bioreserve) and encompasses cultural features, such as the grasslands of the páramos and
archaeological features of the indigenous cultures that lived in the area since before the Spanish
conquest.
In the páramo, land is held communally. In fact, decisions regarding access to the páramo
and its use, and maintenance (through controlled burning and grazing) are taken by each
community as a whole during assemblies, called Mingas, which are held periodically. A duty
roster is also maintained, assigning, on a rotational basis, a member of the community to care
for the cattle grazing on the páramo. As a typical Andean social structure, a group of
neighbours in the comarca or a related extended family group or Ayllu meet together on the
property of one of them. All work there for free with the understanding that, someday in the
near future, their turn will come, so that the group will come to their own parcels or chacras and
help with their work. This is particularly important for preparing the land for planting, for
removing fuelwood, for harvesting, and for other building necessities such as irrigation channel
main tenance, terracing for soil erosion control, or the edification of storage rooms, or outlet
stores on site. Mingas are frequently held to carry out various projects that benefit the whole
community and also act to reinforce reciprocal relations and ties in the communities. In this
way, traditional Andean beliefs and customs that have survived the hacienda rule are still very
much alive in the communities of Jamanco, Oyacachi and El Tambo, and are reflected in the
surrounding landscape.
All three of these communities are experimenting with tourism. Both Oyacachi and Jamanco
have built rudimentary thermal bath resorts to attract visitors, while El Tambo offers guided
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