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https://dialoguemos.ec/2023/09/aves-en-peligro-de-extincion-tiene-un-nuevo-santuario-en-imbabura/

Birds of the “red list” of Ecuador will have a new space at “Montaña de Luz”

August 30, 2023

By Susana Madera |

Imbabura (Ecuador) (EFE). - The Golden-plumed parakeet (leptosittaca branickii) and the Yellow-eared parrot (ognorhynchus icterotis) will have a new space at “Montana de Luz” in Ecuador, a space where the community has sowed over 300 wax palm trees, home to these little birds that are on the “red list” due to – among other reasons – the felling of these trees in different parts of the country.

Characterized by its slow growth, the wax palm tree requires over 80 years to begin its reproduction cycle and it can pass the 200 years of age.

Its population is present in mature and secondary forests, and it provides food, through its fruit, to toucans, wild turkeys and parrots, among others, and mammals like armadillos, bears, deer, peccaries, rodents and primates, according to the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition.

But it is also home of the Golden-plumed parakeet which, according to the red list of birds in Ecuador 2022, is in danger; and the Yellow-eared parrot, which, for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (UICN), is in a vulnerable category, and on the red list of birds in Ecuador 2019 under the category of critically threatened species.

Sustainable development in Ecuador

For the purpose of recovering sectors affected by the reduction of wax palm trees, the Ministry has reforested, since 2012, seven hectares in Pallatanga and Colta, cantons of the Chimborazo province, and also there are wax palm trees in Loja and Zamora Chinchipe, among others.

Now, on the top of what used to be a rural hill, now the “Montana de Luz” in the Imbabura province, the branches of hundreds of wax palm trees can be seen, a species that is in vulnerable state according to the Red Book of endemic plants in Ecuador.

“A few years ago, they were still very small, and we see that they have taken an accelerated growth pace. Now we see them almost at three meters tall”, claimed Carlos Merizalde, ex-director of International Cooperation of the Imbabura Geopark, in the prefecture of this province.

The expert did not hesitate to show that one can be optimistic for the future results of the sowing: “It’s fantastic because soon we will have parrot families visiting here”.

Carlos Merizalde, ex-director of International Cooperation of the Imbabura Geopark, talks during an interview with EFE, in July 2023, in Imbabura (Ecuador). EFE/Juan Francisco Chavez.

“This environment is favorable so that biodiversity comes and settles again”, pointed at “Montana de Luz”, which up to six years ago was a hill full of brush, and has now become a “living laboratory” with approximately 30.000 plants of different species and varieties, in over 40 hectares in the rural area of Pablo Arenas.

For Merizalde, in addition to being a natural and tourist destination, “Montana de Luz” will be a “space, a home to flora and fauna” in Imbabura, and where sustainable development and favorable practices for the environment are relevant.

“Examples such as “Montana de Luz” will surely give us the boost to retake and encourage the conservation and care for this type of species”, said in an environment surrounded by wax palm trees.

Eradicating bad habits that affect birds.

Merizalde recalled that the Ministry of Environment brings out a campaign every year to encourage people not to use wax palm trees during the festivities of Palm Sunday, on Holy Week.

“It has been a bad habit of the community to fell palm trees and cut their tops off to make bouquets and sell them in the communities”, noted while adding that such trees used to be used at religious ceremonies frequently, for the production of incense and to cure the “mal aire” (bad energy)

The environmental authority proposes alternatives over the use of bouquets made from other resources (laurel leaves, corn, hay, myrtle, cypress, lemon verbena, bamboo, pampas grass, ornamental flowers, among others) without losing the religious tradition.

Besides, thousands of volunteers have been trained to help with the control of the illegal commerce of wax palm tree in Ecuador, where the penal code sanctions those who extract, commercialize, or transport wild species, with economic fines and up to three years of imprisonment.

But beyond punitive, Merizalde values, above all, the interest of individuals in creating a “new culture of respect towards nature”, and thinking about the present with a future perspective, with own investment and that counts on the involvement of the community, as in “Montaña de Luz”.