Who Are We?

EcoMinga Foundation – Network for Protection of Threatened Forests

We have been protecting Ecuador’s cloud forests since 2006 through a network of 15 private protected areas, focused on conserving endemic and globally threatened species.

EcoMinga Foundation – Network for the Protection of Threatened Forests, is a non-profit, Ecuadorian non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to the protection of areas with high levels of endemism and biological diversity. We achieve this through the creation of a network of private nature reserves focused on the conservation of species that are globally at risk of extinction.

EcoMinga was granted legal status by the Ministry of the Environment under Ministerial Agreement No. 5, issued on February 15, 2006.

Currently, we manage 15 reserves, 13 of which are concentrated in the cantons of Baños de Agua Santa

and Mera (within the Llanganates-Sangay Connectivity Corridor),and two located in northwestern Ecuador: the Drácula Reserve near the Colombian border, and the Río Manduriacu Reserve, in the Tropical Andes of Imbabura Province. Our reserves protect over 12,000 hectares (ha) and encompass a wide variety of ecosystems, including cloud forests and páramos, ranging from 900 to 3,860 meters above sea level.

“Official launch of the EcoMinga Foundation”

Our History

Use the photo from the “Verde viento, verdes ramas” exhibit with the caption: “Official launch of the EcoMinga Foundation”

With the commitment to protect the piedmont and cloud forests of the Andes, on the eastern edge of the Amazon Basin in central-eastern Ecuador, our founders took the first steps in 2004 to establish protected areas in the region of Baños de Agua Santa.

EcoMinga was officially established on February 15, 2006, under the supervision of the Ministry of the Environment. In its early years, the Board of Directors included mostly Ecuadorians, alongside residents of the United States and the United Kingdom. Since 2013, the board has been composed of Ecuadorian scientists, educators, artists, youth, and entrepreneurs – all united by their dedication to biodiversity conservation.

Driven by the vision of safeguarding key endemism hotspots, EcoMinga has expanded its conservation efforts to other vital areas, creating reserves along the western Andes in northwestern Ecuador to protect highly threatened ecosystems and species.

A key part of our work has been engaging young people and local communities, which has strengthened our impact and reinforced our goals of conservation and sustainable development.

Today, EcoMinga proudly manages 15 reserves across four Ecuadorian provinces: Carchi, Imbabura, Tungurahua, and Pastaza. Two of our reserves have been officially designated as part of Ecuador’s National System of Protected Areas (SNAP).