Quito

About the Program
GM Quito's conservation management program in Ecuador's Paluguillo area northwest of Quito began in 2019. Known as a páramo, this alpine shrubland ecosystem is found only in the Andean zone and plays an important role in the water cycle in the region. Mosses and grasses act like a giant sponge to absorb the water present in the air and store it in the soil. These storage chambers then release it slowly in small ponds that turn into little streams, which become wild rivers and finally feed into rivers in the Amazon lowlands. Páramos are a predictable but extremely sensitive water storage system, and the team seeks to protect the ecosystem through management, monitoring, research and public education.

Practices and Impacts

• In partnership with the Fondo para la Protección del Agua (FONAG), GM protects and monitors a 2,000-acre ecological corridor between two important national parks, Ecological Reserve Antisana and Cayambe-Coca National Park, generating a suitable ecosystem for endangered species such as the Andean bear and mountain tapir.
• GM entered into a formal conservation agreement with landowner FONAG in 2019, which has been renewed through 2025. The agreement protects the land, which was declared as the first hydric protection area of the region by the Environmental, Water and Ecological Transition Ministry of Ecuador, as part of the country's national protected areas.
• The team maintains an on-site greenhouse where native plants are grown for transplantation in the habitat area. GM has planted Buddleja spp., Escallonia myrtilloides, Geranium ayavacense, Gynoxys spp., Hesperomeles spp., Luzula gigantea, Rubus coriaceus, Weinmannia faragoides and Solanum spp. to help mammals find resources within the ecological corridor and away from the highway.
• GM leads a program with the Domingo Savio school teachers and staff, in which students promote water conservation through on-site interviews with local water board authorities, school authorities, family members and small local businesses. 
• The team has provided conservation education to over 570 GM employees, educators and other community members through a unique training program combining the historical and cultural importance of the páramo with hands-on citizen science activities. By teaching the local community about the identified threats to the ecosystem — including cattle raising, tourism, agriculture, water demand and destruction due to highways implementation and extractive activities — the team hopes to change public perception and treatment of the páramo.
• GM partnered with the local scout organization in a species identification training and uses the resulting data as part of its species monitoring. Scouts earned a badge for participation. 
• The team hosts open houses to talk to the local community about the importance of maintaining habitats such as the Amazon forest, páramos and other related ecosystems.