Andean Ecological Reserve protecting the twin Illiniza volcanoes and surrounding cloud forests and páramos in Ecuador.
Reserva Ecológica Los Illinizas
The Reserva Ecológica Los Illinizas is a protected natural area in the central Ecuadorian Andes, covering the western slopes and foothills of the twin Illiniza volcanoes along with parts of the surrounding Quilotoa and El Corazón volcanic terrain. Spanning a large area across the provinces of Cotopaxi, Pichincha, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, the reserve safeguards a vertical gradient of Andean ecosystems, including high-altitude páramos, montane cloud forests, and evergreen lower forests descending toward the western lowlands.
The reserve is notable for its biodiversity, especially in its lower cloud forest zones, which harbor endemic Chocó species and several threatened birds, mammals, and amphibians recognized as conservation priorities regionally and globally. Beyond the protected core, the ecological reserve overlays a landscape shaped by local community stewardship, commercial agriculture in cleared buffer zones, and supplementary private and communal forest reserves such as the Bosque Integral Otonga and the Huagrahuasi-Quitasol protective forest.
The protected area serves as both a conservation stronghold and a mosaic of human presence, with Andean communities managing páramo resources, recovering degraded vegetation, and sustaining small-scale land use alongside strictly preserved forest remnants.
