Los Cedros Reserve
Thanks to the foresight of José DeCoux who teamed up with other organisations to establish the reserve in 1988, Los Cedros Reserve, located in north-western Ecuador consists of 4,800 hectares of cloudforest, 85% of which is still primary forest. It forms a buffer zone to the south of the 182,109 hectare Cotocachi-Cayapas National Park and is part of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot, the most biologically diverse of all the hotspots. The reserve is also very close to the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Biodiversity Hotspot, one of the most biologically diverse and endemic habitats on Earth. Los Cedros is classified as a Key Biodiversity Area which recognises the need to safeguard this as one of the most critical areas on the planet.