The mache chindul reserve in northwest ecuador is a birdlife international important bird area that houses at least 28 neotropical migratory species 3 of which are birds of conservation concern

This federal Project Grant award, provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation (NMBCA) program (CFDA 15.635), supports conservation efforts in the Mache-Chindul Reserve in Ecuador. The $799,508 award, granted on May 23, 2024, will enable the prime recipient, Fundacion Para La Conservacion De LOS Andes Tropicales Cat, to acquire and protect priority habitat, restore 40 hectares of degraded land, and expand a remote sensing and machine learning program to monitor deforestation across 15,000 hectares. These activities aim to contribute to the establishment of a 5,000-hectare corridor to conserve neotropical migratory birds and other endemic species in this biodiversity hotspot. The project also includes capacity-building efforts, such as environmental education programs and the development of economic alternatives for local communities, to promote long-term, sustainable conservation. Additionally, the funding will support sub-awards to Tulane University for community-engaged research linking conservation with sustainable forestry in the Ecuadorian Choco region.

Yet several thousand people with limited education and economic opportunities live within its borders leading to deforestation and habitat loss. This project directly contributes to the conservation of neotropical migratory birds and endemic taxa in this diversity hotspot via the purchase of priority habitat restoration of degraded habitat protection of habitat at immediate risk of illegal land invasion and capacity building. In previous phases of this project we documented the importance of our project area for neotropical migrants identified priority forest fragments for conservation of migratory birds acquired 656 HA of priority habitat established a field station with capacity for 50 visitors reforested more than 100 HA and increased awareness capacity and economic alternatives via womens art workshops youth environmental programs and other programs. We are now poised to extend this work and impact the conservation of migrants by acquiring and protecting of strategically located habitat restoring 40 HA of degraded habitat previously acquired with nmbca funds and expanding up and running remote sensing and machine learning deforestation monitoring program to cover 15000 HA. In doing so this project will contribute to fcats establishment of a corridor linking 5000 HA of continuous priority habitat to achieve integrated environmental and societal benefits a crucial requirement for any realistic long term conservation strategy for migratory birds in our project area.