The scientific research goals of Nazca Institute focus on marine environments and their interactions with the human populations directly related to them. We are interested in generating information to assess the actual state and ranges of natural variation of coastal marine ecosystems, habitats, and species, as well as evaluating the long-term effects of conservation efforts in marine protected areas.
Our work involves diverse aspects of Marine Conservation Science, including seafloor mapping, the characterization and study of subtidal and intertidal marine environments, the study of the ecology and interactions of marine species with human activities, and even collection of marine organisms for a deeper understanding and quantification of the marine biodiversity of Ecuador.
Our Publicacions
Documents:
- POSTER: Participatory initiative to protect key marine ecosystems in Ecuador, Project GALERA – SAN FRANCISCO. PDF (232 KB)
- ARTICLE: Private Incentives to Conserve Ecuador’s Coast, Project GALERA – SAN FRANCISCO. PDF (150 KB)
Maps:
- Location of the proposed Marine Reserve and the interpretation centre, Project GALERA – SAN FRANCISCO. PDF (4,96 MB)
- Proposal for the conservation of a coastal-marine protected area to the south of the Esmeraldas province, Project ESMEMAR. PDF (2,61 MB)
- Location of the proposed Marine Reserve and location of the GPS points, Project SANTA ELENA. PDF (11,7 MB)
- Bathymetric map of the covered area, Project SANTA ELENA. PDF (10,5 MB)
- Habitats of the rocky-sandy bottom of the covered area, Project SANTA ELENA. PDF (7,5 MB)
- Map of the intertidal systems, Project ECUADORIAN COAST. PDF (3,23 MB)
- Map of the subtidal systems, Project ECUADORIAN COAST. PDF (2,94 MB)
- Map Portfolio – Priorities, Project ECUADORIAN COAST. PDF (3,67 MB)
Our Partners
Nazca Institute collaborates with various institutions. Without their technical and financial support, our work would not be possible:
- Association of Private Landowners “Bosque y Mar (Forest and Sea)”
- Committee of Local Development Sea and Forest of the Marine Reserve Galera-San Francisco
- Conservation International (CI) more…
- Cooperative of Artisanal Fishermen of Punta Galera “Puerto Galera”
- Cooperative of Artisanal Fishermen of Cabo de San Francisco “7 de Julio”
- Corporation of Environmental Law and Management ECOLEX more…
- National Environmental Fund (FAN) more…
- Latin-American Future Foundation (FFLA) more…
- The Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences (GAIAS) more…
- Institute of Applied Ecology of the University Of San Francisco De Quito (ECOLAP) more..
- Committees of Galera, Quingue and San Francisco del Cabo
- Lighthouse Foundation more…
- Ministry of Environment of Ecuador (MAE) more…
- The Nature Conservancy (TNC) more…
- COCIBA – Instituto de Ecologia Aplicada de la Universidad San Francisco de Quito more…
- Flora and Fauna International more…
- Charles Darwin Foundation more…
