They are unique high-altitude tropical mountain ecosystems in the Andes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Northern Peru and a small area in Costa Rica and some regions in Africa and Asia. They have a high ecological and environmental value owing to the services they render to human wellbeing.
In Ecuador, páramos occupy an area of approximately 1,260,000 hectares, corresponding to 5% of the territorial extension. Fourteen out of the 35 protected areas comprised in the National System of Protected Areas have this sort of ecosystem, in addition to a series of areas such as protector forest and private reserves.
The typical daily weather goes past all seasons, that is “wintertime during the nights and summertime everyday”, it is generally cold with significant variations during the day; the weather determines the type of vegetation that includes characteristically frailejones, achupallas, bushes, straw fields and cushion grass. Fauna is relatively scarce, with several species of amphibians: i.e., marsupial frog, reptiles: i.e. lizards; birds: i.e. Andean condor and mammals (i.e. masked bear).
Since thousands of years ago, moorlands have been inhabited and the population has rich cultural traditions; however, inappropriate practices in the use of resources have had negative impacts on the ecosystem.
