 The
land got its name because of its geographic
location at the equator, and consists of
the Amazon lowland, the Andes highland,
and the coastal regions. The territory of
Ecuador also includes the Galapagos-Islands,
which lie approx. 1,000 km offshore.
Between
1998 and 2000 the country has suffered its
hardest crisis of economy and finances since
70 years. It slowly recovers. The growth
of the Gross National Product over the last
three years was between 2 and 3.5 %. The
economy mainly depends on the export of
agricultural products (bananas, cocoa, coffee,
tropical fruit, and flowers), fish and shrimps
as well as natural oil from the Amazon lowland.
It also depends on the transfer of money
from Ecuadorians who work the USA or in
Europe and send back part of their wages.
The
coast
The coastal region covers roughly one quarter
of the country. In wide parts, it consists
of fruitful humid swamps and is interspersed
with low hills. The biggest coastal city
is Guayaquil, an industrial city with 2.1
million inhabitants. While the delta areas
are mostly covered with mangrove woods,
the outer coasts have long beaches –
ideal for tourism. The phenomenon El Niño,
a strong warm tidal stream along the Pacific
coasts is the biggest risk to the coastal
area. His extreme climatic effects cause
serious economic damages: El Niño
97 – 98 caused damages of approx.
2.6 billion US$.
The
use of the coast by industry, agriculture,
fishing, shrimp farming, tourism and growth
of the cities is a great burden on the environment.
The region has applied IKZM as a control
instrument over the last 18 years with the
intention of buffering the environmental
damages, coordinating the use of resources,
protecting the environment, and increasing
the standard of life at the coast.
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