El Cajas – a Unesco biosphere reserve

Cajas National Park, also known as El Cajas, was recently added to the list of protected biospheres by the Unesco. This natural reserve is located about an hour away from the city of Cuenca and covers close to one million hectares (2.47 million acres). The designation as a World Environment Biosphere Reserve includes the entire Massif of El Cajas, which includes marine farmland from the Gulf of Guayaquil, Cajas National Park, and the area of Quimsacocha. The entire park spans across four provinces: Azuay, Cañar, Guayas and El Oro. El Cajas becomes the 5th protected biosphere that Ecuador has; the other four are the Galapagos Islands, Yasuní, Sumaco and Podocarpus-El Condor.