“The cloud forests of the Intag area of Ecuador are in the confluence of two of the world’s hottest of the biological hotspots; the Chocó-Darien Western Ecuadorian, and the Tropical Andes biological Hotspots. Though only the sixth of the largest hotspot, the Tropical Andes is considered the single richest hotspot on the planet, containing approximately 15-17% of the world’s plant species and nearly 20% of its bird diversity (1,666). For both groups, the endemism is astonishingly over 40%.
Significant portions of these mountain forests are cloud forests. According to the United Nation’s World Conservation Center2 , cloud forests comprise only 2.5% of the world’s tropical forests, approximately 25% are found in the Andean region. For these reasons, they are considered to be on top of the list of threatened ecosystems. Furthermore, they play an oversized role in the protection of water resources – with several of the large world’s cities relying on them for their drinking water.” intagcloudforest.com