World Land Trust's latest Big Match Fortnight underway

The World Land Trust’s (WLT) latest Big Match Fortnight is aiming to save parts of Ecuador's upper Río Pastaza watershed.

WLT and Fundación EcoMinga have been working together in the area since 2007. In that time, close to 100 species have been discovered here – including frogs, toads, orchids and magnolias – almost all of them found nowhere else on Earth.

The upper Río Pastaza watershed is home to the most important Black-and-chestnut Eagle habitat in Ecuador (Nick Athanas).

In a place with such endemic biodiversity, every felled tree has the potential to send highly specialised species spiralling towards extinction. Oil, timber and agriculture industries are now encroaching upon Río Anzu and Río Zúñac, two reserves home to wildlife living on the edge.

This year, for the very first time, all donations made during Big Match Fortnight will be matched to triple their gift value, giving you the chance to make more of an impact for nature than ever before.

WLT hopes to double the amount of land protected by Anzu and Zúñac, connecting the reserves to a critical biological corridor and saving precious forest habitat from irrevocable damage.

The upper Río Pastaza watershed is home to more endemic plant species than the Galapagos Islands. Located in the Tropical Andes, the most biodiverse of all the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots, the watershed is also part of the most important Black-and-chestnut Eagle habitat in Ecuador, home to around 30 individuals – 15% of Ecuador's entire population

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