The Republic of Ecuador will be the 85th Party to CMS as from 1 February 2004. The South American country borders the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru, the latter being already a Party to CMS. Ecuador's accession brings the total number of CMS Parties in the Americas to eight.

Ecuador is already Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Of direct relevance to CMS, Ecuador has ratified the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), which will enter into force on 1 February 2004 as well.

Due to its favourable climate and different ecosystems such as alpine grassland, coastal marshes and tropical rainforests, Ecuador hosts an abundant variety of species. Its territory spans the coastal plain, the Andean central highlands of 6,000 m altitude, the Amazonian jungle lowlands and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador’s first National Park. Unique species and ecosystems are to be found on the archipelago, located six hundred miles offshore in the Pacific Ocean.

Fourteen species listed on CMS Appendix I are reported to occur in Ecuador. These include four species of marine turtle, the Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), the Green turtle (Chelonia mydas), whose nesting colony in the Galapagos is one of the largest in the Eastern Pacific, the Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and the Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the critically endangered Galapagos petrel (Pterodroma phaeopygia). Three large whale species that are listed on both CMS Appendices, the Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), the Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) and the Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) are also designated for concerted actions under CMS.

The Waved albatross and the Black petrel listed on Appendix II are covered by ACAP, the most recent Agreement concluded under CMS. The Amazonian manatee, an aquatic mammal, which was included on Appendix II at COP7, is found in the lagoons and rivers that flow off of the Amazon River in Ecuador and its border countries. The Whale shark, the largest fish in the sea, occurs in the territorial waters of Ecuador. An Agreement on the conservation of this species is envisaged to be developed under CMS auspices.