Diseño de un Itinerario Interpretativo sobre el Parque Nacional Cayambe Coca

Abstract

Abstract: Cayambe Coca National Park is an area of natural resources related to conservation, research, and environmental education; currently protected areas are under anthropic pressures due to human activities. For this reason, the design of an Interpretive Itinerary is proposed, where the following objectives were proposed: Carry out a diagnosis of the area with respect to the available equipment and resources with interpretative potential and finally propose an interpretative itinerary, which allows the protection and conservation of natural resources of the protected area. The research was carried out at the Baños de la Parroquia de Papallacta Control Point, using a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach, through a semi-structured interview with 12 park managers to gather information about the current situation of the area, a survey of 244 visitors to learn their profile, and using the interpretive potential calculation matrix, to identify sites or elements with high interpretive potential. It was determined that there is a lack of infrastructure and scarce equipment to develop environmental education and interpretation activities. Finally, for the development of the interpretive itinerary, it is proposed to implement interpretive and informative media in places with high interpretive potential.