A third initiative is the creation of a municipal system of protected areas, locally named Áreas de Conservación y Uso Sustentable . This system covers an area of 1320 km2, nearly a third of the Municipal Quito District. Half of this landscape  is covered by montane forests and paramos . These forests provide direct water, food and fibres for about 20,000 people and indirectly a rural landscape for a growing number of urban citizens and foreign tourists that practice ecotourism and look for fresh and healthy food. During the last three decades, this area has witnessed a high density of public and private conservation and restoration efforts that aim to regain ecological integrity and improve human well-being in deforested and degraded landscapes . Quito's system of protected areas constitutes a primary strategy for fostering links between urban and rural citizens as a means of understanding the ecological dependence of urban metropolises to their surrounding natural landscapes. Along the same lines, these areas constitute a key element to increase the adaptive capacity of rural livelihoods and contribute to mitigating climate change through landscape restoration, sustainable production and forest conservation .
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report