Editing Geography of Ecuador (section)

=== La Costa ===
The western coastal area of Ecuador borders the [[Pacific Ocean]] to the west, encompasses a broad coastal plain, and then rises to the foothills of the [[Andes]] Mountains to the east. It is estimated that 98% of the native forest of coastal Ecuador has been eliminated in favor of cattle ranching and other agricultural production, including [[banana]], [[Cocoa bean|cacao]] and [[coffee]] plantations. The forest fragments that still survive are primarily found along the coastal mountain ranges of Mache-Chindul, [[Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve|Jama-Coaque]], and Chongon-Colonche, and include tropical dry forest, tropical wet forest, tropical moist evergreen forest, premontane cloud forest, and mangrove forest. Collectively known as the [[Pacific Equatorial Forest]], these forest remnants are considered the most endangered tropical forest in the world, and are part of the Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena biodiversity hotspot.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biodiversity Hotspots|url=http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/tumbes_choco/Pages/default.aspx|work=Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena|access-date=13 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809042100/http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/tumbes_choco/Pages/default.aspx|archive-date=9 August 2011}}</ref> [[Guayaquil]], located on the southern part of the coast is the biggest city in the country. On the north coast of Ecuador the port of Balao in [[Esmeraldas (city)|Esmeraldas]] is used for oil export and the port of Manta was formerly used by the [[United States Air Force]] as a control point for narcotics traffic control until 2009.

A recent remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 635&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> of tidal flats in Ecuador, making it the 41st ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=N.J. |last2=Phinn |first2=S.R. |last3=DeWitt |first3=M. |last4=Ferrari |first4=R. |last5=Johnston |first5=R. |last6=Lyons |first6=M.B. |last7=Clinton |first7=N. |last8=Thau |first8=D. |last9=Fuller |first9=R.A. |title=The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats |journal=Nature |date=2019 |volume=565 |issue=7738 |pages=222–225 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0805-8 |pmid=30568300 |s2cid=56481043 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0805-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref>