NEWS: Two New Protected Areas in Bolivia Protect 2.8 Million Acres of the Amazon, Build on Wyss Campaign for Nature’s Success
Photo credit: Andes Amazon Fund
The Wyss Campaign for Nature’s primary goal is to meet the scale of the crisis facing nature by helping to accelerate the pace and scale of locally-driven, place-based conservation efforts around the world – as we support and encourage international commitments to protect 30 percent of the planet’s lands and ocean by 2030.
The work, led by local communities, Indigenous Peoples, nonprofit organizations, and governments to identify and, ultimately, establish permanent protections for critically important lands and waters is often hard and time consuming. The end-result is a system of conserved areas that represents the values of communities and that safeguards wildlife, protects clean air and water, and preserves culturally-significant resources.
Since launching over two years ago, the Wyss Campaign for Nature has supported dozens of projects, resulting in 23.5 million acres of lands and 400,000 square kilometers of ocean area gaining permanent protection, including two new conservation areas established in Bolivia over the past month: the Bajo Paraguá Municipal Protected Area and the Bajo Paraguá-Concepción Municipal Conservation Area. Together, the areas permanently protect 2.8 million acres of land and water and strengthen a critical conservation corridor in eastern Bolivia.
Created on February 12th, the Bajo Paraguá Municipal Protected Area in San Ignacio protects over 2.4 million acres of Chiquitano and Amazonian forest; the Bajo Paraguá-Concepción Municipal Conservation Area, declared earlier this month, protects an additional 380,000 acres of Amazonian, Chiquitano, and floodplain forests, as well as a variety of aquatic ecosystems. Together with Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, to the east, and Copaibo Municipal Reserve and the Rio Blanco y Negro Wildlife Refuge to the west, the two new protected areas secure a connectivity corridor that spans over 10 million acres – approximately the size of Switzerland.
In the last two decades, the region has witnessed a loss of 10% of its tree cover, and in recent years, it has been severely impacted by fires. The new protected areas form an important barrier in the west against deforestation, specifically in the Chiquitano ecosystem. Chiquitano dry forests have a rich flora and fauna that mix elements of the Amazon and Chaco ecosystems. At least 256 species of trees and close to 1,400 species of vertebrates have been identified and registered in the region, and the area is vital for jaguar reproduction.
In addition to the ecological importance, the Bajo Paraguá area in San Ignacio has significant cultural value. It is home to five indigenous communities comprising 1,170 inhabitants from the Chiquitano and Guarasug’we groups, forest-based peoples whose territory partially overlaps with the area.
The creation of the two new protected areas was made possible through a collaboration between Andes Amazon Fund, Natura Bolivia, the Municipal Governments of San Ignacio de Velasco and Concepción, and the Departmental Government of Santa Cruz. Andes Amazon Fund’s financial support for this project was provided in part by the Wyss Campaign for Nature and the Wyss Foundation.
Since helping launch the Andes Amazon Fund in 2014, the Wyss Foundation’s support for the project has contributed to the permanent protection of more than 23 million acres in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador through the declaration of 45 new permanently protected areas.
As we join the San Ignacio de Velasco and Concepción municipal governments and local organizations in celebrating Bolivia's newest protected areas, the Wyss Campaign for Nature continues working in partnership with local communities in Africa, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America to safeguard the planet. The 30x30 goal will ultimately be reached by local people banding together to secure permanent protection of the areas important to them, and the Wyss Campaign for Nature is proud to provide critical support to many of these efforts.