Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network
November 30, 2001

Whole species of animals and plants are vanishing from the natural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean as their forest habitats are converted for development.

"The rate at which plant and animal life is lost in Latin America and the Caribbean is astonishing and alarming," warned Steve McCormick, president of the Nature Conservancy.

Funding for conservation efforts can help, and the organization is broadening its partnership with the U.S. government's foreign aid agency to supply that funding.

Over the next five years, new protections for national parks and natural areas in Latin America and the Caribbean will be funded by a $30 million extension of the present partnership between the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The initiative, called Parks in Peril, aims to turn so-called "paper parks" — which are protected by documents but not in fact — into fully functioning protected areas. Environmental nongovernmental organizations are incorporated into the program as experienced partners who can help shape public policy.

The Conservancy and USAID want to improve the management of entire systems of national parks and develop a network of Latin American and Caribbean parks to stop unsustainable forestry practices and conversion of tropical forests into agricultural lands. The idea is that as park managers work together and with conservation organizations across national boundaries, the loss of plant and animal life might be halted and even reversed.

"More than 40 million acres of tropical rain forest are lost each year, and 50 to 150 plants and animal species become extinct every day," said McCormick. "This presents an enormous challenge for those of us who are trying to protect biological resources from being lost forever to current and future generations. This initiative gives us the resources to work in partnership with conservation organizations throughout the region to identify the most critical natural habitat and protect it."

USAID will provide $23 million to the initiative during the next five years. The Conservancy and environmental organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean will contribute $7 million.

The present 10-year-old partnership between USAID and the Conservancy has already helped local organizations in the region protect 37 of what McCormick calls "the most significant natural areas" for a total of more than 28 million acres.

One of the 37 areas that has already benefited from the Parks in Peril program is Machalilla National Park on the western coast of Ecuador. In partnership with Fundación Natura, the park's 234 bird species — 15 percent of Ecuador's birds — and 81 species of mammals — 23 percent of the mammals in the country — have been better protected. Local communities participate in a sea turtle monitoring program, making the management of nesting beaches possible.During the next five years, the Parks in Peril program intends to ensure sustainable protection at 11 additional national parks and reserves that are designated by governments as protected but currently lack adequate humanpower and resources to conserve them. Seven of these sites have already been identified in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

The credibility and influence established at the 37 sites already protected will be used to train authorities responsible for managing hundreds of other parks and reserves.

Conservation of parks and reserves in developing countries is a complex process, said McCormick. It includes traditional activities such as training park guards and patrolling boundaries but extends also to environmental education and outreach to improve income and health in communities around parks.

"The Parks in Peril program takes a holistic approach to conservation, helping its partner organizations to assemble the right mix of strategies and local collaborators for a successful conservation package," said McCormick. "In addition to conserving biodiversity, these efforts often contribute to other important development goals such as poverty alleviation, family health, and a greater role of civil society in government," he said.

In Bolivia, partner organizations at 6 sites will work with the government to improve its management of the country's 22 national parks. Land managers will learn and put into practice strategic and effective conservation planning, methods of generating funds for conservation, and outreach activities that foster support for conservation among communities near protected areas.

One of the greatest obstacles to conservation in developing countries is a scarcity of government funding for management of national parks. The goal of one alliance will be to ensure that each country involved has a trust fund to support conservation.

These environmental funds, which the Conservancy and USAID have already helped establish in a number of countries, are financed from a variety of government and nongovernment sources and provide an endowment that funds conservation work indefinitely. Error: Unable to read footer file.