Natura International

Biodiversity Snapshots: Bringing the Science of the Half-Earth Project Map to Local Partners

Natura International — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 16:59:42 +0000

E.O. Wilson

For as long as scientists have been making discoveries and developing their understanding of our world, they have been attempting to convey their message to the public effectively.

A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, E.O. Wilson was a master communicator and storyteller. He had an innate ability to take intricate scientific concepts and theories and describe them in engaging and meaningful ways for millions of people.

read full article on eowilsonfoundation.org here

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Catamarca: towards the first National Park

Natura Argentina Team — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 14:41:58 +0000

We present the results of the “Identification of Candidate Sites for the creation of national protected areas in the province of Catamarca”.

During September and October 2021, the National Park Administration (APN) and Natura Argentina teams worked on constructing a multi-criteria environmental assessment to identify Candidate Sites with high Conservation Values to create the first national protected area in Catamarca.

Given the declared interest on the part of the APN and the government of the province of Catamarca for the creation of the first Catamarca National Park, and the great diversity of ecosystems and landscapes that the province presents, a fruitful technical and collaborative work was undertaken to contribute to this process. The technical teams worked together, compiling available information on the environmental aspects of the provincial territory, layers of information related to land use, field data, and publications referring to biodiversity, among other sources, to carry out the analysis.

According to Cristina Casavecchia -advisor in planning and management of conservation and protected areas of Natura-: “Technical-scientific approaches like this are of great importance, to work on the strategic prioritization of potential sites to be declared as protected areas. Natura Argentina thus contributes with its work in this process and highlights the importance of inter-institutional collaboration, as is the case of this experience between APN and an NGO like Natura”.

Numerous technical coordination meetings and virtual workshops were held, in which professionals from both institutions participated, with different experiences relevant to the process. The main classification criteria were defined and weighed, specifically for each of the five ecoregions of the province of Catamarca: Monte de Sierras y Bolsones, Yungas, Chaco Seco, Puna and Altos Andes.

The fundamental criteria were linked to water, glaciers, vegetation and native forests, the impact of human activities and specific sites of importance for various species.

As a result of the multi-criteria analysis, the prioritized areas with an area greater than 10,000 ha were: 1) Salinas Grandes, 2) Bolsón de Pipanaco, 3) Seis Miles (north), 4) Aconquija Catamarca, 5) Seis Miles (south). It should be noted that the Sierras de Narváez are also positioned as a candidate site, although it is not among the 5 most relevant.

For the director of Natura Argentina, Lucila Castro, “the tools and results obtained in this work constitute a strategic input base for decision-making, related to the conservation values of the province of Catamarca and the Argentine Nation.”

We hope that, in future instances, more detailed evaluations will be developed jointly with key actors, on the feasibility of the Candidate Sites, or other proposed sites. For Castro, “the objective will be to achieve a proposal for a national protected area, technically robust, effective in representing ecoregions on a national scale, under a figure of protection, and that protects the natural and cultural heritage valued by the Catamarcan and Argentine community” .

Natura Argentina makes itself available to accompany the Government of Catamarca in seeking and jointly developing more detailed evaluations of the feasibility of the Candidate Sites, or other proposed sites, based on inter-institutional, collaborative, mixed cabinet, and fieldwork.

The full report is available here.

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Catamarca: ¿hacia el primer Parque Nacional?

Equipo Natura Argentina — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 13:54:47 +0000

Presentamos los resultados de la Identificación de Sitios Candidatos para la creación de áreas protegidas nacionales en la provincia de Catamarca.

Durante los meses de septiembre y octubre de 2021, los equipos de la Administración de Parque Nacionales (APN) y Natura Argentina trabajaron en la construcción de una evaluación ambiental multicriterio, con el objetivo de identificar Sitios Candidatos, con altos Valores de Conservación, para la creación de la primera área protegida nacional en Catamarca.

Ante el interés declarado por parte de la APN y el gobierno de la provincia de Catamarca para la creación del primer Parque Nacional catamarqueño, y la gran diversidad de ecosistemas y paisajes que la provincia presenta, se emprendió un fructífero trabajo técnico y colaborativo para aportar a este proceso. Los equipos técnicos trabajaron en conjunto, recopilando información disponible sobre los aspectos ambientales del territorio provincial, capas de información relacionadas con usos del suelo, datos de campo y publicaciones referidas a la biodiversidad, entre otras fuentes para realizar el análisis.

Según Cristina Casavecchia -asesora en planificación y gestión de conservación y áreas protegidas de Natura-: “Son de gran importancia los abordajes técnico-científicos como este, para trabajar en la priorización estratégica de sitios potenciales para ser declarados como áreas protegidas. Natura Argentina contribuye así con su trabajo en este proceso y destaca la importancia de la colaboración interinstitucional, como es el caso de esta experiencia entre APN y una ONG como Natura”.

Se llevaron a cabo numerosas reuniones técnicas de coordinación y talleres virtuales, en los que participaron profesionales de ambas instituciones, con diferentes experiencias relevantes para el proceso. Se lograron definir y ponderar los principales criterios de clasificación, de manera específica para cada una de las cinco ecorregiones de la provincia de Catamarca: Monte de Sierras y Bolsones, Yungas, Chaco Seco, Puna y Altos Andes.

Los criterios fundamentales definidos se vincularon con el agua, los glaciares, la vegetación y los bosques nativos, el impacto de actividades antrópicas y sitios específicos de importancia para diversas especies.

Como resultado del análisis multicriterio, las áreas priorizadas con una superficie mayor a 10.000 ha fueron: 1) Salinas Grandes, 2) Bolsón de Pipanaco, 3) Seis Miles (norte), 4) Aconquija catamarqueño, 5) Seis Miles (sur). Cabe destacar que las Sierras de Narváez también se posicionan como un sitio candidato, si bien no se encuentra dentro de los 5 más relevantes.

Para la directora de Natura Argentina, Lucila Castro, “las herramientas y los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo constituyen un insumo estratégico base para la toma de decisiones, relacionado con los valores de conservación de la provincia de Catamarca y de la Nación Argentina”.

Es de esperar que, en instancias futuras, se desarrollen evaluaciones más detalladas de manera conjunta con actores claves, sobre la factibilidad de los Sitios Candidatos, u otros sitios propuestos. Para Castro, “el objetivo será alcanzar una propuesta de área protegida nacional, robusta técnicamente, eficaz en la representación de ecorregiones a escala nacional, bajo una figura de protección, y que proteja el patrimonio natural y cultural valorado por la comunidad catamarqueña y argentina”.

Natura Argentina se pone a disposición para acompañar al Gobierno de Catamarca en buscar y desarrollar de manera conjunta evaluaciones más detalladas de factibilidad de los Sitios Candidatos, u otros sitios propuestos, a partir de un trabajo interinstitucional, colaborativo, mixto de gabinete y de campo.

Aquí se puede consultar el informe completo.

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The Largest Salt Lake in South America is Now a National Park

Natura Argentina Team — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 04:03:17 +0000

The Largest Salt Lake in South America is Now a National Park

A new national law in Argentina protects one million acres of wetland in Córdoba province. We celebrate this achievement for Mar Chiquita and its local wildlife and communities.

Flamingos in Ansenuza National Park in Argentina.

On June 30, 2022, the Argentinian government announced the new Ansenuza National Park, comprising the Mar Chiquita salt lake in Argentina’s Córdoba province and its surrounding wetlands. It was the final step to officially establish more than one million acres of wetland as a protected area. The process began after the provincial law ceding jurisdiction for the park passed in a unanimous vote by Córdoba province in August 2021.

Ansenuza National Park in Mar Chiquita, Argentina.

Mar Chiquita can be a rosy sight. The salt lake—the largest in South America and the fifth largest in the world—supports more than 300,000 flamingos from three different species (the Andean, Chilean and James’ Flamingos). Numerous other species of shorebirds and waterbirds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish also make Mar Chiquita their home.

“It is one of the most important wetlands in South America,” explains Lucila Castro, Argentine director of Natura International. “The region is rich in biodiversity and many species, especially migratory birds, depend on the lake for survival. Mar Chiquita also supports the local community by providing a source of tourism. Sadly, it is facing many threats: climate change, water diversion and pollution, hunting and deforestation. That is why we were fighting to give the lake and wetlands the highest protection as a national park.”

Ansenuza National Park in Mar Chiquita, Argentina.

Since 2017, Natura Argentina, Aves Argentinas and Wyss Foundation, together with the National Park Service and other environmental NGOs, have been working with national, regional and local governments and communities to protect the Mar Chiquita area from further degradation. After many conversations with stakeholders about a future national park, discussing strategies for its creation, and collecting information on the wetland (such as the number of flamingos that inhabit it), the multidisciplinary team collaborating on the project have finally reached their goal.

“The national designation is critical for the area’s protection because many of the threats to the area originate upstream, and so a national and multi-jurisdiction response is needed to protect this jewel of the continent” says Byron Swift, president of Natura International and part of the wildlands team at Re:wild, which is supporting Natura’s efforts to create more protected natural areas in Argentina.

A Maned Wolf, one of the species that live in savanna habitats near Ansenuza National Park in Argentina and will benefit from the protections the new park affords.

Now with new national protection, not only species living inside Mar Chiquita will be better shielded from outside threats, but wildlife in the surrounding region will be as well. Vulnerable mammal species like the Collared Peccary, Jaguarundi and Pampas Fox live in nearby savannah habitats. The Chaco Tortoise and Maned Wolf are both at risk of extinction. Mar Chiquita will of course also protect the huge population of flamingos at the lake, which at its biggest can comprise anywhere from five to 50% of the global population of Andean, Chilean and James’ species.

Ansenuza National Park in Mar Chiquita, Argentina.

One of the project goals was to connect the vision and benefits of a national park with local communities, who will be most affected by the new legislation. The communities in Mar Chiquita and nearby towns will benefit from sustainable tourism in the region, and that could lead to an increased appreciation and understanding of the surrounding wildlife and how they can exist in harmony. A fear of the unknown and what national park status actually entails meant that many were uncertain about the project at first, says Castro.

Ansenuza National Park in Mar Chiquita, Argentina.

“Initially people may not have known what to think about the national park, but once they learned how it would help, they were really enthusiastic and wanted to be involved,” she says. “Eventually we had 11 municipalities on board and government officials passionately supporting the park, which is amazing and quite moving! The local people are the main actors, and it is important that they were given the choice in the project. We just provided the tools to help them decide.”

Camera traps and other equipment funded by Re:wild, Idea Wild, the Neotropical Grassland Conservancy, and the Conservation, Food & Health Foundation have served as valuable tools for not only sampling populations of wildlife around Mar Chiquita—even discovering new species for the region—but for education, too. Among the project’s various activities, conservation teams have been using the information from camera traps to work with children in schools and teach them why the lake is so important to protect. Castro says: “Based on all the species we identified using the camera traps, such as Pumas, small cats and deer, there is so much more out there than even I realized. We need to understand more about the flora and fauna in Mar Chiquita so that we know how to save it. Working with the community to promote sustainability and natural heritage shows people what we have – and this national park shows that they want to take care of it.”

Celebration of the new Ansenuza National Park in Mar Chiquita, Argentina.

The Natura Argentina team is proud to have been a part of this effort and to see our collaborative work come to fruition after so many years. We will continue to work with our partners at the local level and with the National Park Service to help monitor and protect the species that live in, or migrate through, the area. In addition, we are working with communities in the neighboring province of Santiago del Estero, upstream of Mar Chiquita, to gain support for expanding the protected area in the adjacent Rio Dulce Wetlands.

We are working with the National Park Service and other partners, including indigenous community groups, to establish protected areas in four additional provinces of northwestern Argentina, as well as areas in Ecuador and Venezuela of high conservation value. Please support our work today, and help us achieve lasting protection for wildlife and benefits for local communities!

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The Dulce River marshlands are seriously threatened and require urgent protection measures

Enrique Bucher — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 16:52:45 +0000

By Enrique Bucher

Wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. It is estimated that half of the original area occupied has already been lost, despite international efforts, in particular the Ramsar Convention of 1971. This reduction obviously impacts biodiversity and the environmental services provided by wetlands.

The South American Gran Chaco is an ecoregion that is still rich in wetlands, although it does not escape the global regressive trend. The Chaco is not only affected by intense deforestation, but also by a parallel and equally intense process of loss of natural grasslands, both in terrestrial and wetland environments. Unfortunately, this loss has not received attention proportional to that given to forests, both at the level of public opinion and current legislation.

The Dulce River marshlands occupy the flood valley of the final portion of the Dulce River, which includes portions of Santiago del Estero and Cordoba. With an extension of about ten thousand square kilometers, they constitute an outstanding and very valuable example of the few remaining large surface fragments in the Chaco.

The region is characterized by a heterogeneous and complex landscape, which combines the course of the Dulce River, temporary and permanent lagoons, extensive grasslands, and bushes and cactus thickets, constituting a typical flooded savannah of pluvial origin. Within this vast region is the protected area of the provincial reserve and Ramsar site “Dulce River marshlands and Mar Chiquita lagoon” in the province of Cordoba. There is no counterpart with the same degree of protection in the province of Santiago del Estero.

(Victoria Lassaga / Natura International)

The role of floods and fire

Saline wetland grasslands are fundamentally conditioned by high soil salinity and also by two fundamental dynamic factors: the occurrence of annual floods and fires. Both are essential for grassland survival.

Annual flooding is caused by the annual overflows of the Dulce River, which occur between approximately March and July.

This sheet of water moves southward until it reaches the Mar Chiquita Lagoon, covering an area that varies annually depending on rainfall in the river basin, which can reach more than four thousand square kilometers. The flooding washes salts from the soil and provides nutrients carried by the river, facilitating the growth of vegetation. When the waters recede at the end of winter, much of the plant biomass produced dries out and is easily ignitable, giving rise to the annual period of fires, which have both natural (lightning) and man-made origins. Fire eliminates shrubs that compete with grasslands and produces rapid nutrient cycling and regrowth of grasses with high nutritional value for livestock.

Neither flooding nor fire are adverse processes that need to be controlled. On the contrary, if they are eliminated, the system can be greatly altered. The importance of these annual environmental pulses becomes evident when the environmental impact of their suppression is visualized. Soil salinity would increase, grasslands would be replaced by shrubs, and the landscape would be transformed into a much less productive salar with less biodiversity of birds and other species.

(Victoria Lassaga / Natura International)

Land use

The marshlands area was under indigenous control until around 1860, when the indigenous populations were displaced. Since then, the European population was always low, and cattle ranching was the main resource under exploitation. Livestock management was based on transhumance, a practice that consisted of moving herds away from the shore of the Dulce River during the flood season and returning them during the low water season. Such management was possible thanks to the almost total lack of fences. This practice is common in other pasture regions of the world, and is equivalent to the “veranada” that is practiced in the mountainous regions of Argentina when cattle are moved to the highlands in summer and returned to the lowlands in winter.

Threats

Since the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, new forms of water resource management and land use have appeared that seriously threaten the future of the wetlands.

Firstly, the increase in water consumption for domestic and agricultural use in the upper Dulce River has led to a decrease in the amount of water reaching the marshes, both in terms of total annual flow and the magnitude of annual floods. Secondly, there has been a rapid increase in land acquisitions in the region for the establishment of livestock and even crops in permanent fenced areas, thus making the continuation of itinerant livestock practically impossible, and causing changes in the natural vegetation due to the establishment of pastures and non-native crops.

As a result, there has been a significant modification of the landscape structure of the marshlands even within the protected area in Cordoba, which is very negative for regional biodiversity. In addition, these changes have provoked serious social conflicts with the original inhabitants of the area who practiced itinerant cattle ranching.

What to do

Unless the current threats are recognized and both the local community and regional authorities manage to implement adequate management measures, the subsistence of the Dulce River wetlands is clearly threatened. This requires immediate action based on an understanding of the ecological functionality of the Dulce River wetlands.
This includes first of all a rationalization of the management of the flow of the Dulce river to ensure the necessary quantity to maintain the ecosystem in its current condition, both in terms of water quantity and annual flooding pulse.

In addition, it is necessary to rethink current land use, which not only affects native pastures and local biodiversity, but also has very severe limitations for traditional agricultural and livestock use.
It would also be very important to create new areas within the wetlands under strict reserve conditions (without any type of use), in order to ensure the integral preservation of the ecoregion’s biodiversity.

Reference: Bucher, E. H. 2016. The uncertain future of the Chaco wetlands: the case of the Dulce River wetlands. PARAQUARIA NATURAL 4(2): 11 -18.

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Los Bañados del Río Dulce están seriamente amenazados y requieren urgentes medidas de protección

Enrique Bucher — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 13:39:34 +0000

Por Enrique Bucher

Los humedales están entre los ecosistemas más amenazados a nivel mundial. Se estima que la mitad de la superficie ocupada originalmente ya se ha perdido, a pesar de los esfuerzos internacionales, en particular de la Convención Ramsar de 1971. Esta reducción impacta obviamente sobre la biodiversidad y los servicios ambientales que prestan los humedales.

El Gran Chaco Sudamericano es una ecorregión todavía rica en humedales, aunque no escapa a la tendencia regresiva mundial. El Chaco no sólo está afectado por una intensa deforestación, sino también por un proceso paralelo e igualmente intenso de pérdida de pastizales naturales, tanto en ambientes terrestres como en humedales. Lamentablemente, esta pérdida no ha recibido una atención proporcional a la otorgada a los bosques, tanto a nivel de la opinión pública como de la legislación vigente.

Los Bañados del río Dulce ocupan el valle de inundación de la porción final del río Dulce que incluye porciones de Santiago del Estero y Córdoba. Con una extensión de alrededor de diez mil kilómetros cuadrados, constituyen un ejemplo destacado y muy valioso de los pocos fragmentos de gran superficie que todavía subsisten en el Chaco.

La región está caracterizada por un paisaje heterogéneo y complejo, en el que se combinan el curso del río Dulce, lagunas temporarias y permanentes, amplios pastizales, y matorrales de arbustos y cardones, constituyendo una típica sabana inundable de origen pluvial. Dentro de esa vasta región se encuentra el área protegida de la reserva provincial y sitio Ramsar “Bañados del río Dulce y Laguna Mar Chiquita” en la provincia de Córdoba. No existe una contraparte con igual grado de protección en la provincia de Santiago del Estero.

(Crédito: Victoria Lassaga / Natura International)

El rol de las inundaciones y el fuego

Los pastizales de humedales salinos están condicionados fundamentalmente por una alta salinidad de los suelos y también por dos factores dinámicos fundamentales: la ocurrencia de inundaciones e incendios anuales. Ambos son esenciales para la supervivencia de los pastizales.

La inundación anual se origina por los desbordes anuales del río Dulce, los que ocurren entre marzo y julio aproximadamente.

Esta lámina de agua se desplaza hacia el sur hasta llegar a la laguna Mar Chiquita, cubriendo un área que varía anualmente dependiendo de las lluvias en la cuenca del río, la cual puede llegar a más de cuatro mil kilómetros cuadrados. La inundación lava las sales de los suelos y aporta nutrientes acarreados por el río, facilitando el crecimiento de la vegetación. Al retirarse las aguas al final del invierno gran parte de la biomasa vegetal producida se seca y es fácilmente inflamable, dando lugar al período anual de incendios, los cuales tienen tanto origen natural (rayos) como producidos por el hombre. El fuego elimina los arbustos que compiten con los pastizales y produce un rápido ciclado de nutrientes y el rebrote de pastos con alto valor nutritivo para el ganado.

Ni la inundación ni el fuego son procesos adversos que deban ser controlados. Por lo contrario, si se los elimina el sistema puede ser alterado en gran medida. La importancia de estos pulsos ambientales anuales se evidencia cuando se visualiza el impacto ambiental que tendría la supresión de los mismos. La salinidad del suelo aumentaría, los pastizales serían reemplazados por arbustos, y el paisaje se transformaría en un salar mucho menos productivo y con menor biodiversidad de aves y otras especies.

(Crédito: Victoria Lassaga / Natura International)

Uso de la tierra

El área de los Bañados estuvo bajo control indígena hasta alrededor de 1860, cuando las poblaciones indígenas fueron desplazadas. Desde entonces la población europea fue siempre baja, y la ganadería fue el principal recurso bajo explotación. El manejo del ganado se basó en la ganadería trashumante, práctica que consiste en mover los rebaños lejos de la costa del río Dulce en época de crecidas para retornarlo durante la estación de bajante. Dicho manejo era posible gracias a la falta casi total de alambrados. Esta práctica es común en otras regiones pastizales del mundo, y es equivalente a la “veranada” que se practica en las regiones montañosas de Argentina cuando se traslada al ganado a tierras altas en verano y se lo retorna a las partes bajas en invierno.

Amenazas

A partir de finales del siglo XX y comienzos del XXI han aparecido nuevas formas de manejo del recurso hídrico y uso de la tierra que amenazan seriamente el futuro de los bañados.

En primer lugar, el aumento del consumo de agua para uso doméstico y agrícola en el alto Río Dulce ha determinado una disminución del aporte que llega a los bañados, tanto en términos del caudal anual total como de la magnitud de las inundaciones anuales. En segundo término, se viene produciendo una rápida escalada en adquisiciones de tierra en la región destinadas a implantar ganadería y aun cultivos en áreas cercadas permanentes, haciendo de esa forma prácticamente imposible la continuación de la ganadería itinerante, y provocando cambios en la vegetación natural debida a la implantación de pasturas y cultivos no nativos.

(Crédito: Victoria Lassaga / Natura International)

Como resultado se observa una modificación significativa de la estructura del paisaje de los bañados aun dentro del área protegida en Córdoba, lo cual está siendo muy negativo para la biodiversidad regional. En adición, estos cambios han provocado serios conflictos sociales con los pobladores originales del área que practicaban la ganadería itinerante.

Qué hacer

A menos que las actuales amenazas sean reconocidas y que tanto la comunidad local como las autoridades regionales logren implementar medidas de manejo adecuadas, la subsistencia de los bañados del río Dulce está claramente amenazada. Para ello se requieren acciones inmediatas y basadas en el entendimiento de la funcionalidad ecológica de los bañados de río Dulce.

Esto incluye en primer término una racionalización del manejo del caudal del río Dulce que asegure la cantidad necesaria para mantener el ecosistema en su condición actual, tanto en lo que hace a la cantidad de agua como al pulso anual de inundación.

Además, se requiere replantear el uso de la tierra que se hace en la actualidad, que no solo afectan a las pasturas nativas y a la biodiversidad local, sino que también tienen limitaciones muy severas para el uso agrícola ganadero tradicional.

Muy importante también sería crear nuevas áreas dentro de los bañados bajo condiciones de reserva estricta (sin ningún tipo de uso), con el fin de asegurar la preservación integral de la biodiversidad de la ecorregión.

Referencia: Bucher, E. H. 2016. El futuro incierto de los humedales del Chaco: el caso de los bañados del Río Dulce. PARAQUARIA NATURAL 4(2): 11 -18.

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