We Support the Protection of Natural Areas

A protected area is a tool for the long-term conservation of the biological and cultural diversity of a territory. It is composed of geographically defined and delimited spaces, which must be integrated with the surrounding territories to guarantee biological connectivity (for example, through buffer zones or ecological corridors). It should also integrate local communities through participatory mechanisms, both at the time of creation and during implementation.

There are various categories of protected area management, ranging from strict categories, which only allow research, control and surveillance, to less strict categories, which allow the sustainable use of natural resources. There are different governance schemes for the areas: they can be administered by governments at different levels (municipal, provincial, national), by private landowners, indigenous or local peoples, universities, or they can be jointly managed by some of these administrators.

The creation of a protected area offers significant benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services. A protected area can preserve key portions of watersheds (such as aquifer catchment and recharge sites), contributing to the care of water for consumption and productive use in neighboring areas; it can protect key links in food chains, collaborating in the biological control of pests and/or naturally regulating the emergence of zoonotic diseases; and it allows the custody of landscapes and cultural-natural sites that serve for the enjoyment, recreation and spiritual connection of visitors and local inhabitants. The development of sustainable tourism, scientific, recreational and environmental education activities in these areas provides opportunities for local and regional socio-economic development.

At Natura International we are dedicated to promoting the creation of new protected areas in areas where globally important biodiversity is threatened. We invest mainly in Argentina, but also support highly catalytic projects in the Amazon rainforests and Andean cloud forests when the opportunity arises.

Our in-country partners and allies work closely with local communities and municipal, provincial and national governments, articulating with local NGOs and the scientific sector to achieve these conservation objectives. We are committed to expanding the network of protected areas, which represent an extraordinary opportunity for communities and conservation.

La Rioja: Protected Area in the Sierras of Famatina

We support Natura Argentina’s work toward the creation of a protected area in the Sierras de Famatina, an area of great biological value and beauty in La Rioja, located in northwestern Argentina.

Its high mountains and deep valleys contain an important diversity of plants and animals. Its snow-covered peaks rise to over 5,000 meters, with montane forests and the vegetation at its base creating a beautiful landscape that deserves to be protected.

The conservation of this area has been threatened on several occasions by large international mining companies seeking to extract the gold deposits in these Sierras, which damages the main resource of this place: water.

Natura Argentina works together with the local communities to conserve the watershed and the biodiversity of the area, and to strengthen the local economy by promoting nature tourism as a sustainable alternative. The creation of a protected area that provides a legal shield to these mountains will put an end to the fight against open-pit mining.

Learn more about this and other projects of Natura Argentina at: www.naturaargentina.org

Salta: Protection of Chaco and Altos Andes

In Salta, Natura Argentina works with the provincial government, local communities and other relevant stakeholders to promote the participatory design of protected areas in natural and cultural landscapes of conservation priority. These areas will preserve a variety of ecosystems, ranging from the rich forests of the Chaco in the lowlands to the High Andes at over 5,000 meters.

These areas contain many species of conservation concern, including endangered species such as the Chacoan Peccary, the Jaguar, the Taruca and the Andean Cat. The territories contain relevant cultural heritage and are also important for human needs and well-being, as they host the upper reaches of watersheds that provide drinking water to downstream communities or protect indigenous lands.

Natura Argentina facilitates and supports alliances and constructive dialogues with governments, indigenous peoples, local inhabitants, universities and municipalities, with the aim of achieving the declaration of protected areas through legitimate participatory processes.

Ansenuza National Park

Since 2020, Natura International has supported Natura Argentina and other local conservationist in their efforts to create a protected area in Ansenuza.

Natura Argentina collaborates with the national and provincial government for the conservation of the Mar Chiquita and the Rio Dulce wetland ecosystems in the provinces of Cordoba and Santiago del Estero. Their joint efforts led to the declaration of the Ansenuza National Park of 661,416 hectares in 2022, located in Cordoba.

This wetland stands out for its vast diversity of environments and represents a key site for global biodiversity conservation.

Its grasslands, forests, and coastal areas support a wide variety of wildlife, including three out of the six flamingo species worldwide. Moreover, it serves as a primary destination for long-distance migrants, such as the Wilson’s Phalarope or swimming plovers.

This region is the habitat for numerous species currently classified under various levels of threat, including the maned wolf, collared peccary, and armadillo.

Mendoza

In the Uspallata Valley, we are supporting Natura Argentina in its goal to create the first National Park in the province of Mendoza.

The objective is to guarantee the conservation of the headwaters of the Mendoza River basin, the main source of water for human consumption and for production in the north of the province.

This project represents an opportunity to conserve water, biodiversity and the history of the town, and promote local development through sustainable tourism.

The Project

Located 120 km away from Mendoza city, Uspallata is a mountain oasis, which contains a representative sample of the Monte, Puna and Altos Andes ecoregions and its ecotones, characterized by a high amount of endemism (species that only live there).

In Uspallata we can find the headwaters of the Mendoza River, and a system made up of more than 80 glaciers, watercourses and high-altitude wetlands (“vegas”), make up a large reservoir of pure water.

Estancia Uspallata is an important area in terms of the cultural and natural wealth of the country. It is an area of ​​public and national interest: cradle of the history of the independence of Argentina, and of Latin America.

The area is the habitat of one of the five most endangered felines in the world, the Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita).

There is also a great wealth of cultural values ​​related to the original settlers, the Inca occupation, the San Martinian epos and the heyday of the trans-Andean railway.

The National Park, in the sectors of the reserve of greater environmental value, will promote local development through tourism of nature, and history of the country.

Ecuador: Amazon and Key Biodiversity Habitats

In Ecuador, we carried out a series of projects that created new protected areas in three environments: the Ecuadorian Amazon, cloud forests and dry forests. In 2020, we co-financed the work that led to the creation of the Santiago Municipal Protected Area of more than 13,000 hectares, declared in March 2021. The reserve preserves extremely rich adjacent cloud forests and is a source of water for 15,000 people.

In 2021, we financially supported efforts to create the Santa Elena regional reserve, which could reach 250,000 hectares, including large areas of intact Tumbesian dry forests, recognized for their wide range of endemic species. We also financed the purchase of more than 76 hectares of cloud forest in Ecuador’s Nirmala Valley, which supports one of the last remaining groves of giant Podocarpus trees, giving this land the distinction of having the highest carbon mass of any site in South America.

Science and Conservation

Wilderness Areas

Wilderness areas, also known as roadless areas, are places where ecosystems retain their natural processes and biodiversity intact due to minimal human intervention. In South America, they constitute one of the most important reserves of biological diversity in the world.

We initiated a program to map wilderness areas and assess their contribution to regional and global biodiversity. The main objective of this project is to identify wildlands with the potential to become protected areas and to promote conservation initiatives at local, national and global scales.

Simultaneous census of high Andean flamingos

Natura International collaborates with the High Andean Flamingo Conservation Group (GCFA) in carrying out flamingo censuses. This group is made up of an international network of conservationists, professionals, government members and NGOs that have been monitoring flamingo populations in the wetlands of Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile for more than 20 years. The objective of this program is to achieve sustainable and integrated management of the high Andean wetlands and associated ecosystems, which are important for the conservation of flamingo species.

Every year, in summer and winter, we coordinate the aerial census in the Cordoban Mar Chiquita Lake. In addition to obtaining valuable information on the population dynamics of flamingos and their habitat use, we also census other species of waterbirds that share habitat and can learn about the general condition of the lake. This information collected over the years serves as the basis for the future Ansenuza National Park.

Latin American Alliance for the Conservation of the Jaguar and other Neotropical Felines

Natura International is part of this alliance, which aims to implement conservation actions and influence decision-making to ensure the conservation of the 11 species of felines that exist in Latin America and the habitats they occupy.

Argentina is part of the biological corridor of the jaguar and has declared this species a National Natural Monument, as it is part of the cultural and environmental heritage of our forests. At Natura International we are committed to ensuring that the jaguar does not disappear.

Mammal monitoring in Cordoba

The project consists of surveying with camera traps the diversity of medium and large terrestrial mammals in the surroundings of the Multiple Use Reserve “Bañados del Río Dulce y Laguna de Mar Chiquita”. Through this monitoring we study the movements and behaviors of the mammal populations that inhabit this wonderfully diverse ecosystem. The surveys began in December 2020 and have yielded very interesting results, such as the finding of Aguará popé (Crab-eating Racoons) in the area. The studies will continue in 2021 and 2022 in areas surrounding the wetland.

Given the loss of forests in the sector, it is extremely important to continue studying the wildlife species present in the reserve and their conservation status in order to take measures that will allow their protection and coexistence with the activities that take place in the wetland. This knowledge will also provide more information for future monitoring, detect changes in these populations over time, and lay the groundwork for the zoning of the future Ansenuza National Park.