March 29, 2024

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The Bolivian authorities has acknowledged 12,350 acres of Asociación Armonía‘s (Armonía’s) Barba Azul Nature Reserve as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) beneath its nationwide system of protected areas. This designation occurred in November 2020 and is the primary such recognition of a personal protected space in Bolivia in 9 years. The official RPPN declaration is important as a result of it improves the land’s protected standing by: eradicating necessities to have cattle or agricultural manufacturing there; offering nationwide recognition of the realm’s conservation significance; and making certain that Barba Azul could be managed completely for conservation.

The Barba Azul Nature Reserve was created by Armonía in 2008, with help from American Bird Conservancy (ABC), to safe habitat for the western inhabitants of the Critically Endangered Blue-throated Macaw, a species discovered solely in Bolivia. (Barba Azul means “Blue Beard,” the species’ native title.)

The Blue-throated Macaw’s wild inhabitants is estimated to quantity fewer than 500 people. These parrots are susceptible to extinction from unlawful trapping for the cage-bird commerce and the destruction of nesting and feeding timber of their native habitat.

With ongoing help from ABC and different companions, Armonía has managed this space to cut back the influence of artifical fires, enhance habitat, and develop ecotourism alternatives. These efforts additionally profit many different species. The space, for instance, gives very important feeding grounds for migratory shorebirds akin to Buff-breasted Sandpipers, and greater than 300 chicken species have been recorded on the property.

Blue-throated Macaw, copyright Paul Jones, from the surfbirds galleries

“The declaration of the Barba Azul Nature Reserve as a personal protected space is an incredible milestone for Armonía’s Blue-throated Macaw conservation program,” says Tjalle Boorsma, Armonía’s Director of Conservation Programs. “As a results of these modifications, habitat safety at Barba Azul is now lastly embraced on a nationwide stage, a vital constructive step.”

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The space now declared an RPPN types half of a bigger conservation panorama. The jap portion of Barba Azul Nature Reserve protects a further 14,820 acres exterior the RPPN that Armonía manages as a mannequin for sustainable and wildlife-friendly cattle ranching. Together, these two properties span 27,170 acres of protected habitat.

In addition to the significance of Barba Azul itself, the brand new RPPN declaration might have broader penalties for conservation in Bolivia: “Hopefully, the success of Barba Azul will assist to encourage the creation of comparable Private Natural Heritage Reserves in different components of the nation,” says John Mittermeier, ABC’s Director of Threatened Species Outreach, who can also be this system chief for ABC’s partnerships in Bolivia.

For many at ABC and Armonía, the affirmation of Barba Azul as a nationally acknowledged protected space marks the fruits of years of devoted conservation efforts. Bennett Hennessey, Armonía’s Director of Development, has been engaged on Blue-throated Macaw conservation in Bolivia since 2003. For him, the popularity has a deeper that means: “The protected space designation for Barba Azul clearly demonstrates {that a} constructive outlook and tenacity can obtain nice issues for conservation.”

Source www.surfbirds.com