Latin America

BRAZIL:

Atlantic Forest Central Biodiversity Corridor, Southern Bahia
Once stretching 1.4 million sqaure kilometers, this rich forest has been reduced to 7 percent of its original size and is home to close to 70 percent of Brazil's total population, approximately 169 million people. Yet the forest is still home to a variety of animal and plant life, including 25 different species of primates, such as the endangered lion tamarins and northern muriquis. As the Atlantic forest is under massive logging, poaching, and urban and industrial development pressures, RARE is backing a Pride campaign in the region to create a strong environmental constituency that will help lessen pressure on the remaining swath of forest.

MEXICO:

Universidad de Guadalajara
From classes in puppeteering to seminars on survey techniques, the Diploma in Conservation Education is not just any university program. Serving as an innovative training center for local conservationists from Latin America, the campus-based program at the University of Guadalajara offers 10 weeks of intensive academic courses with workshops on practical techniques for inspiring conservation, grassroots style. The academic portion is followed by 11½ months in students' home countries where they put their skills into practice and carry out full-fledged Pride campaigns. After one year, the students return to Guadalajara to shares successes and challenges and plan future activities.

El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve:
Rising from the sea on Baja's eastern shore, El Vizcaíno is a paradise of mountain and ocean. From the gulf coast to the Sierra mountains of the Sonoran desert, the reserve encompasses the bays and lagoons of the sea, and the cultural and archeological sites of the mountains. The coastal lagoons of Ojo de Liebre and San Ignacio are important breeding and wintering sites for the grey whale, harbor seal, California sea lion, northern elephant-seal and blue whale. The area is also home to four species of the endangered sea turtle. But the region's marine resources have been declining due to unsustainable fishing practices and illegal wildlife extraction. RARE is training nature guides in the reserve and running an ecotourism promoters course in order to create a strong base for community development efforts. A Pride campaign, focused on raising awareness about threats to natural resources in the region is also taking place in and around the reserve.

Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve
In the language of the Maya people, Sian Ka'an means "Where the sky is born." Its deep blue waters are studded with mangroves, a variety of marine life, and part of the second largest coral barrier reef in the world. The reserve is also home to a range of wildlife from Giant Sperm Whales and Leatherback Turtles to flocks of Roseate Spoonbills and Jabiru Storks. Nearby communities, many of whose residents are descendants of the ancient Maya, depend upon a healthy fishery to make a living: fishing and lobstering are the mainstays the local economy. But as the metropolitan sprawl of Cancun expands its boundaries, development pressures increase on the protected area and its surroundings. RARE is currently training a corps of nature guides and ecotourism promoters based in the reserve, and creating a strong constituency for the environment through a Pride campaign.

El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve
Located in the Southern Sierra Madre Mountains of Chiapas, El Triunfo is a mega-diversity site, ranked as one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet and encompassing approximately 300,000 acres. Many of its trees reach 200 feet in height and are bathed in lichens, orchids, and flowering bromeliads. Established in 1990, the reserve encompasses 119,177 hectares, and contains valuable cloud and tropical moist forest. El Triunfo harbors 22 species of amphibians, 116 mammals, 63 reptiles, and 392 birds, with high levels of endemism. The reserve is working together with the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance to generate more income for park management and other conservation activities.

La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve
La Encrucijada is located in the Pacific coastal area of Chiapas, an area incredibly rich in biodiversity and home to over 600 species of birds. Tapir, jaguar, jaguarundi, and red brocket deer roam the dense forests and hundreds of shorebirds, iguanas, crocodiles and jaguar inhabit the coastal areas. The reserve encompasses nearly 360,000 acres of mangrove swamps, interlaced with a complex system of canals that gives the park its name, "the maze," in Spanish. La Encrucijada is difficult to access and it has joined the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance in order to generate increased visitation and funding for the control of illegal poaching within park boundaries.

Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve, Michoacan
At the end of every summer monarch butterflies from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains fly more then 5,000 kilometers (covering as much as 120 kilometers in a single day) to the Mexican state of Michoacan to hibernate in colonies of up to 20 million individuals. Their striking colonies drape the conifer forests of the reserve from November to February in great blankets of butterflies and visitors from around the world come to see the spectacle. Unfortunately, there has been little conservation effort made to halt the destruction of the forests the monarchs depend on for their hibernation grounds and the biosphere is under constant threat from agriculture, unsustainable tourism and development pressures. RARE is currently sponsoring a Pride Campaign in and around the reserve to encourage people to care for both the butterfly and its habitat and to understand their role in its protection.

El Ocote Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas
El Ocote Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas is part of the second largest tropical forest in Mesoamerica and one of the most biologically important regions in Mexico. The reserve encompasses 250,180 acres (101,288 ha) and is characterized by evergreen seasonal forest, lower montane rain forest, tropical deciduous forest, pine-oak forest, and short-tree savanna. It is also home to a variety of mammal and bird species, including jaguars, pumas, spider and howler monkeys, flying squirrels and tapirs. This tropical forest, while remaining rich in animal and plant species, is extremely threatened by agricultural development, wildlife poaching, and erosion. A Pride campaign, focused on creating a strong support base for the reserve and the species it protects, is currently taking place in and around El Ocote.

GUATEMALA:

Tikal National Park
Tikal is a breathtaking combination of man and nature, its ancient Maya temples rising dramatically from lush tropical forest. Named as much for its cultural value as its natural treasures, Tikal contains a vast swath of tropical rainforest and over 3,000 Mayan buildings dating from 600 BC to 900 AD. The park is also home to 333 species of avifauna including the Ocellated Turkey, Red Macaw, and Crested Eagle, as well as 54 species of mammal, such as the mantled howler monkey, the jaguar and the three-toed sloth. Threats to the region include the illegal extraction of xate (pronounced "sha-tay")-an endangered species of jade palm used in the international floral industry-and wildlife poaching. RARE has trained a corps of nature guides and ecotourism promoters within the park, and is launching a Pride campaign focused on creating a strong environmental constituency within the region.

HONDURAS:

Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve
The largest remaining tract of natural forest in Honduras, the Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve is home to an extensive mangrove ecosystem, mountainous highlands, Caribbean coast and the Plátano river. An estimated 2,000 vascular plants can be found in the reserve and as the region is perhaps the least studied of Honduras, the potential for discovering more is extremely high. Tapir and peccaries, howler and spider monkeys, and eagles and macaws populate the forests, and 200 amphibian and reptiles species have been observed. The region is also inhabited by over 2,000 indigenous people whose traditional lifestyles are threatened by encroaching settlements and commercial and agricultural developments. RARE is working together with communities in the biosphere reserve to strengthen ecotourism offerings, train nature guides and ecotourism promoters and run a year-long environmental education campaign.

Pico Bonito National Park
Pico Bonito National Park consists of 107,300 hectares of mountain peaks, rivers, and waterfalls with ecosystems that include cloud, pine, and deciduous forests. From mid-range rainforest to highland cloud forest, the park is a haven for an estimated 350 resident and neotropical migrant bird species and abundant mammals, in addition to thousands of plant species. Fundación Pico Bonito, the NGO that manages the park, has joined the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance in order to incorporate sustainable tourism in its strategy for generating the revenue needed to properly manage and protect the park.

BELIZE:

Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area
The Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area (RBCMA) is managed by the NGO Programme for Belize. Located in northwestern Belize, RBCMA occupies four percent of Belize's total land area, and provides refuge to a rich variety of tropical plants and approximately 400 species of birds. Once home to the Ancient Maya people, RBCMA now draws researchers and students from all over the world. PFB funds half of its sustainable development and conservation education projects through an active ecotourism program and is a member of the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance.


Central Coast of Belize
The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) is native to the western tropical Atlantic, but is primarily found along the southern coast of Florida and along the eastern coast of Central America. Belizean waters are believed to provide habitat for 300 - 700 manatees, the largest population in Central America and the Caribbean. Known as “sea cows” within Belize, the manatees frequent the country’s nutrient rich estuaries, coastal regions and reefs.

Yet despite their protection under both international agreements and national legislation, the manatees are in trouble. They continue to be prone to illegal hunting, collisions with watercraft, entanglement in fishing nets and habitat destruction.

A Rare-sponsored Pride campaign taking place on the Belizean coast is building community support for the manatee by inspiring pride for the mammal in local communities.

EL SALVADOR:

El Imposible National Park
Created in 1989, in the mountains of Ahuachapan, El Imposible National Park is one of the few remnants of spectacular tropical forests that once grew all along the Mesoamerican Pacific coast. The park is home to pumas, ocelots, collared peccaries and jaguarundis. Protected as parklands in 1989, the park contains several distinct forest ecosystems: coastal plain evergreen, lowland deciduous, and midland semi-deciduous (800 to 1,400 meters above sea level) and boasts impresses avifauna, including Blue-crowned Motmots, Spectacled Owls, Great Curassows, Black Hawk-Eagles, and King Vultures. For its size, the protected area contains the greatest biological diversity in the country, with more than 400 species of trees, 500 species of butterflies, 115 species of bird and 30 species of mammal. El Imposible is a member of the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance and is attempting to use revenue earned from eco-travel to the park to mitigate pressures on the protected area.

ECUADOR:

Northern Esmeraldas Province
As deep green as its name, Ecuador’s Esmeraldas Province is the northernmost coastal state in the country—home to many of the oldest and most highly threatened humid forests and mangroves in South America, as well as a long list of tropical flora and fauna—from pumas and howler monkeys to the tallest mangroves in the world. The northern reaches of the province (as well as bordering Chocó region of Colombia) are considered a hotspot (one of the world’s biologically richest, and most threatened, places) for biodiversity conservation. The Ecuadorian section of the hotspot supports an estimated 25% of the nation's flora, or approximately 6,300 species of plants-- 13% to 20% of which are endemic. The region is also home to more palm species than any other part of the world, 830 species of bird, 235 species of mammal, and encompasses a wide variety of microhabitats and vegetation zones-- one of the reasons for its staggering biodiversity.
Yet Esmeraldas is battling a growing tide of environmentally destructive activities. Only 18% of the lowland evergreen forests along the coast remain intact, as well as 15% of the country’s once vast mangrove forest reserves. Deforestation is the primary threat to the future of the region, but is closely followed by cattle ranching, illegal timber extraction, road construction, mining, overfishing, population growth, and social conflict. While more of a problem within the Colombian section of the hotspot, social conflict seriously affects biodiversity protection. Most state regulatory efforts are impeded, including enforcement efforts by guards and wardens, some of whom have been killed.

Rare is currently sponsoring a Pride campaign in northern Esmeraldas to inspire pride for natural resources within communities in and around the remaining forests and create a vocal group of community members who support environmental conservation and ecologically-friendly practices.