Latin America Strengthening National Parks

Latin America Strengthening National Parks



October 2007

 To protect the remaining 
natural resources of Latin America through collaborative action, Central 
and South American countries and nongovernmental organizations have been 
meeting all this week in Bariloche at the Latin American Congress of 
National Parks and other Protected Areas.
 
Some 2,000 people, including most Central and South American environment 
ministers, are in attendance at the event, which is held just once every 
10 years. 
The outcome will be a political strategic message that will be presented 
to the governments of the region, to the Convention on Biological 
Diversity, and to the IUCN-World Consevation Union. 
"It is time to bring the Latin American region back to the international 
agenda,” said Robert Hofstede, regional director of IUCN-South America, 
the organization in charge of the technical agenda. 
In South America alone, he said, more than 3.5 million square kilometers 
are designated as terrestrial or marine protected areas. In preparation 
for Bariloche, every country developed a national report of the state of 
their protected areas, and they all were presented during the event.
"This is the perfect moment for the region to take the opportunities that 
protected areas provide for sustainable development, adaptation to climate 
change and preservation of its enormous diversity,” said Hofstede. 
The government of Argentina announced Thursday that it is rejoining the 
IUCN, the umbrella organization of the international conservation 
movement. The IUCN has over 1,000 member organizations, including 84 
national governments, in more than 140 countries. 
 
The Argentine National Parks Administration has been an IUCN member and so 
has the National Institute for Agricultural Technology, but the central 
government has not. 
Miguel Pellerano, a former regional director of the IUCN in South America, 
who now serves as undersecretary of policy in Argentina's Environment 
Ministry, said Argentina has always had the intention to be part of the 
IUCN. "We value very much the space that IUCN offers to discuss the main 
subjects of the development and conservation on a national, regional and 
global level," he said. 
Hofstede said called the reintegration of Argentina "very significant," 
because the country is the second richest South American nation in 
biodiversity, after Brazil, with diverse ecosystems, thousands of species 
and cultural wealth. 
"For the Union," he said, it represents "an enormous commitment that we 
will translate into activities that strengthen not only conservation 
activities in Argentina, but in all the South Cone." 
At Thursday's event, Argentina also signed on to an international 
commitment to stop the loss of biodiversity by 2010. The governments of 
Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia have already signed this commitment, which 
has been endorsed by the European Union and, last month, by China. 
Jorge Capatto, director of the nongovernmental organization Fundacion 
Proteger, was elected as the new IUCN regional director for South America. 


On Monday at the Congress, Capatto presented a symposium on the 
opportunities and threats of globalization and regional integration. 
He said all sectors of society must cooperate to protect natural resources 
and biodiversity. "The State, the civil society and the private sector 
cannot face the present challenges separately," he said. 
Capatto said the great infrastructures built in South America have caused 
severe impacts on the natural ecosystems, on the base of vital resources 
for our populations and the own economic and social development. 
There are many examples of which the great works - like interoceanic road 
connections, dams and hydro projects, beyond their benefits, they have 
important negative impacts, especially on the local communities and forest 
ecosystems that are irreplaceable as sources of fresh water, fish and 
other foods and raw materials, regulation of the climate, prevention of 
floods and droughts. 
"We know that in the near future, many national parks and other protected 
areas are going to be hit, directly or indirectly, or they are going to be 
degraded," he said. "They are going to become threatened critical 
ecosystems or hotspots." Capatto called for protected status for these 
fragile areas. 
Argentina was one of the signatories of the original international 
Convention on Biological Diversity, signed at the 1992 United Nations 
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 
The country encompasses a wide variety of eco-regions - 15 continental 
areas, three ocean areas and Antarctica. The Argentine Patagonia is one of 
the richest marine areas in the world. Large colonies of seals and 
penguins still live there, and whales and dolphins inhabit Patagonian 
waters. 

Argentina is inhabited by rare mammals such as the giant otter, jaguar, 
ocelot, capuchin monkey, giant anteater, coati, and tapir. 
South America has 10,930 species on the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened 
Species. Twenty-nine of those species are extinct, and another six are 
extinct in the wild; 619 are in critical danger, 1,280 are vulnerable to 
extinction. 
In Argentina there are 1,684 species included in Red List 2007. Of these, 
194 are threatened and 12 are critically endangered. There are 49 species 
of threatened birds, 30 fish, 29 mammals and 29 amphibians. 
"The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species puts us in contact with the 
reality of extinction of the species caused by the human beings. It 
inspires us to promote urgent actions to avoid the loss of biodiversity 
and the damage of means of life of the local populations," said Hofstede. 
Juan Salguero, chief of Nahuel Huapi National Park in Bariloche, said, 
"The Congress represents a unique opportunity for colleagues, friends and 
all stakeholders involved in the management of protected areas to get 
together, and help to build an action plan and the steps to move forward 
on the conservation and sustainable development of the Latin American 
Protected Areas." 

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