Workflow analysis, Partnership building, and Overall planning
Camera trap data management system
Citizen science data visualization platform
Biodiversity Impact Assessment Tool (BiA)
Community prosperity through developing nature-based tourism
Ecotourism in Iberá wetlands
Matías Rebak
The well-being of the communities close to the parks is essential for the success of our strategy. Complete, functioning and healthy ecosystems will not only assure important environmental services like clean water, clean air and the mitigation of floods, but they also offer new opportunities to develop sustainable economies.
These areas usually have great potential, but they also face important threats. The ecosystems are usually degraded and are not considered locally as a source of opportunity or income. Also, these places on the edges of protected areas usually have populations with high level of poverty and high rates of out-migration to big cities.
We work along with these communities to create a path to a new sustainable economy, directly linked to opportunities that come from the creation of new protected areas and to the return of wildlife. We act to empower community leaders and women, strengthen the connection of the youth to their homeland and their environment, train people in new trades and build relationships based on trust and respect.
Work together with local communities and local, provincial and national governments in the development of tourism “circuits” that offer spectacular landscape as well as wildlife-viewing experiences, at gateways, or entrances, to the protected areas or parks.
Empower and build the capacity of local entrepreneurs with trainings and workshops, so that they can be the first to benefit from these new activities based on wildlife and nature. Finally, promote these destinations and experiences to a broad public to attract tourists.
Nature-based tourism has been growing globally at rates of more than 4% per year, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Charismatic fauna, including large predators, are becoming increasingly important. In the Brazilian Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, wildlife viewing — mostly of jaguars — generated an annual revenue millions of dollars per year; many times the revenue obtained from traditional cattle ranching in that region.
The donation of Cambyretá nucleus as part of the Iberá National Park
National Parks Administration
The national and provincial parks are public spaces that have the most effective legal protection for the conservation of biodiversity. It is for this reason that our organization strives to acquire and donate land to the nation and to the provinces to create parks. Ours is an unprecedented process whereby large private areas of land, that were degraded and closed to the public, are restored and passed into the hands of the State, and are open to all to be visited and enjoyed.
These spaces invite us to connect with nature through wildlife watching and other outdoor experiences.
- Large portions of preserved natural ecosystems, either already public or private that could be acquired.
-Public authorities understanding the need to create protected areas, both by the beneffits to nature and to people through a healthy ecosystem and economical beneffits from ecotourism development
-Public access to guarantee the visitation of these areas
Additionally, we found that relating the creation of parks to local development is a useful way to gain support from politicians, top-level decision-makers and neighbors. We discovered that, in order to make the public feel as part of the project and protected areas, we needed to acknowledge their role and impact on the program’s results. In this way, people felt like active participants in teh creation of protected areas, species recovery, adopting and supporting the project’s goals.
Rewilding for restoring key species and their ecological roles in a degraded ecosystem
Jaguars roaming free in Iberá
Magalí Longo
We developed the Iberá Rewilding Program, aimed at
re-establishing sustainable populations of all locally extirpated
fauna. These reintroductions are mainly aimed to advance ecological restoration instead of individual species endangered recovery. Also, focusing in the restoration of key species which effect in the ecosystem is stronger, we guarantee the restoration of their role and the recovery of a healthy and balanced ecosystem
- Planning, feasibility assessments and permits
-Source of animals
- Quarantine phase and hand-rearing
-Pre-release phase
-Release of individuals
- Individuals monitoring
- Reintroduced population monitoring and demographic evaluation
- Demographic assessment
- Communication and program evaluation
We recognize two main organizational strengths that have
helped us to achieve our rewilding results in Iberá: the availability of large areas of high-quality and well-protected habitat for
released animals (some of which were owned and managed by us),
and the existence of long-term funding that allowed us to work
for more than 10 years. These advantages are not always available
to reintroduction projects, which usually face difficulties in habitat
and funding availability.
