Bolivia

In Bolivia, in the departments of Chuquisaca, Tarija, and Santa Cruz, Nature and Culture together with its allies Natura and Nativa have supported the creation and management of 6 protected areas with a total area of 4.8 million acres. With the protection and sustainable management of these areas, we have avoided the emission of more than 210 million tons of stored carbon, which contributes to the mitigation of climate change.

The autonomous Guarani Indigenous government of Charagua is the first to create a conservation area in Bolivia with its Ñembi Guasu reserve. Nature and Culture is supporting the autonomous government with the development of a REDD+ plan to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and protect this area for the long term.

Together with Natura Bolivia, Nature and Culture has supported the creation of municipal protected areas that connect national parks and municipal reserves in the Bolivian Chaco, which allow threatened animals such as the jaguar and the spectacled bear to move safely. The fertile soil of the Bolivian Chaco is highly desired by the agricultural industry, which has made the  Chaco one of the most threatened ecosystems in South America.

Ñembi Guasu, with almost 3 million acres, is the second largest conservation area in the Gran Chaco and the first protected area that was created by an autonomous indigenous government.  Located near the border with Paraguay and Brazil, it is considered a transition zone between the Gran Chaco Sudamericano, the Bosque Chiquitano, and the Pantanal. It is part of the ancestral territory of the Guarani people, as well as some groups of the Ayoreo people in voluntary isolation.

In southern  Bolivia,  Nature and Culture, together with its ally Natura Bolivia has supported the municipal governments of Villa Vaca Guzmán, Macharetí, Entre Ríos, and Monteagudo in the creation and management of almost 2 million acres of Integrated Management Areas, to protect the water sources that supply the main populations of these municipalities.

The Water Corridor, located in the southern mountain range of the Bolivian Andes, is made up of four national and 10 subnational protected areas.  It extends over 9 million acres and crosses montane and grassland forests that feed water to the main basins of the Caine, Parapetí, Pilcomayo, and Guadalquivir Rivers. These basins supply water to 18 municipalities and more than 200 local communities.

The spectacled bear is the most emblematic species of the Water Corridor. Nature and Culture supports the Natura Bolivia Foundation in the installation of camera traps to monitor biodiversity in 5 municipal protected areas. The results have shown, for the first time, the presence of a population of the bear (Tremarctos ornatus) in the municipal protected area of Cuenca Alta Río Parapetí.

Nature and Culture, in partnership with Nativa, is working to protect an area near the community of Laderas del Norte in Tarija, Bolivia. The proposed area is comprised of 52,330 acres in the Cercado province and will create a critical connectivity corridor for condors. The Laderas del Norte protected area will preserve the nesting and feeding habitat of the Andean condor.

Nature and Culture supported the  Guarani people in forming their own autonomous Indigenous government in  Charagua, the first in Bolivia. We also support the creation and management of protected areas in their territory to conserve a large part of their more than 17 million acres of natural forests threatened by encroaching agribusiness.

Through Natura Bolivia, we have supported 15 Indigenous and local communities with training and tools so they can monitor their protected areas. Working with local communities in the monitoring, control, and surveillance of their protected areas has led to the greater appropriation of their territory and monitoring of biodiversity, threats, and data risks.