Your generosity at work in the Bolivian Chaco
09/10/2020
Strategic Area:
Wild Places -
Content Type: Blog
Country:
Bolivia -
A piece of good news about how your generosity has helped communities struggling because of COVID-19.
Because of compassionate people like you, vulnerable communities in Bolivia have received the help they so desperately needed.
Rural and indigenous communities are likely more susceptible to this coronavirus and often are the farthest from government and healthcare services. In the Bolivian Chaco, communities have been fighting to prevent the rapid spread of COVID-19 while also struggling with lack of equipment and medicine.
With your support, Nature and Culture International has joined “Donar para Sanar” or “Donate to Heal,” a campaign providing aid to communities in the Chaco region. Thanks to you, we have recently delivered supplies to the municipalities of Entre Ríos, Monteagudo, Caraparí, and Villa Vaca Guzmán, including protective glasses, safety suits, face shields, and medicine.
“The municipal governments are going through an economic crisis where we don’t have funding to purchase, when it is available, and it’s often not available, these supplies and equipment,” says Omar Velasquez, Secretary of Productive Development. “From the Municipality of Monteagudo, we are grateful for Nature and Culture International’s support.”
Donate to Heal was launched by Fundación Natura Bolivia to help rural and indigenous communities prevent and recover from COVID-19. The campaign aims to support the most vulnerable communities in Bolivia, many of whom have been our partners in conservation.
Donated supplies in the municipalities.
Your generosity is making a difference in these communities, and helping ensure the protection of endangered ecosystems.
Rural and indigenous communities are the last defense for many endangered ecosystems against increasing threats like logging, cattle ranching, and mining. In the Bolivian Chaco, communities have been working with Nature and Culture since 2014 to protect the region’s forest and water resources.
Stretching across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and a bit of Brazil, the Chaco constitutes the largest forest mass in South America, after the Amazon. The ecoregion holds huge reserves of water, energy, and cultivable land, and a great diversity of indigenous peoples, including the Ayoreo, the only South American native population that remains in voluntary isolation outside the Amazon.
Despite its natural richness and socio-cultural diversity, the Chaco is one of the most exploited areas in South America. Its diversity, land, and resources are increasingly threatened by climate change and an expanding agricultural frontier.
With your support, Nature and Culture has protected various areas in the Bolivian Chaco in collaboration with rural and indigenous communities. Most recently, we conserved three million acres with the indigenous Guaraní.
Thank you for sending help to nature’s guardians! You are making a difference for these communities – and for the planet.
If you haven’t yet made a gift to Nature and Culture’s COVID-19 Relief Fund, you can still send help to communities in need. Visit natureandculture.org/help to make a difference today.
