Convenors: Karen Bauman and Martin Zordan (with Maggie Dwire and Carlos Lopez Gonzalez)
Aim:
The aim of this working group is to discuss the political and governmental obstacles that seem to limit ex situ conservation program growth in Latin America. We will cover the challenges and opportunities related to this topic. NOTE: we recognize that successful conservation programs may involve the integration of ex situ and in situ needs/resources sensu the One Plan Approach, so while we will use ex situ program structure as a framework, we do expect to discuss some in situ issues as well.
Background:
The world is in the midst of the 6th mass extinction, with concomitant losses of biodiversity (Ceballos et al. 2015). Latin America is home to some of the most biodiverse countries in the world, including Brazil, Bolivia and Mexico. According to the mid-term report on progress towards the Aichi biodiversity targets (CBD) for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNEP, 2016) declines in species abundance continue, while rates of habitat loss have slowed, but remain high. The region is undergoing rapid economic growth resulting in urbanization, infrastructure development, and agricultural expansion that can all have negative impacts on wildlife.
Therefore, an increasing number of species will require intensive management at the level of individuals and populations to ensure their long term persistence (IUCN SSC 2014). Institutions and organizations specializing in this type of intensive management, such as professional zoos and aquariums and their regional and global associations, therefore have increased opportunities and impetus to contribute to conservation (Traylor-Holzer, 2019). These contributions can be strengthened through collaborations with governmental agencies and other partners, as has been demonstrated with the Mexican wolf, a cooperative program between zoos and the governments of the United States and Mexico. However, political terms and appointees in zoos and governmental agencies can threaten the stability of these programs, especially in Latin America. Further, in Latin America social inequities and illegal wildlife trade are additional challenges, along with regional zoo associations that have a small number of member facilities and are just putting accreditation standards and conservation program structures in place (compared to some of the larger regional zoo associations in the United States, Europe and Australia).
There have been previous attempts to jump start zoo-based conservation programs in Latin America. A few of these have been successful, unfortunately more needs to be done – and quickly – to create active, successful and sustainable conservation programs to save the richness of biodiversity in Latin America.
Process:
The workshop will be 3 hours long and will proceed as follows:
- Presentation of concept and examples of some political and governmental obstacles from the Mexican wolf program (ex situ and in situ elements).
- Brainstorming session with all working group participants, regarding their experiences with political and governmental obstacles as they relate to ex situ programs. NOTE: the focus is Latin America, but discussion could be expanded to include other zoo regions, depending on participants.
- Discuss the above obstacles in the context of challenges and opportunities for successful, long-term programs
- Including resources/models available from other regional zoo associations and governments
- Create a list of action items (and key people to involve) that would result in positive change on this topic, considering the One Plan Approach and how Latin American ex situ programs fit into global conservation programs. Involvement in action items should include Latin American zoo associations, governmental agencies, WAZA and CPSG.
- If there is time, we may discuss species or models to test some of the methods discussed in our working group.
Outcomes:
We hope that the discussions of this working group will assist in a better understanding of the obstacles such that methods for addressing these can be developed. Specifically, these insights will provide a platform for action items our group will generate in order to increase the impact of zoo-based programs in Latin America.
Materials:
Please be familiar with the content in the following documents: