Linking scientific research, education and promotion of sustainable activities to consolidate a biological corridor in the Atlantic forest of Argentina

VARELA, D.; ZURITA, G.A.; CASERTANO, S.

California, USA

Congreso; XX Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology; 2006

Society for the Conservation Biology

Atlantic forest is considered one of the 5 priority world hotspots of biodiversity, whereas less than 7% of this ecosystem remains in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. In this fragmented scenario, ecological corridors are necessary to maintain the connectivity of the forest remnants. Since 2002 we have conducted a project to preserve and increase the ecological connectivity between two important protected areas in the Atlantic forest of Argentina through scientific research, restoration, environmental education, promotion of non-timber activities, and agroecological practices. We used satellites images to detect a reduction (+ 40%) in forest cover of the corridor in the 1987–2002 period, and to identify corridors of continuous forest between protected areas. To assess the functionality of the corridor we implemented a bird-ringing program with 72 species captured in 4500 hours / net. With this information we created an education program in local schools and a media strategy to emphasize the importance of this area. In 2005 in cooperation with others, NGO, and the provincial government we acquired a portion of continuous forest in the corridor to create the first co-managed biological corridor provincial reserve. The long-term sustainability of this novel protected area and private lands in the corridor is our challenge.