A bridge for monkeys, a bridge to build biodiversity conservation awareness in the community

KOWALEWSKI, M; RAÑO, MARIANA; PALAZZO, MARIANA; SOLIZ, ALICIA; HOLZER, CONRADO; PEREZ, DARIO; SANCHEZ, MARTIN

Quito

Congreso; Joint Meeting of the International Primatological Society and the Latin American Society of Primatology; 2022

International Primatological Society and the Latin American Society of Primatology

The combination of urbanization and destruction of native forests commonly has forced some wild animals to search for food and shelter in urban areas. Solutions to this so-called ?problem? are easy to identify, for example, enforce regulations to stop increasing deforestation, limit cattle ranching, monocultures, and disorganized urbanization. At the same time, local people are unaware and disconnected from conservation actions such as the protection of local biodiversity. We aimed to address this issue by organizing a group of high-school students from the city (middle-high class) and a group from a small town (middle-low class) (San Cayetano-Riachuelo; Corrientes-Argentina) with the objective of transforming the perception of the population OF non-human primates. We visited forest fragments and identified a location to construct a bridge to facilitate the movement of howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) across areas of discontinuous canopy. The students worked to build awareness within their community, obtained permissions, and designed the bridges. Through negotiations, they obtained support from the state park department. The entire process lasted four years, and when the bridge was installed the whole community assisted and felt empowered in the protection of their local biodiversity. From this single case study, we learned that actions aimed at raising awareness about environmental problems represent a very important tool for residents of local communities to act collectively to promote environmental conservation.