Regional conservation opportunities in the Amazon Biome

For centuries, the Amazon has remained in the collective imagination of people as an exotic region and an inexhaustible stream of resources that must be conquered and exploited. Today, these six million square miles represent an invaluable well for humankind survival, just at a time when demand for natural resources exceeds earth’s capability to regenerate and deliver. Therefore, the importance of protecting the largest rainforest on the planet does not fall solely on the nine countries of the Amazon Biome, but it is a global matter.

And it is within the framework of this great collective project embodying environmental and socio-ecological alleviation of the Amazon block, that several initiatives at the regional level have been carried in order to put up a common vision among the nine nations, and move forward to a new paradigm of conservation and development for the region. A model not only to combat the threats currently menacing this pool of species and carbon, but one that serves the sustainability purpose –even in economic terms- and help maintain healthy ecosystems essential for cooling the planet. It is worth remembering that the Amazon aside from being an essential provider of ecological and economic services to its 30 million inhabitants; it acts as a stabilizer -through its forests-of the global climate.

Therefore, during the World Conservation Congress held in October 2008 in Barcelona (Spain), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) gave the green light to a motion for "Building a Conservation Vision for the Amazonian Biome" aiming greater support and participation of its committees, members and other organizations towards the agenda that is leading the Latin American Network of Technical Cooperation for National Parks, other Protected Areas Flora and Fauna (REDPARQUES), along with the managers and technicians of the protected areas system of the Amazon countries as well as regional and international organizations, all this on the basis of implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

It is in this context that the second workshop was held for Building a Regional Conservation Vision for the Amazon on May 27 and 28 in Bogotá (Colombia), thanks to REDPARQUES organizing role and the support of WWF, the Secretariat of the CBD, the Ramsar Secretariat, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) through its BIOCAN programme, amongst others.

This second round (the first was held in Bogotá in August 2008) attended by 70 participants representing the Amazonian countries and international organizations, meant to identify key conservation gaps and opportunities at the regional scale in order to maintain the functionality of the Amazon Biome.

After two working days and debate, advancement was made in the development of actions at the regional level setting the sights on preserving the integrity, ecological processes and regional climatic dynamic crucial to withstand the pressures and threats of evolving climate change, as well as the transformation of ecosystems driven by the demand for natural resources and economic development.

In addition, they outlined a roadmap involving joint assembly through a working group led by REDPARQUES with the participation of countries and organizations. This with the purpose to target regional priorities using as a departing point technical information already available and grabbing WWF prioritization exercises as inputs for later complementation, a methodology that will lead to progress in the short, medium and long term.

"In the Amazon the whole is more than the sum of its parts, developing a vision of conservation and similar exercises in other biomes in Latin America is a main concern", said Julia Miranda, Head of National Parks in Colombia, as Regional Coordinator of REDPARQUES and current Vice President for Latin America of the World Commission on Protected Areas of IUCN. The next SBSTTA  meeting and the COP , in Japan 2010, where all parties will assess the execution of the Working Programme on Protected Areas, are emerging as major opportunities to support this regional initiative laying the ground to strengthen the performance of shared actions and commitments by the Amazonian governments, hence guarantee the conservation of ecological processes and functionality of the Biome.

Moreover, it is also clear the progress of this meeting in relation to the work for the Amazon Initiative (ANI) undertaken by WWF a couple of years ago. WWF has been working in the area for three decades with a strong emphasis on the national scale. Consequently, this regional approach through a collective work and partnerships will engine the Initiative’s vision fulfilment: "a healthy Amazon Biome maintaining its cultural and environmental contribution to local people, the countries of the region and the world, within a framework of social equity, economic development and inclusive global responsibility".

Therefore, this strategy entails for each country, national and regional organizations, to spot synergies and opportunities striving for a vision that embraces all nine countries, a great prospect, no doubt, both in technical and political terms. "We are pleased with the leadership of REDPARQUES, the countries, the support of the Secretariat for the CBD, the Ramsar Secretariat, ACTO, CAN, IUCN and the rest of organizations involved; we will continue working to make sure these advancements merge with the actions planned at different scales and reinforce joint strategies that contribute to the conservation of one of the most important regions of the planet", stated Ximena Barrera, Head of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility for WWF Colombia.