ANDEAN BEAR CONSERVATION ALLIANCE: FROM A DREAM TO REALITY

Abstract

WCS and CMZ have been discussing for several years how to make small amounts of funding have an important impact on the conservation of the Andean bear. It became clear that the solution was an alliance of many institutions consolidating efforts around a common plan for the conservation of the species. In 2010, WCS and CMZ initiated the Andean Bear Conservation Alliance. The ABCA discussed the goals and lines of actions of an initial five-year plan (2011– 2015). From mid-2013 to 2015, the developed tools will be applied in at least 5 natural national parks and their surrounding landscapes in Colombia. The information and tools are been presented to undergraduate and graduate students at the biology departments at the main universities in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Three small grants will be given annually to students working on the distribution and status of Andean bear populations using these techniques. Now in the fourth year of the Action Plan, there are four institutions in the alliance, with the addition of the Saint Louis Zoo and Global Conservation Connections in 2012. The goal is to add two more partners by the end of 2014.

Full text

POSTER PRESENTATION
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ANDEAN BEAR CONSERVATION ALLIANCE: FROM A DREAM TO REALITY
Gopp K
1
, Goldstein I
2
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, U.S.A
Wildlife Conservation Society, Colombia
WCS and CMZ have been discussing for several years how to make small amounts of funding
have an important impact on the conservation of the Andean bear. It became clear that the
solution was an alliance of many institutions consolidating efforts around a common plan for the
conservation of the species. In 2010, WCS and CMZ initiated the Andean Bear Conservation
Alliance. The ABCA discussed the goals and lines of actions of an initial five-year plan (2011–
2015).
From 2011 to mid-2013 the activities focused on research and capacity building, with the
development of monitoring techniques using occupancy estimators, the development of the
“Workshop and Manual for the Assessment of the Presence and Distribution of Andean Bear
Populations”, and the “Manual for the Monitoring Andean Bear Populations at the Natural
National Parks of Colombia”.
From mid-2013 to 2015, the developed tools will be applied in at least 5 natural national parks
and their surrounding landscapes in Colombia. The information and tools are been presented to
undergraduate and graduate students at the biology departments at the main universities in
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Three small grants will be given annually to students
working on the distribution and status of Andean bear populations using these techniques. Now
in the fourth year of the Action Plan, there are four institutions in the alliance, with the addition
of the Saint Louis Zoo and Global Conservation Connections in 2012. The goal is to add two more
partners by the end of 2014.