The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Ana Leiva, has travelled this week to South America to follow on the ground the research and sustainable management projects of the cultural and biological heritage that the Foundation supports in Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and Bolivia.
The Biodiversity Foundation has been working for several years in development cooperation in this area of the planet, adding to the work that the Government of Spain carries out through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
In this context, last week, representatives of the Foundation traveled to Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia to meet with the heads of the collaborating entities and learn on the ground about the reality of the projects underway.
With the support of the Biodiversity Foundation and other local entities, the Native Foundation – which is based in Tarija (Bolivia) – is working on establishing the strategic, technical and legal requirements to propose the creation of the Trinational Biosphere Reserve of the South American Gran Chaco. It is an ecozone that covers a large part of northern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay and a corner of Brazil.
The Gran Chaco is a forested plain, whose formation, millions of years ago, is linked to the origins of the Andes Mountains. The rivers dragged and deposited sediments in that sort of pre-Andean trench that has formed, for centuries, the living space of numerous indigenous ethnic groups, some of which have reached our days with their traditions. This area, with its unique natural wealth, has been subject to strong pressures on resources for the last two hundred years. The declaration of an area of the Gran Chaco as a Biosphere Reserve would make it possible to combine common interests of conservation and participation of the population in the design of a management model that makes economic growth and respect for nature possible.
Biosphere reserves – which are selected for their scientific interest – are ecosystems where the concept of sustainable development is experienced; that is, they are territories where human activity is carried out in a way that is compatible with the conservation of natural resources. They fulfil three functions: conservation, development and logistics, and their purpose is to become models of coexistence with the environment.
For its part, the Global Nature Foundation – also with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation – is working to recover an ecotone (transition zone between ecosystems) of high biological and cultural interest. In this case, the work aims to strengthen the social fabric for the sustainable management of the Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve. A joint effort is made with the indigenous inhabitants in the search for answers to environmental problems through the training of their leaders, training workshops and even a participatory radio soap opera with informative content.
Populations of two different ethnic groups, one Paraguayan and the other Brazilian, converge in the area, which promotes the identification of both as part of a privileged group of custodian of the Reserve. The work carried out there is aimed at the protection of habitats and endangered species, technological innovation and the recovery of traditional agricultural activities. In addition, the project contemplates the exchange of experiences with experts from the Monfragüe Biosphere Reserve.
Finally, and in order to move towards the enhancement of the historical and cultural memory and relationship of the Paraguayan Aché ethnic group with the forest, the project of the Sustainability Scenarios Foundation is underway in the southeastern region of Paraguay. In this regard, training in new technologies has been provided and the population has been advised on forestry and agricultural issues, while a documentary film on the Aché ethnic group is being prepared.
