Paraguay shows the way for IBAs

01-10-2008

On September 30, Guyra Paraguay (BirdLife in Paraguay) launched its new book of the Important Bird Areas of Paraguay at an event attended by HIH Princess Takamado of Japan and the Paraguayan Ministers of Environment and Tourism, José Luis Casaccia and Liz Cramer.

In this landmark publication, 57 Globally Important Bird Areas have been identified. Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are key sites for the conservation of birds and biodiversity, and the building blocks for conservation planning. They are identified nationally, using data gathered locally and applying internationally agreed criteria. The worldwide network of IBAs forms an essential foundation for global nature conservation.

Paraguay is a country of just six million people in an area the size of the US state of California. On the map it may be dwarfed by giant neighbours like Brazil and Argentina, but it marks the confluence of five major ecoregions: the woodland-savannah of the Cerrado, the seasonal wetlands of the Pantanal, the thorn forests of the Dry and Humid Chaco, the northern limit of the Southern Pampas, and the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest. As such, Paraguay punches above its weight in terms of biodiversity and has a good range of different habitat types of IBA.

"We need to work with and show landowners that IBA tourism, predominantly through birdwatching, can make land protection beneficial" —Alberto Yanosky , CEO of Guyra Paraguay

However, there is far more to this book than just a directory of IBAs. There are indepth chapters on the social and economic importance of IBAs not only to Paraguay but on a global scale and for the first time the new monitoring framework for IBAs appears translated into Spanish, making this book an essential tool for biodiversity conservation across the Spanish-speaking world.

However Guyra Paraguay´s work on IBAs continues.

"Of the 57 IBAs identified, only 23 have any kind of protected status, so the next step for Guyra Paraguay is to safegurd the remaining sites", said Alberto Yanosky, CEO of Guyra Paraguay.

"Landuse change is the greatest threat to the country´s IBAs but in Paraguay 96% of land is in private hands, so we need to work with and show landowners that IBA tourism, predominantly through birdwatching can make land protection beneficial", Alberto Yanosky continues.

"Without local benefits for local people we will lose some of these sites. This book provides the information, ideas and inspiration to begin this process of conservation not only for Paraguay but for the whole of Latin America."