Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

The Paraguay River divides the country into two different natural regions: the eastern and western regions or the Paraguayan Chaco [ ] 180 Young Jaguar Conservation strategies for jaguars in Paraguay The jaguar (Panthera onca), the larg- est feline in America, and once very abundant, is currently threatened. Where cattle and big cats both share the same territory, they are both in danger as the felines attack the cattle and, in retaliation, the cattle owners kill the felines. This is so common in the area of jaguar distribution that, together with the loss of habitat due to deforestation and the decrease of natural prey, the populations of jaguars in Paraguay are endangered. Between the borders of Bolivia and Paraguay there is an immense area of 120,000 km², which covers the territory between the largest protect- ed areas of both countries, called the Jaguar Conservation Unit (UCJ) of the Gran Chaco, where the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) focuses its conservation efforts on the species. The main objective of the WCS Programme in Paraguay is the con- servation of jaguar populations in the Paraguayan Chaco, by reducing the conflict between jaguars, humans and livestock. The specific objectives are to: understand the patterns of be- haviour, ecology and habitat through constant monitoring with camera traps; install and systematize the operation of antidepredatory systems where human-livestock conflicts have been identified; and disseminate the results to achieve the replication of techniques that are successful, and thus diminish the main threat to jag- uar populations — the indiscriminate hunting of individuals in retaliation for events of attacks on livestock. In a first stage, WCS carried out monitoring with trap cameras in six medium to large properties (between 4,000 and 40,000ha) to understand the habitats and to verify the jaguars’ presence and their potential natural prey. Subsequently, various antipreda- tory and attack mitigation techniques have been installed during the seasons considered to have the most attacks during the year, especially calving season. The study was dis- seminated among various groups of farmers and some of the neighbours to the sites where the techniques are installed, to view the effectiveness of them in the prevention of attacks. A protocol of action using these tech- niques has been presented to the Sec- retariat of the Environment in cases of conflict between jaguars and cattle, for their inclusion in the regulations of the recently approved law on con- servation of the Panthera Onca. I n Paraguay there is a high floristic biological diversity, due to four large ecoregions converging: the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest (BAAPA), the Chaco, (dry and humid), the Pantanal and the Cerrado, which house a mosaic of very diverse ecosystems, a product of the evolutionary process of the past and current climates. The great diversity of species includes forest formations with high biological diversity, as well as wetlands integrated by a complex of pastures and forests subject to periodic flooding with a great diversity of migratory birds and fish. In these ecoregions it is estimated that there are about 8,000 to 13,000 species of plant and 100,000 species of invertebrate. Of these, 4,490 species of plant, 2,434 invertebrate, 297 fish, 681 bird, 182 mammal, 159 reptile, and 85 amphibian have been identified. MTSOfan on flickr Paraguay