Rodrigo Soria Auza

Global Population Assessment and Conservation Monitoring Programme for the Threatened Southern Horned Curassow Pauxi Unicornis in Bolivia

Some schoolteachers birdwatching near Amboró National Park.

Town/RegionCountryCategoriesDate
Carrasco and Amboró National ParksBoliviaBirds, Central and Latin America17 Jan 2004

Pauxi unicornis lives only along the eastern slopes of the Andes in Bolivia and Peru, This species has a restricted range and supports hunting and habitat destruction (regarded as Vulnerable for IUCN 2004).

In Bolivia it’s known only one population into the Carrasco and Amboró National Parks. There is big gap between this population and the Peruvian records in Cerros del Cira and Cerros del Tavara (near to Bolivian border). According with some expertise working in Bolivia it’s probable this species occurs in Cordillera Mosetenes and Cocapata (MaCleod & Maccormick 2000, Herzog per. Com.), as well as in Communal Territory and National Park TIPNIS (Soria; local information). All these sites are located between the Bolivian and Peruvian records.

In this light, the aim of this project is establish the real conservation status of this species, develop a programme of conservation and long-term population monitory. To achieve this aim we propose carry out the following objectives:

1) Determine the true distribution of Pauxi unicornis in Bolivia, estimate the national population size and identify the highest priority sites for conserve this species and its habitat;

2) Work together with local communities through education and workshops to mitigate human impact on this species and its habitat;

3) Design and initiate a long-term conservation monitoring program with Bolivia’s national parks for the most important populations of the Southern Horned Curassow.

This project has two phases; the first consists of field surveys to estimate the global population inside Bolivia and identify the most important sites for this species, at same time we evaluate human impact on natural habitat in every visited site. During the second phase we carry out environmental educational workshops at the most important sites identified during the first phase. The objective of these workshops is to change local communities’ perceptions about this species and the importance of maintains its natural habitat for the local biodiversity and local community as well. Training workshops will be carried out with park guards from those important protected areas for Pauxi unicornis, the objective of these workshops is to identify and capacitate people for a long-term monitory programme of this species.

For more information contact wilbersa@armonia-bo.org

Final Report

From September 2004 to January 2005 we visited and carried out fieldwork surveys in 13 localities along the Lower Bolivian Yungas Endemic Bird Area (potential habitat for /Pauxi unicornis/). We also collected local information about this species from communities living within or close to the potential habitat for /Pauxi unicornis/. This species seems to have a much smaller distributional range than was considered by BirdLife International (2004). We recorded or collected local information about its presence in only 5 locations (San Antonio, Ichilo, Mataracú, San Isidro’s Southern hills and nearby to San Rafael) and it appears that the lower Yungas of Amboró and Carrasco National Parks hold the total remaining population for this species in Bolivia.

In February 2005 we started coordinating environmental education activities focusing on those localities our surveys had shown were most important for the Bolivian /Pauxi unicornis/’ population. REMA (a Bolivian NGO specializing in environmental education activities), the regional state educational office and Amboró NP’s administration are our principal partners for these activities.

During April 2005 we carried out a workshop directed at schoolteachers from communities living near the lower Yungas of Amboró (Cajones del Ichilo, San Isidro, El Condor, Urkupiña, San Antonio and Mataracú) and Carrasco (San Rafael, Nueva Jerusalen and San Benito) National Parks. During this workshop we taught teachers about the importance of conserving /Pauxi unicornis/ and its habitat, which is an important source of natural resources for the communities. Finally, we are visiting all these communities to monitor the effectiveness of how schoolteachers are spreading this knowledge through student community of these communities.


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