Daira Ximena Villagran Chavarro

Conservation Action of the Bat Species at Soatá

Inside forest Soatá.

Soatá.

Cristian Sanabria - future child conservationist.

Give the local community a greater understanding of environmental issues and make them aware about their environment with ecological groups and workshops.

Town/RegionCountryCategoriesDate
Municipality of Soatá, Department of BoyacáColombiaBats, Central and Latin America, Forests, Habitat, Mammals24 Jul 2008

The project will be implemented in the region Soatá, municipality of Boyacá, an area with a wide variety of tropical wildlife as are the bats, the study was conducted in oak forest and tropical dry forest, these ecosystems are vulnerable to human action is why it is necessary to study and conserve these species and their habitats.

The main objective is to promote the conservation of bats in Soatá Reserve to determine the species diversity and population structure, assessment of the main threats to the population of bats, making recommendations for conservation, develop a database for the populations of bats and encourage greater community awareness about the bat conservation needs.

Objectives:
 To make an inventory of bat species present in Soatá.
 To identify key sites for bat conservation.
 To assess the main threats to bats in Soatá.
 To make conservation recommendations, and raise the profile of bats, with the local people and authorities.
 To initiate pride amongst local people in environmental protection.
 Community participation to collect an analysis of the problems and possible solutions for the conservation of bats through Participation and Action Research participatory rural appraisal.

This project seeks a long-term effort to develop conservation actions:

 Production a long-term monitoring and conservation status assessment reports and conservation action plan for Bats in Soatá.
 Production a GIS-based map for distribution and extent of occurrence of species bats in Soatá, available for future researches.
 Preparation a community-based-long term monitoring program for assessment and conservation species bats in Soatá with specific roles for stockholders.
 Documentation local community traditional knowledge related to Bats
 Contribution in strengthening the capacity of the local community and a significant shareholder in the conservation of species by active participation, training and a good relationship between local communities and their environment, with a view to implementing a long surveillance term conservation program and future plan of action on the conservation of bats in Soatá after the draft.
 Contribution to increase public awareness and rural communities to assess their environment, the importance and action of Bats in forests and the importance of actions to conserve them.

For more information contact daxiluna@gmail.com

Project Update: April 2009

August 2008: Compiled checklist of bibliography.

September 2008: Identified areas for sampling in the oak forest and dry forest.

October and November 2008: Could not do anything relating to survey due to logistical problems and health. Reviewed literature and digital maps.

December 2008: We trained local stakeholders, mostly youths from Soatá, to carry out bat monitoring surveys. The training covered bat survey protocols, data recording, and use of equipment.

January to February 2009: Began the sampling of oak forest and dry forest xerofítico.

January to March 2009: Basic environmental education seminars were held for community members in all Veredas in the Soatá. Project team members visited primary schools to help raise awareness of the bats among students:

Piedesecho School: located in oak forest (vereda Molinos).
La Costa: located in the dry forest xerofítico (vereda La Costa).

July 2009: End of sampling and also the environmental education activities.

Environmental Education Programme

We worked in the region with the teachers and children’s of two primary schools in the Veredas La Costa and Piedesecho at Soatá. We focused on the project conserving bats and about the environmental modules that aid teachers in incorporating environment concepts in teaching and ecology.

We have observed the gradual change of perception of the rural communities about the bats. Since they have gradually transformed their knowledge for the community benefit; we have been talking to adults and children with educational workshops focusing on them visualising their environment and the biodiversity and ecological wealth it holds. Thus, the rural communities can appropriate their own land and protect it.

Now children and adults know about their land, their forests and the ecological importance of bats that are in the balance of nature.

Final Report

Read about the activities undertaken and findings of this project in the final report below.

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Final Report81 KB

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