WCS Eastern Bolivia

Dry Forests and Savannas
WCS has worked with the Isoseño Guaraní indigenous organization CABI since 1991-a partnership that resulted in the creation of the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park in 1995. Kaa-Iya is the largest protected tropical dry forest in the world, and the most biodiverse and well-preserved portion of the Gran Chaco ecoregion. WCS supports CABI in administering the vast protected area and in promoting biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources within the neighboring Isoseño indigenous territory. WCS also supports research on maned wolves in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park; wildlife-compatible ranching around the first private reserve in Bolivia at San Miguelito; and the Chiquitano Forest Conservation Foundation.

The Human Aspect
Three indigenous peoples-the Isoseño Guaraní, Chiquitano, and Ayoreode-inhabit areas surrounding the Kaa-Iya National Park and participate in its management committee. The three groups hunt for subsistence purposes, fish, cultivate small-scale plots, and migrate to seasonal labor opportunities in large-scale ranching and farming enterprises. Cattle ranching is the principal regional economic activity, in addition to commercial farming by Mennonite colonists and international agro-industry. A national land reform process is underway to title all lands outside protected areas in the region to indigenous groups, communities, or private land-owners.

Threats
The principal threat to biodiversity conservation in the region is unmanaged land settlement and resource use. Extensive free-range cattle ranching has serious long-term impacts on fragile  Chaco  and  Chiquitano  ecosystems,  while  important expanses of forest continue to be converted to relatively short-term farming enterprises. Sport and commercial hunting pressure from city-based hunters continues to increase, while large-scale infrastructure development (international highways and gas pipelines) are stimulating regional-scale shifts in human populations and productive activities.

WCS Activities
WCS activities are focused around the Kaa-Iya National Park, working with important regional groups that include indigenous organizations, private ranchers, oil and gas exploration and pipeline companies. WCS research focuses on landscape and endangered species, including jaguars (for more details on WCS jaguar conservation at Kaa-Iya, click here). WCS collaborates with local partners to work towards the sustainable use of natural resources (wildlife, fish, forestry resources, water resources, rangelands). Training is directed through the Natural History Museum with short courses, field practicals, and thesis support. Important new models include the partnership between CABI and the gas pipeline company GTB, creating the Kaa-Iya Foundation to support the Kaa-Iya National Park. WCS aims to strengthen local partner institutions (CABI and the Natural History Museum), and to educate the next generation of professional conservationists.  Based on solid scientific research, WCS also works to create institutional conditions across the Kaa-Iya landscape that will favor its long-term conservation.

Important Next Steps

• Support titling, zonification, and a management plan for the Isoso indigenous territory.
• Integrate conservation into regional planning at the municipal level. 
• Evaluate the conservation value of private reserves in the region through research on jaguars and white-lipped peccaries.
• Promote sustainable cattle management practices in the region.
• Develop a bi-national conservation program for the highly endangered Chacoan guanaco.