THE FOUNDATION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF THE CHIQUITANO FOREST

The Chiquitano Eco-Region

When most people think of South American forests, they picture humid rainforests. However, at the frontier of the Amazonian rainforests, in Bolivia’s eastern lowlands, lies a significant exception to this image. It is the Chiquitano Forest, the largest tropical dry forest in the world and, to date, one of the best conserved. (“Dry” forests have an annual dry season, with very little precipitation. This shapes the trees’ composition and structure, making them easier to cut down or burn.)




This forest, which spreads over 20 million hectares (almost 50 million acres, or over 77 thousand square miles) in eastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay, has been identified as a critical global conservation priority because of its increasingly rare ecology, as well as its historical and cultural importance. It holds some of the most rare and biologically diverse habitats on Earth, and its ecosystems are highly sensitive.

Approximately 90 species of endangered flora and fauna live in the forest, including the jaguar, the ocelot, the maned wolf, and the hyacinth macaw. The degree of danger to the forest is demonstrated by the fact that the once extensive dry forest of Brazil and almost all of the once extensive dry forest in Paraguay.have disappeared due to deforestation.

The Chiquitano is a key link in a regional system of forest lands that together are important to world climate control. Adjacent to the forest on the east is the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, which spans 89,000 square miles and is one of the world’s richest wildlife habitats. To the west lies a series of national parks reaching across Bolivia into Peru. To the north are the Amazonian rainforests.  All of us share the responsibility of securing a healthy future for this exceptional ecological corridor.

The Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest (Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano, or FCBC), is a non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, whose mission is to protect and promote the conservation of the biological diversity of the eco-region (bio-region?) -- the Chiquitano Dry Forest, the adjacent wooded (cerrado) savannas, the Bolivian Pantanal wetlands, , and parts of the Bolivian Chaco.


The FCBC Story

The Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest was created in 1999. Since then, it has become a national and international leader in biodiversity management. The Chiquitano Forest is now designated as one of the 18 “model forests” in the world and is a member of the International Model Forest Network (create link - http://www.imfn.net/index.php?q=node/362).This membership signifies recognition of and implementation of the “ecosystems approach” with which the foundation guides the conservation management of the region.   Because the Chiquitano is the largest of the model forests, FCBC’s challenge is particularly significant.



The ecosystems approach, which is fundamental to FCBC’s conservation and sustainable development strategy, is a method that promotes active and continuing partnerships between the various stakeholders of the region. Those partners include indigenous communities, municipalities, cattle ranchers, farmers, artisans, businesses, governments, aid organizations, and schools and universities, among others. Accompanying all of FCBC’s work is the promotion of the cultural diversity and preservation of the rich history of the people living and depending on the Forest.

An example of the area’s distinctive history is the fact that the region still remains home to a number of the indigenous cultures that were present there prior to the arrival of the Spanish.  European Jesuit mission settlements moved into the area during the 18th century.  The mission churches, which have been restored in recent years, are scattered throughout the Chiquitano Forest area and are recognized as UNESCO “World Heritage” sites. The Jesuits brought their decorative arts and Baroque music to the mission towns, and these unique cultural and tourist features continue to flourish today.


FCBC’s Action Agenda

All of FCBC’s activities seek to protect, conserve, and manage the natural areas of the Chiquitano region in such a way that the long-term environmental purposes of the forest are harmonized with the increased well-being of the local inhabitants. Toward these ends, FCBC’s sponsors the study and conservation of wildlife and scientific research for conservation and sustainable development of the forest.

In regards to forestry, FCBC promotes responsible forest practices and product certification by concession owners, monitors possible deforestation, and seeks to eliminate illegal logging. It encourages integrated forest conservation methods by cattle ranchers and farmers. FCBC also supports local businesses, through micro-financing, training, and technical assistance.

It sponsors ecotourism within communities as a way to increase the financial value of the forest to its inhabitants without depleting its resources. In addition, FCBC works with local partners to create occupational and land use plans and assists indigenous groups and others in the titling of their property.


Threats to the  Eco-Region

Although rich in biological diversity and natural resources, Bolivia is economically the poorest nation in South America.  Both poverty and development pose serious threats to the conservation of the Forest and its biodiversity.

Those threats include population shifts from the mountainous areas to the forest, which is located in the more fertile lowlands, and increased farming and cattle ranching activity, which is often implemented without regard to eco-friendly practices. When dry forests are turned into farmland their soils become fragile and prone to erosion and desertification, making the increase in farming especially problematic. Illegal logging and man-made fires are other problems.

The construction of a new major highway, which will run through the Chiquitano region and connect Bolivia to Brazil, will almost certainly bring commercial expansion to the area soon. It will provide easy access to this previously isolated forest region. This isolation was in large part why the forest has remained relatively well preserved thus far.  The solution, and part of FCBC’s goal, is to find sustainable ways in which local families, indigenous communities, businesses, ranchers, farmers, and newcomers can all derive their livelihoods from the forestwithout threatening its continued existence.


FCBC’s Accomplishments and Activities

• Implemented nearly four hundred sustainable development and conservation projects with local residents, municipalities, civic organisations and others in the last seven years. Recently received funding from the European Commission for a multi-year, comprehensive conservation project for Bolivia and Paraguay.
• Increased significantly knowledge about the biophysical and socio-economic characteristics of the eco-region through technical and scientific studies published for public use.
• Coordinated the creation of the first comprehensive conservation and development plan that sets the direction for the protection of the eco-region. FCBC continues to oversee the implementation of this plan. 
• Works with municipalities in the region guiding and assisting in the process of land-use planning.
• Assists with the creation of municipal parks. To date, parks amounting to a half million hectares of land have been created with FCBC’s coordination and technical and economic support.
• Assists with the titling of land for 34 indigenous communities. So far, FCBC has helped such communities gain legal title of over 92,000 hectares, or 227,000 acres, of land.
• Provides ongoing training in forest management and conservation with owners of forest concessions. FCBC has also assisted private companies who own the three largest forest concessions to achieve voluntary compliance with international sustainable forestry standards.
• Coordinates training programs, trail-building and development of cultural interpretation centers among other measures in sustainable tourism with Forest communities as a means of economic development and forest protection.
• Assists with the development of community businesses such as carpentry workshops, the production of organic, semi-shade grown coffee, Chiquitano nuts, and Copaifera fruit oil, to use as a bio-combustible energy source, among others.
• Coordinates a program with private donors, local communities and the state government to provide clean water access to over 300 isolated Forest communities to ameliorate serious health problems.
• • Sponsors conservation programs over community radio stations, the chief form of mass communication in the Forest region.
• Works with schools in the Chiquitano to educate children and youth about protecting their natural resources and how they can take advantage of the Forest in sustainable ways in the future. 
• Operates, in conjunction with a local public university, a graduate program for lands and protected areas management.
  

Some of FCBC’s National and International Partners

• Wildlife Conservation Society
• The Nature Conservancy
• Missouri Botanical Garden
• Ashmore Energy International
• World Concern
• The European Commission
• CATIE, Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center, Costa Rica
• The Wagner Foundation, USA
• Stanley Haynes Foundation, USA
• Shell B.V. Latin America
• University for International Cooperation, Latin American School for Protected Areas, Costa Rica
• The Institute of Law and Environmental Economics of Paraguay
• The Foundation for Sustainable Development of Chaco, Paraguay
• Friends of Nature Foundation, Bolivia
• Friends of the Museum of Natural History, Noel Kempff Mercado, Bolivia
• Puma Foundation, Bolivia
• Minga, Association of Farmers, of Velasco, Bolivia, Velasco, Bolivia
• Intercommunity Committee of Forestry, Velasco, Bolivia
• State Government of Santa Cruz, Bolivia
• Council for Voluntary Forestry Certification of Bolivia
• Department of the Forestry Superintendent, Republic of Bolivia
• Consortium of Municipalities of the Chiquitanos, Bolivia
  

Report
Agreement Amazon Fund - FCBC
www.fcbc.org.bo