Georeferencing the limits of a PNR.

The use of Statutory Conservation Areas (SCAs) has been the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation strategies in most countries of the world. Currently they cover 11.5% of the world’s land surface. Unfortunately, the global protected areas network is far from reaching its goal of comprehensively conserving biodiversity, and it is clear that is increasingly difficult to manage and expand SCAs (i.e., parks and formally protected areas).

The Orinoco basin has an area of approximately 991.587 km2 distributed between Colombia and Venezuela with percentages of 35% and 65% respectively and is considered to be the third most important river system on the planet. In Colombia the protection of biodiversity of the Orinoco region has been made also with SCAs, mainly National Parks. Despite huge government effort, less than 4% of the area is under any figure of protection. In addition, the region is under huge pressure due to megaprojects to develop this area including biofuel industries, agriculture, mining and oil extraction. Therefore, alternative opportunities for land conservation merit closer attention, such as Private Conservation Reserves (PCRs).

This project will examine, for the first time in Colombia, the extent to which PCRs complement statutory conservation areas in terms of landscape characteristics such as connectivity, area, ecosystem representation and conservation priorities. The expected results of this project will provide for the first time a complete geographic system database of all the PCRs in the Colombian Orinoco region. The results of this project will provide strong data that may set the background for a political lobby, at a regional and national levels and may supply more support in the future for private conservation, which currently is underestimated and may be at risk. In addition this project will provide basic ornithological training for locals and stakeholders of the PCRs.