the relationship between people and
Wildlife has always existed and this is
what I think we are losing as a society
the connection with our natural
environment since Darwin in 1830 he
reported with several expeditions the
relationship between people and their
wildlife he encountered indigenous
people in that in the most amazing areas
of South America and he reported the
relationship they have with this
magnificent fauna up there
nowadays indigenous people are still
fighting for their rights on their land
they are fighting they are looking they
are exploring the ways to visible to
fight for something they think it
belongs to them normally the areas they
are claiming are rich in biodiversity
and these areas have enough natural
resource for their subsistence too so
this combination of indigenous people
and biodiversity rich countries is a
common pattern in Latin America the way
people are claiming for their right it’s
marching it’s trying to be visible as I
said but I am here to tell you an
example of a partnership between
indigenous people and scientists
scientists who believe that it was time
to pay attention to other part of South
America or other biomes they have both
have different objective different
interest on the land they were fighting
for indigenous were not conservationists
and both of them knew and respect their
positions but they have an a common
objective they wanted to stop the
advancement of agricultural development
on the greatest
gran chaco this South America gran chaco
this biome is the second largest biome
after the Amazon it is 1 million square
kilometres and is shared by four
countries Bolivia Brazil Paraguay and
Argentina
thanks to this partnership to the to the
effort between people and scientists at
3.4 million hectares were declared
protected areas in Bolivia and with this
we are protecting the largest and less
fragmented part of expanse of tropical
dry forests in the world just on time
because after this area was declared
protected scientists had the time to go
and to explore what was in and and we
discover and we confirm what indigenous
people already knew the incredible
biodiversity the Chaco was hidden we
found one of the healthiest populations
of jaggers in South America brazilians
didn’t want to believe that but it was
true we reported 13 species of
armadillos ranging from 300 grams to 30
kilos we reported the third wild peccary
in South America it was thought to be
extinct in the 80s and and also we were
able to to study reproductions of
different species the checker at the
region have 3,400 plant species and
Counting and 400 of these species are
endemic to the area more than 500
species of bird one 150 species of
mammals and Counting so it’s it’s it’s
really an area that deserve attention
and it’s been
destroy in the last decade there you
also have people that use these
resources for subsistence for more than
ten years we were able to study the
wildlife and this in this gran chaco we
we produce several scientific papers we
were able to have our degrees from
studying in the in the Gran Chaco we
discovered several things we were
learning a lot
we were contributing to the better
understanding of this beautiful and very
rich area but we were we were not alone
we were with a team of local people
indigenous people who guide us in the
process so for more than 10 years they
were involved with us in the effort of
research but what is next for them after
this fantastic project ended after
exposing them for more than 10 years to
research to the world conservation to
the board to the word subsistence what
was next to these people who really
contributed to the better understanding
of wildlife in this area I obtained in
my my doctoral degree I was very happy
many people were very happy and we we
were very successful producing papers
but it was something wrong there so in
2007 I developed a project and my
intention was to not let them alone
after the project so I developed the
para biologist training course and the
pair biology is in terms of paramedics
they are ready to save life to take
decisions in the in the right moment so
they are capable and this is what I
wanted to show everybody they are
capable to do things we
choose an area where we have this one of
the most endangered species in in
Bolivia a mammal species the guanaco we
only have to around 200 individuals in
the whole country and it’s a really good
situation to teach people who really
want to face the challenge of
conservation so you have to deal with
everything with borders international
borders military people drug traffickers
you know you have these ecological
problems you have you have to deal with
many many different actors so it was a
great place to expose these these people
and to to train them as a
conservationist there so for more than
eight months they had 800 hours of
practical and theoretical training this
is more than a master degree and they
have to study from basic biology they
study all the methodologies biologists
use they also had a veterinary module
because I wanted them to identify
diseases in wildlife but what was
important for me it not only helped them
to take the best data but what was
important was they understand why they
were taking the data why they were
helping biologists why these data were
important so they had to learn how to
analyze the data and even more how to
present the result of the data so for me
this was a step forward for their
education at the end we also contributed
to the better understanding of the
situation of the guanaco population in
the area we were able to have 30 hours
of aerial surveys and each para
biologist had the experience and for
them was magic to see the world from the
sky they
they never had that experience so after
a lot of effort after 800 800 hours of
training they finally obtain their
certificate and after a huge fight with
many people we have the certificate
validated by the Ministry of Education
of the country so this is a big thing
for us thanks to this experience
the Rolex award is helping with a grant
and we are expanding we want to cross
borders we think that the protection of
the gran chaco doesn’t have to stay just
in one country because you know it’s a
huge biome shared by different countries
so we have to work together and this is
my idea one of the the way to do it is
to train para biologists indigenous
people in these other countries and we
just finished the second training course
and this time was international and this
time they graduated para biology’s were
the teachers to the new probability so
they are discovering the feeling they
can teach others and it is great because
they share the same language so
communication is better but it’s not
about the title is it’s not about the
certification of the knowledge of these
indigenous people they are capable
nobody sometimes want to recognize that
but they are capable they are
intelligent and they know a lot about in
their environment
it’s not about the title it’s about the
pride they feel when they they know they
are capable to do it and it’s about the
contribution these people can make in
long term conservation of nature so it’s
my way to explore and to find some some
ways to connect the rakin reconnect
options for people and nature thank you
you
Wildlife has always existed and this is
what I think we are losing as a society
the connection with our natural
environment since Darwin in 1830 he
reported with several expeditions the
relationship between people and their
wildlife he encountered indigenous
people in that in the most amazing areas
of South America and he reported the
relationship they have with this
magnificent fauna up there
nowadays indigenous people are still
fighting for their rights on their land
they are fighting they are looking they
are exploring the ways to visible to
fight for something they think it
belongs to them normally the areas they
are claiming are rich in biodiversity
and these areas have enough natural
resource for their subsistence too so
this combination of indigenous people
and biodiversity rich countries is a
common pattern in Latin America the way
people are claiming for their right it’s
marching it’s trying to be visible as I
said but I am here to tell you an
example of a partnership between
indigenous people and scientists
scientists who believe that it was time
to pay attention to other part of South
America or other biomes they have both
have different objective different
interest on the land they were fighting
for indigenous were not conservationists
and both of them knew and respect their
positions but they have an a common
objective they wanted to stop the
advancement of agricultural development
on the greatest
gran chaco this South America gran chaco
this biome is the second largest biome
after the Amazon it is 1 million square
kilometres and is shared by four
countries Bolivia Brazil Paraguay and
Argentina
thanks to this partnership to the to the
effort between people and scientists at
3.4 million hectares were declared
protected areas in Bolivia and with this
we are protecting the largest and less
fragmented part of expanse of tropical
dry forests in the world just on time
because after this area was declared
protected scientists had the time to go
and to explore what was in and and we
discover and we confirm what indigenous
people already knew the incredible
biodiversity the Chaco was hidden we
found one of the healthiest populations
of jaggers in South America brazilians
didn’t want to believe that but it was
true we reported 13 species of
armadillos ranging from 300 grams to 30
kilos we reported the third wild peccary
in South America it was thought to be
extinct in the 80s and and also we were
able to to study reproductions of
different species the checker at the
region have 3,400 plant species and
Counting and 400 of these species are
endemic to the area more than 500
species of bird one 150 species of
mammals and Counting so it’s it’s it’s
really an area that deserve attention
and it’s been
destroy in the last decade there you
also have people that use these
resources for subsistence for more than
ten years we were able to study the
wildlife and this in this gran chaco we
we produce several scientific papers we
were able to have our degrees from
studying in the in the Gran Chaco we
discovered several things we were
learning a lot
we were contributing to the better
understanding of this beautiful and very
rich area but we were we were not alone
we were with a team of local people
indigenous people who guide us in the
process so for more than 10 years they
were involved with us in the effort of
research but what is next for them after
this fantastic project ended after
exposing them for more than 10 years to
research to the world conservation to
the board to the word subsistence what
was next to these people who really
contributed to the better understanding
of wildlife in this area I obtained in
my my doctoral degree I was very happy
many people were very happy and we we
were very successful producing papers
but it was something wrong there so in
2007 I developed a project and my
intention was to not let them alone
after the project so I developed the
para biologist training course and the
pair biology is in terms of paramedics
they are ready to save life to take
decisions in the in the right moment so
they are capable and this is what I
wanted to show everybody they are
capable to do things we
choose an area where we have this one of
the most endangered species in in
Bolivia a mammal species the guanaco we
only have to around 200 individuals in
the whole country and it’s a really good
situation to teach people who really
want to face the challenge of
conservation so you have to deal with
everything with borders international
borders military people drug traffickers
you know you have these ecological
problems you have you have to deal with
many many different actors so it was a
great place to expose these these people
and to to train them as a
conservationist there so for more than
eight months they had 800 hours of
practical and theoretical training this
is more than a master degree and they
have to study from basic biology they
study all the methodologies biologists
use they also had a veterinary module
because I wanted them to identify
diseases in wildlife but what was
important for me it not only helped them
to take the best data but what was
important was they understand why they
were taking the data why they were
helping biologists why these data were
important so they had to learn how to
analyze the data and even more how to
present the result of the data so for me
this was a step forward for their
education at the end we also contributed
to the better understanding of the
situation of the guanaco population in
the area we were able to have 30 hours
of aerial surveys and each para
biologist had the experience and for
them was magic to see the world from the
sky they
they never had that experience so after
a lot of effort after 800 800 hours of
training they finally obtain their
certificate and after a huge fight with
many people we have the certificate
validated by the Ministry of Education
of the country so this is a big thing
for us thanks to this experience
the Rolex award is helping with a grant
and we are expanding we want to cross
borders we think that the protection of
the gran chaco doesn’t have to stay just
in one country because you know it’s a
huge biome shared by different countries
so we have to work together and this is
my idea one of the the way to do it is
to train para biologists indigenous
people in these other countries and we
just finished the second training course
and this time was international and this
time they graduated para biology’s were
the teachers to the new probability so
they are discovering the feeling they
can teach others and it is great because
they share the same language so
communication is better but it’s not
about the title is it’s not about the
certification of the knowledge of these
indigenous people they are capable
nobody sometimes want to recognize that
but they are capable they are
intelligent and they know a lot about in
their environment
it’s not about the title it’s about the
pride they feel when they they know they
are capable to do it and it’s about the
contribution these people can make in
long term conservation of nature so it’s
my way to explore and to find some some
ways to connect the rakin reconnect
options for people and nature thank you
you
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