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The Protection of the Yabotí Biosphere Reserve,
Misiones, Argentina and its
Guaraní People
By: Ghillean T. Prance*
Introduction
Hidden away in the extreme northeast of Argentina is the
Province of Misiones sandwiched between Brazil and Paraguay. This Province
is of considerable importance for conservation because it contains what is
now the largest contiguous tract of southern Atlantic rainforest. Much of
the remaining forest is in the area that has been gazeteered as the Yabotí
Biosphere Reserve. The reserve is also home to some of the most traditional
villages of the Guaraní peoples who were the original occupants of a large
part of Paraguay, Argentina and southern Brazil. For the past four years I
have been involved in a cooperative project with the provincial government
of Misiones to assist with conservation planning, scientific research and
Guaraní affairs in the reserve. This is what I would like to report on
in this Golden Jubilee issue of Environews, a publication that I have
enjoyed and found all forty-nine issues useful. I extend my congratulations
to the ISEB for bringing out Environews so regularly over a period of past
12 years and for the important role played by this publication.
The importance of the area
The Atlantic coastal rainforests of South America are
most important because of their high level of endemism of plants and
animals. They are one of the designated hotspots of priority for
conservation (Mittermeir et al., 2004, Myers et al., 2000). These are the
areas considered both biologically richest and the most endangered of all
terrestrial ecosystems. This is certainly true for the Atlantic rainforests,
especially in the more tropical Brazilian part. Many studies have shown the
high level of endemism in the forests (e. g. Mori et al., 1981; Thomas et
al, 1998). These forests are also one of the most diverse in the world.
Thomas et al. (2007) found that there were 405 species of trees and 53 of
lianas with DBH > 5 cm in a hectare of forest in the Brazilian state of
Bahia. In spite of such a rich diversity and endemism, only about six
percent of the Atlantic forest remains. The protection of the remainder is
of vital importance.
It is well known that diversity diminishes
with distance from the equator and so the rainforests of Northern Argentina
are not as diverse as those of Bahia. Nevertheless, they are vitally
important because of the relatively large area that remains and the number
of plant species and especially large mammals that survive there.
The Yabotí Biosphere reserve
This reserve contains the largest
remaining contiguous tract of southern Atlantic rainforest and so for this
reason alone it is important. Some of our collaborators using camera traps
have shown that large forest animals still roam the reserve, albeit in too
small populations because of pressure from hunting and poaching. We have
photos of jaguars, puma, tapir, deer and pigs in the reserve. There are also
a few villages of the Guaraní people in the reserve. The core area is a
provincial park that is now well protected, but much of the rest of the
reserve belongs to various timber concessions. The protection of the reserve
is administered by the provincial ministry of ecology. The British
Government helped to fund the construction of a field station in the core
area. This was completed in 2006 and is an excellent facility for fieldwork
and research. I was first asked to visit the reserve in 2001 and to help
develop a conservation programme with the ministry of ecology. I was able to
obtain a grant from the UK Darwin Initiative to help with capacity building
for indigenous issues and management structure of the reserve. This grant is
administered through the Eden Project a relatively new British botanical
venture that exists to promote the importance of plants to people and to
encourage their sustainable use (see: www.edenproject.org). The reserve has
also appointed an international advisory committee, which I chair. It
comprises experts in conservation from Argentina and four other countries.
The programme Collaborators
The Eden Project/ Darwin Initiative
team began work in the reserve in 2004. Our principal counterpart is the
provincial ministry of ecology, but we also work closely with the Forestry
Faculty of the Provincial University in the town of Eldorado. Botanical
inventory of the reserve is being carried out systematically by the
Instituto Darwinion from San Isidro near Buenos Aires and our grant makes a
small contribution to this work as well. There are a number of biologists
working in the province stationed at Iguazu who have formed the research and
conservation NGO called Ceiba. We have also involved some of the Ceiba
scientists in the work especially with the monitoring of animal populations.
Because work with the Guaraní people is important, the programme supports
the work of a Ph. D. student in ethnobotany from the University of
Corrientes, Hector Keller. He and I are working on the ethnobotany of some
of the Guaraní villages in or near to the reserve. Much of our grant is to
support the work of local people and so only three of us from the Eden
Project are fully involved with the project.
Biological inventory
One of the basics for a logical conservation programme is the adequate
inventory of the species in the area. We have been fortunate to have the
collaboration of the botanists of the Instituto Darwinion who have carried
out a thorough inventory and constructed a data base of this information
(www.darwin.edu.ar). The botanical inventory has also been assisted by the
ethnobotanical work since many voucher specimens have been collected as
well. Our work has also been able to stimulate the use of camera traps in
the reserve to monitor the larger animals.
Training
Our capacity building has taken two
forms: in country training and overseas visits. A few Argentineans are being
brought to the UK for short courses. So far, two researchers from the
faculty of forestry in Eldorado have taken the conservation techniques
course offered by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The presence of these
people in the UK also gives them the opportunity to visit the Eden Project
and learn from our work there.
So far, four staff members of the Eden Project have
visited the reserve and each time we visit we give lectures and talks to
appropriate audiences. In October 2006, we worked together with local
ethnobotanists to offer a course in the subject for Latin American students.
We had seventeen students from eight countries who took the ten-day course
taught by six ethnobotanists. Part of the course took place at the new field
station in the Yabotí reserve and this helped to see that the work was
completed and acted as an inauguration of the Marcio Ayres Field Station.
The station was named after the late Marcio Ayres a Brazilian primatologist
who formed the international advisory committee of the reserve, but died
before it was convened. During the next and last year of the project
training will continue to be an important part of our work.
Restoration ecology
Restoration is an area in which the
Eden Project has much experience because, what is now a major visitor
attraction, was built in an old china clay mine that was a completely barren
area. The Yabotí reserve has within it many areas that are degraded mainly
through excess timber extraction and so, advice on forest restoration is
also important. Peter Whitbread-Abrutat, the restoration ecologist of the
Eden Project, has visited the Yabotí reserve and is formulating a programme
to help restore degraded areas of the reserve.
Ethnobotany and the Guaraní
The population of Guaraní are an important component of
the reserve. When our project began, the relationship between these people
and the provincial governemt was at a low ebb. The Guaraní chiefs were
camped in the principle square of Posadas, the provincial capital, to demand
an interview with the governor to protest the felling of their traditional
forests for timber extraction. Many aspects of our project have helped to
change this situation remarkably. This is in part due to the work of
ethnobotanist Hector Keller who speaks Guaraní fluently and has worked with
many of the chiefs. The provincial government called a moratorium on timber
cutting activities in the two concessions that are of most importance to the
Guaraní. We are now in the active process of raising funds to purchase the
area back to add to the core area of the reserve. This will be of
considerable advantage both to the Guaraní and for biological conservation.
The attitude of the provincial government towards the indigenous population
has made a 180 degree shift during our project and the deputy minister of
the environment is frequently seen negotiating with the Guaraní. This
increased activity in the reserve has led to the establishment of an
integrated sustainable management plan for the reserve (Área de manejo
integral).
The ethnobotanical work has documented many plant uses, legends
and traditions of the Guaraní. Keller’s work had included quantitative
ethnobotanical studies that have shown the large extent to which the
population uses the forest and its plants. He has also studied their
concepts of the different vegetation types that occur in the reserve. One of
the goals of our project is to find ways to enhance the income of the
Guaraní in a sustainable way.
Exhibition of Guaraní life
One of our aims at the Eden Project is to mount an
exhibition about the Guaraní that live in the reserve in order to inform a
wider section of the public about them. We already have information about
them on display. We are gathering material for such a major exhibition and
already the Guaraní feature in some of our interpretive work.
Conclusions
The setting up of this binational collaborative project
has drawn attention to the Yabotí Biosphere Reserve and has considerably
enhanced the protection given to it by the provincial government. It has
also helped to improve the relationship between the indigenous population
and the government and the protection that is given to their traditional
lands. This is helping to ensure the protection of a most important area of
the Atlantic rainforest.
Ackowledgments
I am grateful to the UK Darwin
Initiative for support of our work in the Yabotí Biosphere Reserve, to the
Eden Project for sponsoring this programme and to the Ministerio de Ecologia
RNR y Turismo of the Province of Misiones for considerable collaboration
extended to our work. Special thanks are due to Mario Malajovich the
principal collaborator from the ministry and the coordinator of much of our
work and to Dan Ryan of the Eden Project.
*Prof. Sir
Ghillean T. Prance, F.R.S., VMH is a former Director of the Royal Botanic
Gardens at Kew, England. He is a Life Member and an Advisor of ISEB. - E-mail:
[email protected] |
