Investigators
Fernando Arbeláez (coordinator)
Mario Vargas-Ramírez

An initiative of the Curuinsi Huasi indigenous family association

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Funding institutions

With the support of:

News

03/07/2009

Once again, Rufford Small Grants has joined us in our conservation efforts. Thank you for keeping supporting our initiative!

07/05/2009

Turtle Conservation Fund has joined us in our conservation efforts, by supporting the Nests translocation pilot program

Presentation

In 2007, members of the Curuinsi Huasi indigenous family association of the Santa Sofia Reserve, aware of the rapid decrease of the river turtles populations in the area, proposed to FBC their initiative to monitor and protect a nesting beach. In 2008, FBC carried out the Initial actions towards conservation of three endangered river turtles in the Santa Sofia indigenous reserve, Amazonas, Colombia. 2008program. This included: a strong educational campaign in a community of the reserve (Nuevo Jardin) focused on children, young people and elder people to create awareness-rising, involvement in the program and recuperation of traditional knowledge related to turtles; monitoring and protection of a community conservation beach coordinated by the Curuinsi Huasi association; and socialisation of the program among neighbour communities. The program was received with interest by several communities of Colombia and Peru and by the environmental authorities of both countries. However, monitoring also evidenced the rapid decline of turtle populations, since only 32 nesting females of two of the three species were recorded on the protected beach in the whole reproductive season. Interviews with key local informants indicated that in previous years a single fisherman could extract up to 12 nests in a single night on that beach. Therefore, it is of extreme importance to implement a broader conservation program that involves communities and authorities from both countries, conformation and capacity-building of local conservation groups and specific actions oriented to direct protection and to awareness-rising towards the importance of turtle conservation. Besides the Curuinsi Huasi association, four communities in particular, two from Colombia (Nuevo Jardin and El Progreso) and two from Peru (Yahuma I and Yahuma II), showed great interest on the initiative and agreed and committed to participate in the continuation of the program. A preliminary meeting organised by FBC and Curuinsi Huasi was held, in which environmental authorities from both countries and traditional authorities from the four communities were invited to discuss and concert the continuation of the program.

Young people and traditional authorities from Nuevo Jardin and El Progreso (Colombia) are anxiously on their way to the meeting held in Yahuma II (Peru) in September 2008 to discuss the continuation of the program. Photo: F. Arbeláez.

The Yahuma I community (Peru) showed its interest and concern for turtle conservation. School children wrote a sign in Tikuna with drawings inviting to conservation of turtle species on the beach. Photo: F. Arbeláez.

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Objectives

The general objective of the program is to contribute to reduce eggs and adults extraction for commercialisation and for local consumption in the area by generating and improving local capacities, environmental education and specific conservation actions.

Specific objectives are:

1. To reduce nests and adults extraction in a community conservation beach through constant protection and monitoring by local conservation groups, with effective collaboration and support by environmental authorities from both countries.
The young people groups will be in charge of the monitoring, under supervision and advice of Curuinsi Huasi with the experiences acquired during 2008.

2. To provide tools and training to four groups of young leaders in conservation, one in each participating community, and to Curuinsi Huasi association, aiming to stimulate conservation as a productive alternative in the area.
The young people will receive proper theoretical and practical training in different areas, such as: turtle biology and conservation; monitoring of nests and nesting females; gathering and analysing data; sustainable management of natural populations; organisation capacity; and project planning, fund--raising and exectution. Trainers will be professionals in each area, including investigators from FBC and the members of Curuinsi Huasi themselves.

3. To carry out an educational campaign to rise awareness and recall tradition regarding turtle conservation in participating and neighbour communities.
In each participating community, activities with children, older people and with the whole community will be carried out, leaded by each young people group and based on the experiences acquired during the 2008 program in the Nuevo Jardin community. The young people groups will also be in charge of disseminating the program and the importance of turtle conservation in the neighbour communities.

4. To strengthen conservation efforts on the natural beach by translocating nests from non--protected beaches to an artificial one, aiming to increase the amount of protected nests and egg survival rate.
This will be carried out mainly by members of Curuinsi Huasi under supervision of FBC investigators and following recommendations from similar experiences in other areas of the Amazonia.

5. To promote and guide designing, fund-raising and execution of relevant projects that produce tangible results focused on turtle conservation by the young people groups in 2010.
The young people groups will be guided by investigators of FBC during the process of designing, fund-raising and executing their turtle conservation actions in 2010.

The program seeks for greater and direct support by environmental authorities from both countries to conservation activities carried out by the local conservation groups. Photo: F. Arbeláez

Projections

In the short term, specific conservation actions (beach protection, nests translocation and conservation initiatives from each local conservation group), with support from environmental authorities from both countries will allow to increase turtle populations for the coming years. In the mid- and long-term, training of local conservation groups, together with gathered information during the specific conservation actions and awareness-rising towards importance of turtle conservation in the area will allow developing a local turtle conservation strategy that will serve as model and example for other communities in the region. We seek to promote conservation as a viable alternative to exploitation of natural resources by local communities, as much among communities as governmental and non-governmental institutions to bring support to such initiatives.

Initial actions towards conservation of three endangered river turtles in the Santa Sofia indigenous reserve, Amazonas, Colombia. 2008

Back to the main page of the Community-based conservation program of three endangered species of river turtles with Amazonian indigenous communities of Colombia and Peru