As every year, the Ministry of Environment and Water and the National Protected Areas Service (SERNAP) held the National Day of Protected Areas on September 4th, to emphasize its importance for the conservation of biodiversity and the development of the country. On that occasion, the Vice minister of Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Forestry Development delivered the recognition to WCS to Lilian Painter, Director in Bolivia, for the continued efforts to strengthening protected areas.
WCS activities in protected areas of northern La Paz date back to 1999, contributing to scientific knowledge of biodiversity, the analysis of the conservation status of relevant wildlife species and the participatory development of management plans and their integral monitoring. WCS has also collaborated in the development of valuable experiences of land management and sustainable management of natural resources in indigenous territories and communities linked to protected areas.
ID Madidi
WCS is leading the scientific expedition ID Madidi, which is an initiative of several institutions of the Bolivian Biodiversity Network, the Vice Ministry of Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Forestry Development, the National Service of Protected Areas and the Vice Ministry of Science and Technology. The expedition plans to visit 14 little known sites of high biological value and difficult access, between 2015 and 2016.
This important collective effort was also awarded a special recognition from SERNAP in the National Day of Protected Areas. The results achieved so far have registered 100 new vertebrate species for Madidi National Park and a new species for science, a frog of the Oreobates genus, whose discovery by two scientists of the Bolivian Fauna Collection and the National Museum of Natural History has had a great impact on the media and social networks, both nationally and internationally.