Connecting Research, Management, Education and Policy for the Conservation of Armadillos in the Orinoco Llanos of Colombia

Connecting research, management, education and policy for the conservation of armadillos in the Orinoco Llanos of Colombia M ARIELLA S UPERINA,ALEXANDRA C ORTÉS D UARTE and F ERNANDO T RUJILLO Abstract Successful conservation actions require strat- Keywords Action plan, armadillo, Chlamyphoridae, Cingu- egies that combine research, policy formulation and en- lata, Colombia, Dasypodidae, wildlife conservation forcement, practical interventions and education. Here we review the Armadillo Conservation Programme, which was initiated in as a pioneering multidisciplin- ary programme for the conservation and management of Introduction five armadillo species in the Orinoco Llanos of Colombia. uccessful conservation actions require strategies that It is led by a multi-institutional alliance that ensures active combine research, policy formulation and enforcement, participation of stakeholders during all stages of the pro- S practical interventions and education (Sutherland, ). gramme. Six main threats affecting armadillo populations To increase the chances of achieving sustained conservation in the Llanos were identified, and these were addressed in outcomes, stakeholders, including the local population and the first joint action plan of two Colombian environmen- industry, should be involved in all stages, from development tal authorities. Scientific research facilitated an increase in and planning to execution and monitoring (Reed, ). the knowledge available about the armadillos of the Armadillos (Xenarthra: Cingulata) are semi-fossorial Llanos, and the recategorization of the northern long- mammals restricted to the Americas, and they have long nosed armadillo Dasypus sabanicola on the IUCN Red been neglected by the scientific community. According List. Threat evaluation and mitigation included the assess- to the IUCN Red List, of the extant armadillo species, ment of illegal bushmeat trade and consumption in local two are categorized as Vulnerable, five as Near Threatened restaurants and the establishment of a certification label and five as Data Deficient (IUCN, ). The development for restaurants that do not sell wild meat. Multiple strat- of conservation plans for armadillos is hindered by the egies were used to raise awareness about armadillos and scarcity of scientific information on their ecology, position them as flagship species for the Llanos, including reproductive strategies, and threats to their survival education programmes in schools, travelling exhibitions, (Superina et al., b). talks at universities, and the publication of several The situation is especially critical in the Orinoco Llanos books. The local communities were actively involved region of eastern Colombia, which is inhabited by five arma- through a network of private reserves committed to the dillo species: the southern naked-tailed armadillo Cabassous conservation of armadillos, in which armadillos are pro- unicinctus, the nine-banded armadillo Dasypus novemcinc- tected from poaching and monitored by farmers. tus, the greater long-nosed armadillo Dasypus kappleri, Breeding and rehabilitation facilities were established the northern long-nosed armadillo Dasypus sabanicola that can host confiscated armadillos and raise awareness and the giant armadillo Priodontes maximus. The conserva- among the local communities. This case study shows tion status of the first three has not been assessed at the na- that conservation programmes targeted at inconspicuous tional level; D. sabanicola is categorized as Data Deficient and poorly known species can be successful. and P. maximus as Vulnerable on the national red list (Rodríguez-Mahecha et al., ). Deforestation rates in the Orinoco Llanos are among the highest in Colombia (Instituto de Hidrología, MARIELLA SUPERINA*† (Corresponding author) Laboratorio de Medicina y Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales, ). This is re- Endocrinología de la Fauna Silvestre, Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo, Centro Científico Tecnológico, Consejo Nacional de lated to the rapid expansion of agroindustrial activities, Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Mendoza, Argentina especially the production of biofuel, timber and cash E-mail [email protected] crops (Lasso et al., ). It is estimated that c. %of ALEXANDRA CORTÉS DUARTE* and FERNANDO TRUJILLO* Fundación Omacha, the natural habitat in the Orinoco Llanos is affected by Bogotá, Colombia land-use change every year. A -fold increase in the *Also at: Alianza Oleoducto de los Llanos Orientales, Fundación Omacha, area used for agricultural activities, especially for oil Cormacarena, Corporinoquia, Corpometa, Bioparque Los Ocarros, Colombia †Also at: Fundación Omacha, Bogotá, Colombia palm,rice,timber,soyandcornplantations,hasbeenpro- Received December . Revision requested April . jected until (Aristizábal et al., ; Dishington, Accepted May . First published online November . ; Fedearroz, ; Fedepalma, ; Instituto This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, Downloadeddistribution, from https://www.cambridge.org/core and reproduction in any medium,. IP address: provided 170.106.202.8 the original work, onis 24 properly Sep 2021 cited. at 08:03:06, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/termsOryx, 2019, 53(1), 17–26 © 2018. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000790 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318000790 18 M. Superina et al. Alexander von Humboldt, ; CRECE, ). In addition, Conservation Programme) primarily involves six institu- oil extraction has increased significantly in the Orinoco tions: Oleoducto de los Llanos Orientales, a Colombian pri- Llanos since and accounts for % of the national vate company managing a pipeline in the Orinoco region; oil production (Correa et al., ; Bayona, ). All Fundación Omacha, a Colombian NGO dedicated to bio- these activities lead to degradation and fragmentation of diversity research and conservation; the environmental wildlife habitat. Associated demographic shifts, such as agencies Corporinoquia and Cormacarena, whose jurisdic- the migration of workers from urban areas and transform- tions enclose the departments of Casanare, Arauca and ation of farms to oil fields, have led to cultural changes that Vichada, and Meta department, respectively; Bioparque directly or indirectly affect wildlife (Correa et al., ). Los Ocarros, a zoological institution dedicated to native Inspired by Garnett & Lindenmayer (), who advo- wildlife of the Llanos; and Corpometa, a company that cated disseminating conservation success stories to engender promotes the social and economical development of Meta positive thinking and counterbalance pessimistic reports department. Other stakeholders, including the local com- about biodiversity loss, we review a pioneering pilot pro- munities and educational institutions, participate in specific gramme for the conservation of armadillos in the Llanos projects. of Colombia that could be replicated in other areas and applied to other species. Diagnosis of the most relevant problems Study area A diagnosis was made of the most relevant problems directly or indirectly affecting the armadillo populations in the The Armadillo Conservation Programme focused initially Llanos. It involved a literature review, and a threat analysis on the area of influence of the km Oleoducto de los based on the biodiversity action plan for the Orinoco region Llanos pipeline, which runs from the Rubiales oilfield (Correa et al., ) and other relevant publications (Meta department) to Monterrey (Casanare department) (e.g. Dishington, ; Fedearroz, ; Fedepalma, ; in the Orinoco Llanos region of Colombia (Fig. ). In its Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, ; Lasso et al., second year, the programme was expanded to the entire de- ), as well as consultations with Colombian mammalo- partments of Casanare, Arauca, Vichada and Meta, to cover gists and international armadillo experts over the course of the complete areas of jurisdiction of the environmental months. In addition, four workshops were held, involving agencies Corporinoquia and Cormacarena, encompassing all institutions participating in the Armadillo Conservation an area of almost , km . Programme and other stakeholders. Six major issues were The area is part of the binational basin of the Orinoco identified and several parallel and complementary lines of River, which in Colombia includes the Meta River basin action established (Table ). Multiple approaches were (Correa et al., ). The landscape is dominated by sea- used to pursue these, as described below. sonal tropical savannah, which is characterized by exten- sive, seasonally flooded savannahs, gallery forests and riparian forests (Hernández-Camacho & Sánchez, ). Development of an action plan The current population of c. ,, inhabitants Four workshops were held and stakeholders interviewed in (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística, various parts of the Llanos during November – ) consists of four socio-cultural groups, each of November , to analyse the major threats and drivers as- which maintains its cultural, geographical and historical sociated with landscape transformation, and to identify gaps characteristics: Indigenous Peoples, consisting of dis- in information and research needs in relation to armadillos. tinct ethnic Indigenous groups; native farmers of the A working document of the

Load more