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Contacts:
American Bird Conservancy
202-234-7181 x207
International Media Manager
202-912-1214
US/Canada Media Manager
202-912-1411
 Washington,
D.C. (April 3, 2006) – Fast action by an alliance of
conservation groups battling global extinctions has saved
one of the world’s most important sites for endangered
species.
American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Conservation
International (CI), and Fundación ProAves of Colombia
stepped in to protect the 1,600-acre site on the northwest
slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta massif, on the Caribbean
coast of Colombia, before its development for vacation homes.
The site is the sole breeding ground for
the Globally Endangered Santa Marta Parakeet. Another 18 bird
species and five threatened amphibians can also only be found
there. The site is a vital stopover point for declining neotropical
migratory birds that breed in the United States and Canada,
such as the Cerulean and Golden-winged Warblers.
All three conservation groups – ABC,
CI, and Fundación ProAves – are among the 55
members of the Alliance for Zero Extinction (www.zeroextinction.org).
The alliance issued a report in December 2005 that pinpointed
595 sites around the world containing the last significant
habitat for one or more endangered species of mammal, bird,
reptile, amphibian and plant. It listed the Sierra Nevada
de Santa Marta site as one of the most crucial to protect.
“This represents a great leap for
avoiding extinction,” said Alonso Quevedo, president
of Fundación ProAves. “Not only is creation of
the reserve a landmark for Colombian conservation, it is a
fine example of international collaboration.”
In late December, Fundación ProAves
learned of the impending sale of plots from the site for construction
of vacation homes. It alerted the Alliance for Zero Extinction
of the crisis, and in less than a month, ABC and CI had secured
the $130,000 necessary for Fundación ProAves to buy
the entire site that now will be called the El Dorado Nature
Reserve.
“Such quick action to save several
species of birds and amphibians from extinction shows the
importance of conservation partnerships such as the Alliance
for Zero Extinction,” said Claude Gascon, CI’s
senior vice president for regional programs. “By working
together, we were able to forever protect a site identified
by AZE as the last remaining habitat of Critically Endangered
species."
“We were able to save this site from
the bulldozer in the nick of time and managed to safeguard
the Parakeet’s last remaining stronghold,” said
George Fenwick, President of ABC. “This is an important
international conservation success and a model for quick,
effective, international action.”
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one
of the highest coastal mountain range in the world, rising
from the shores of the Caribbean Sea to almost 19,000 feet.
It contains extraordinary numbers of species found nowhere
else across a multitude of isolated ecosystems. Protecting
the new El Dorado Nature Reserve prevents destruction of valuable
and rare biodiversity, and also ensures a clean water source
for coastal towns that depend on two watersheds that have
their sources at the site.
Click here for
a complete list of threatened bird and amphibians found at
the site
Click here
for photos to use in publicity materials relating to the land
purchase
Click here for
a map of the location of the new reserve
~~
ENDS ~~
American Bird Conservancy (www.abcbirds.org)
is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, whose mission is
to conserve native wild birds and their habitats throughout
the Americas. It is the only U.S.-based, group dedicated solely
to overcoming the greatest threats facing birds in the Western
Hemisphere. ABC believes adequate resources exist to overcome
these threats, and that unifying people, organizations, and
agencies around common approaches to priority issues is the
key to success.
Conservation International (CI) applies
innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation
to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal
diversity and demonstrate that human societies can live harmoniously
with nature. Founded in 1987, CI works in more than 40 countries
on four continents to help people find economic alternatives
without harming their natural environments. For more information
about CI, visit: www.conservation.org.
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