A talk between the Biodiversa Colombia Foundation (FBC) and the Antioquia Ornithological Society (SAO) in the roundtable discussion "The story with the birds."

The last Medellin Birds Festival of 2015 offered a space where researchers of FBC and SAO shared their experiences and work towards preserving the Blue-billed Curassow (Crax alberti). This constitutes actions that are part of the Vida Silvestre Project (PVS) in the Middle Magdalena.

This was an excellent opportunity to discuss the strategy of the Biodiversa Colombia Foundation, together with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), advancing in the forest swamps of Barbacoas, (Antioquia). There, deforestation and forest fragmentation, among other reasons, have affected this bird to such an extent that she is now in a critical state of threat.

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WCS, Ecopetrol, Blue-billed curassow, Medelín Birds Festival 2015

We are talking about a nursery located on the Bendición premises, in the village of La Esmeralda in Puerto Carreño (Vichada). Around 40 neighbors of the Bita river participated in its construction, including children, youngsters and adults. All of this took place under the leadership of the NGO Yoluka and as one of the activities proposed under Project Wildlife (Proyecto Vida Silvestre).

During the event, participants delved into the characteristics of the Moriche Palm, from their geographical distribution and the time that they produce fruit, to what animals benefit from them and feed on it (tapirs, fish, parrots, etc.). They were also taught about the way the palm reproduces and that this is a dioecious species, that is, having both male and female individuals, (which can be differentiated by their flowers), facts that many people do not know.

NGO Yoluka and Project Wildlife (Proyecto Vida Silvestre) hope that the nursery project "Harmony" will become a core education for those living in the area, whose active cooperation helps in the restoration and protection of Orinoquía landscape.

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Proyecto Vida Silvestre, Mauritia flexuosa, Bita river, Moriche, Project Wildlife, NGO Yoluka, plant nursery

Training workshops offered by the Orinoquía Biodiversa Foundation in the context of the Project Wildlife (Vida Silvestre)

The communities of the middle and lower basin of the Bita river, in the villages of La Esmeralda and El Merey, municipality of Puerto Carreño (Vichada), were the beneficiaries of this activity. There, the practice of and theory on land management blended together.

The environment provided an opportunity for the exchange of knowledge between the locals and researchers of the Orinoquía Biodiversa Foundation, an institution that advances conservation actions towards the Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), in the eastern plains (Llanos Orientales) of the country.

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WCS Colombia, Orinoquía Biodiversa Foundation, tapir, Bita river

The sharing of results happened through the virtual seminar "Presentation of results: Research Grant Program in the Andean Amazon". There, WCS showed the progress of the investigation "Identification of geographical areas and priority guidelines for the effective implementation of compensations for loss of biodiversity in the Andean Amazon of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru."

It is noteworthy that these studies are part of the work carried out under the Conservation Initiative in the Andean Amazon (ICAA), coordinated by Conservation Strategy.

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Andean Amazon, research results, ICAA, geographical area identification

On August 28^th the final reports of the project "Design and implementation of the monitoring program of Tuparro National Park as a core area of the Biosphere Reserve" were ready. This is the first monitoring program formulated for a nationally protected area, under the framework of adaptive management.

For two years and three months, researchers from the WCS Colombia program, the Institute for Scientific Research Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH) and the Red de Reserva de la Sociedad Civil (Resnatur), worked on the design of the monitoring framework and implementation hereof. Everybody was included, from the team of officials of Tuparro National Park, to the directors of Territorial Orinoquía and the subdirectors of management of the Colombian National Parks authorities.

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WCS, , monitoring, Tuparro National Park

In this protected area, located between the departments of Quindío and Risaralda, a study was conducted in which 67 bee species of the 604 registered in Colombia were found. Forests, pastures, crops and housing are among the places where these insects were found.

The information of the discussed study was obtained between May 2014 and September 2015. As part of this, we present the brochure Bees in Barbas-Bremen, which had the support of the University of Freiburg (Germany), Colciencias, the Rufford Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society, the ICESI University and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute.

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WCS, Bees, Barbas-Bremen, Quindío, Risaralda