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Supported by the Wildlife Conservation Network the Andean Cat Alliance keeps progressing!
 |  | June 2010 |
| Dear friends of AGA, Supported by the Wildlife Conservation Network the Andean Cat Alliance keeps progressing! In recent months a number of actions have been initiated that involve an increasing number of stakeholders, including support to community-based conservation areas in Peru, an association of women developing eco-tourism in Argentina, and strengthening international collaboration between Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. This dynamism is reinforcing networks of researchers, protected area administrators, local people and educators, with the common goal of improving conservation of biodiversity and natural resources in regions inhabited by Andean cats. We hope you enjoy the bulletin! María José Merino
AGA Education Group coordinator | | Emphasizing the importance of Protected Areas |  By Maria José Merino
In order to create awareness and increase local participation in the conservation of natural resources, EduGat Program (AGA Argentina) produced an educational poster to assist young villagers address topics related to their daily environment and the importance of Protected Areas in wildlife conservation. In May 2010, we distributed the new educational materials to primary schools in Loma Blanca and Lagunillas del Farallón villages, and we will take them to other rural communities of the Jujuy Puna soon.
| | The Andean cat and the women of the Argentina’s Puna |  By Mauro Lucherini
An important step to achieve respect and care for the Andes biodiversity is to guide local communities in the conservation of their natural resources. In order to be able to walk this trail we need to build a deep, sincere and long-lasting “relationship” with these communities. In the last few months, and with this objective in mind the Soul of the Andes team (AGA Argentina) met with Rosario Quispe, founder and leader of Warmi Sayajsunqo (Persevering Women), a local NGO. We agreed to collaborate with an important project of this organization of women from the Puna region of Jujuy to develop community-based tourism. Among other cooperation initiatives, we will organize capacity building activities on the natural heritage of the Puna, for a group of young villagers from the localities of Cusi Cusi and Lagunillas del Farallón, who are being trained to cater to tourism. Community workshops will also be organized to discuss ways to reduce environmental contamination from tourism activities. | | Indigenous communities working to protect Andean cats in Cusco, Peru | |  Dina Farfán Flores
Dina Farfán FloresOf all the land suitable for Andean cats in the region of Cusco 90% is owned by local communities. Even though the human population here is low, these areas are under intense pressure because of limited natural resources. All these led to the realization that the conservation of Andean cats in Cusco will only be possible in close collaboration with the local communities. Our studies between 2003-2008, supported by the Frankfurt Zoological Society, helped to identify priority areas for conservations of this felid, where the numbers of records where high, the conditions of habitats good, and communities showed a strong compromise with the management and protection of their natural resources. As a result we initiated the project “Ecology and Conservaction of Andean cats” in 2007 with the indigenous communities of Chillca and Osefina, near Mt Nevado Ausangate in Pitumarca district. After research activities, awareness and education workshops, and internships in protected areas, the communities started in April 2009 the process to establish a conservation area with formal recognitions form the Peruvian government. With the Andean cat as their flagship species the communities already started they conservation work with tour rangers form the communities, four environmental promoters, implementing zonation for grazing and tourist activities, forbidding hunting, and promoting the substitution of exotic livestock in their territories. Other four communities have joined in (Pynaya, Sivina Sallma, Pampachiri, y Sallani) and the consolidation of these initiatives would imply some 60, 000 ha. of protected land for Andean cats. | | NEW PROJECTS |  AGA received grant from the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Fabian Beltrán, a Bolivian vet and a new AGA member, in cooperation with Lilian Villalba and Juan Carlos Huaranca, have obtained a grant to stablish a conservation medicine program oriented to contribute to the conservation of the Andean cat and its habitat in a high Andean zone of Bolivia. The funds are destined to strength the research laboratory of parasitological and ecological diseases in the facilities of the Bolivian Collection of Fauna in La Paz. The funding will be used to equip the lab, implement a database and digital library for students’ training. This initiative seeks to standardize traditional and non invasive parasitological techniques. The support to the Bolivian Collection of Fauna will allow Bolivian AGA members to broaden their relationship with Bolivian institutions that work for the conservation of biodiversity.
 High Andes Conservation without Borders The Darwin Initiative from the UK government is prolonging its funding of conservation work in the triple frontier of Argentina-Bolivia-Chile by a team of AGA members and in collaboration with the Group for the Conservation of Andean Flamingos (GCFA). Our aim is to safeguard precious natural resources and populations of emblematic species such as Andean cats and flamingos, from the threats of changing land uses, including unregulated tourism, and climate change. More specifically, our objective is to contribute to improve the conservation status of wetlands, the key resource for carnivores and migratory birds, recovering populations of vicuñas, and people raising livestock in the region.
The initial Darwin Project (2005 to 2008) helped raise awareness and capacity for biodiversity conservation in the region, reinforcing networks of scientists, educators and protected area managers . With these networks in place, the post-project seeks to implement international collaborations for tranfrontier conservation contemplated in the “Tilcara Agreement”, signed by agencies from the three host countries. |
| Alianza Gato Andino 2009 - A multinational and interdisciplinary network for the survival of Andean cats and their habitats through research, conservation, community participation and protected areas' support. Mainly funded by the Wildlife Conservation Network. aga-info@gatoandino.org |
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