Title
Grandes vertebrados terrestres en tierras ancestrales indígenas del alto Caura: importancia de los acuerdos comunitarios para la conservación del Escudo Guayanés venezolano / Large terrestrial vertebrates of the indigenous ancestral lands from Upper Caura: the importance of community-based agreements for the Venezuelan Guiana Shield conservation
Author(s)
Perera-Romero, Lucy; Polisar, John; Maffei, Leonardo
Published
2016
Publisher
Conservación de grandes vertebrados en áreas no protegidas de Colombia, Venezuela y Brasil (THIS IS A BOOK TITLE, NOT A JOURNAL)
Abstract
The vast forests of the Guiana Shield have high potential for long-term jaguar (Panthera onca), peccary (Tayassu pecari) and tapir (Tapirus terrestris) conservation. These remote areas are the ancestral lands of indigenous tribes whose livelihood depends of subsistence hunting. In recent years increasing population growth and sedentary life styles have increased local hunting pressure of terrestrial vertebrates. Concerned about this situation, in 2004 Ye’kwana and Sanema communities in Venezuela’s Caura river watershed agreed to protect the basins of some tributaries for inter-communal use and the protection of wildlife populations (Sömajö). We conducted comparative studies, evaluating medium and big sized vertebrates in the Sömajö of the lower Ka’kada and in the influence areas of Ye’kwana and Sanema. The surveys were carried out in the dry seasons of 2011, 2013 and 2014 in Ka’kada, Yudiña-Ayawaña and Anadekeña-Jüwütüña, respectively. In each surveyed area between 52 and 58 camera trap stations were installed. The encounter rates of tapirs, peccaries, anteaters and Cracids (Aves: Galliformes: Cracidae) were higher in lower Ka’kada than those encountered around communities. These results suggest that the Sömajö is achieving its protection functions, maintaining a higher abundance of these species than the areas around communities. This highlights the importance and the potentials of indigenous territorial management on ancestral lands as a fundamental tool for effective wildlife conservation in the Guiana Shield.
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the WCS Library to request.
![]()
Back
PUB26882