By Camila Solano, Wildlife Works Coordinator of Conservation and Biodiversity Impact Assessments
Monitoring biodiversity, in its broadest concept, is observing, recording and analyzing information about various forms of life and their relationships in ecosystems over time. Standardized methodologies are critical for proper execution and analysis of biodiversity monitoring. Biodiversity monitoring is usually carried out by biological research institutes, universities or academic professionals.
Monitoring biodiversity with local and indigenous communities offers a great opportunity to integrate the knowledge that these communities have about the ecosystems they inhabit and have inhabited for hundreds of years. Involving communities in biodiversity monitoring broadens our vision of nature and allows us to understand that we can relate to it in a different, more binding, responsible, respectful and harmonious way.
For Wildlife Works, it is essential that Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities that are part of REDD+ projects participate in biodiversity monitoring exercises. Since 2023, two of these exercises have been carried out within the REDD+ projects Maloca Vaupés of ASATRIZY and ASATIQ, located in the Colombian Amazon. At these projects, Indigenous communities have largely kept their cultural traditions and practice them as part of their relationship with the forest and the animals that live there.
Developing biodiversity monitoring programs with Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities implies a great challenge from design to execution, analysis and dissemination, since the proposed strategy must be adapted for the participation of people of different ethnicities and languages, and people not familiar with methodologies and techniques of Western biological studies.
Adapting our techniques and methodologies to this cultural context has involved a great effort on the part of the Wildlife Works team, and a great amount of lessons learned. We have confirmed once again that feeding the biodiversity monitoring strategy with local knowledge is the way to achieve conservation with the people and for the people. Additionally, this holistic strategy allows for a comprehensive construction of knowledge, which is akin to what is known as participatory science.
On the other hand, community-centered biodiversity monitoring implies a challenge in terms of resources, both technical, human, and economic. For these programs, it is necessary to deploy an entire training strategy at the local level with professionals experienced in biodiversity monitoring techniques. It is also necessary to have sufficient resources to develop technical and logistical operations in remote territories that are difficult to access. This is a great challenge that Wildlife Works has overcome by searching for alternatives to guarantee both the technical quality of these monitoring and the participation of communities.
While community-centered biodiversity monitoring presents certain challenges, investing in resources to overcome them is well worth it. The purpose of the community biodiversity monitoring strategy at Wildlife Works is to observe, record and analyze the status of some species of high conservation value, as defined in each of the projects, and thus account for the contribution of REDD+ activities to their protection. The indigenous community members of ASATIQ and ASTRIZY possess deep, traditional knowledge of nature. This expertise has significantly enhanced the effectiveness of bird surveys, habitat identification, and knowledge of where is best to place camera traps. After the monitoring strategy was co-designed, we proceeded with the field implementation in each of the projects.
For the REDD+ Maloca Vaupés ASATRIZY and ASTIQ projects, we have already developed the first stage of training in techniques and methodologies for biological monitoring. We started with field exercises for data collection, such as transects for bird watching and camera traps for remotely recording the presence of medium and large mammals. Both exercises have been significantly nurtured by each of the community participants, allowing the sampling sites for both birds and mammals to be defined with a broad understanding of the ecosystem, and achieving a large record of species due to the identification skills of local researchers.
To date, and as a result of the monitoring carried out during 2023, we can report that for the Maloca Vaupés ASATRIZY REDD+ project we have identified 231 species of birds and a preliminary 20 species of medium and large mammals. In the case of the ASATIQ REDD+ project, the record is of 254 species of birds and a preliminary 21 species of medium and large mammals.
Among mammals, five of the six species of felines present in Colombia have been recorded in photographs and videos, which demonstrates the potential for the study and conservation of the forests in the eastern Amazon. Although these cats are all carnivores, they manage to coexist because their feeding habits vary significantly among them, mainly in the preference for prey of different sizes, the hours of hunting activity and even the parts of the forest where they look for food. This differentiation limits negative interference between these species, making it possible to cohabit the forest and co-regulate the populations of a large number of species on which they feed.
As for birds, the species Amazona kawalli has been recorded in the sighting transects . This parrot was considered endemic to Brazil where it has a wide distribution, until 2021 when the first records were reported for Colombia (Castro-Ospina et al., 2021). The species is now recognized to have a larger range and is not threatened globally. However, in Colombia, it has only been reported in the department of Vaupés and as of now, the status of its populations is still being evaluated. Strengthening participatory science and coordination with local actors in this large, remote area is key to enriching knowledge of the ecology and conservation status of the bird in Colombia.
These significant findings were made possible by the rapid uptake of the new methodologies, equipment and biological techniques by local community members. The rapid adoption of these new methodologies is most likely due to their close relationship with nature and their genuine interest to know more about all of the beings that are part of it.
From these examples, it’s clear that the community biodiversity monitoring exercises designed and executed by Wildlife Works constitute a sustainable strategy for involving local communities. Each stage of this strategy is designed to build capacity in local communities, so they can increasingly support and take ownership of the monitoring activities.
It is also important to highlight the work of the Wildlife Works biodiversity technical team that has worked tirelessly to translate and distill all of this technical information so that it can effectively reach these multiethnic communities.
Thus, the Wildlife Works biodiversity team will continue to build alliances with local and indigenous communities for the protection of forests and the conservation of life in them. Monitoring with communities is one step in this objective. We will continue to ensure that communities are protagonists, as they are the guardians of these forests.
