Promoting Pride in La Amistad Biosphere Reserve of Panama

Stretching across the foothills and mountains of southeast Costa Rica and northwest Panama in the Talamanca range, La Amistad Biosphere Reserve is located at a point on the Central American Isthmus where flora and fauna from both North and South America reach their maximum species mix. Comprising 221,000 hectares and 10 different life zones, La Amistad is an area of extraordinary biological diversity. The Talamanca range contains the largest tracts of virgin rainforest in Costa Rica, and more than 30 percent of the reserve’s plant species are endemic. It is also home to the ocelot, Baird’s tapir, and the quetzal. Some 30,000 people live around the site, in addition to the nearly 5,000 indigenous people representing three of Panama’s five ethnic groups who inhabit La Amistad, including the Teribe and Guaymí. Their livelihoods depend on subsistence agriculture, fishing, and hunting.

Threats to the Region
Despite its remoteness and small population, La Amistad Biosphere Reserve is under threat from agricultural expansion, deforestation, cattle ranching, hunting, and the commercial extraction of exotic flora and fauna. There is also persistent pressure to build roads or highways through the protected areas as exploitation of coal and minerals increases.

La Amistad Biosphere Reserve Pride Campaign Goals
Rare is currently working with local nonprofit Fundación para el Desarrollo Integral del Corregimiento de Cerro Punta (FUNDICCEP) to bring Pride’s method of community conservation to La Amistad. FUNDICCEP is one of The Nature Conservancy Panama Program’s local partners in the region, and Rare is proud to have joined the effort to preserve this important area. Campaign goals:

• shift public behavior toward more sustainable agriculture through the reduction of pesticide use and promotion of organic farming
• foster the constituencies necessary for creating policy changes, legislative reform, and greater enforcement of protective laws

Although FUNDICCEP is already managing successful environmental education efforts targeting agricultural expansion, logging, and extractive activities around the site, additional financial support will enable Rare’s local partner to reach a wider audience by integrating Pride's methodology into its long-term site conservation strategies.

Local Leadership
Luis Sánchez Samudio is FUNDICCEP’s Pride campaign manager for this project. He holds a degree in business administration and is involved in organic agriculture. After having studied for 10 weeks at Rare’s training center at the University of Guadalajara in the fall of 2005, Luis gained an abundance of tools to use in actively engaging the local community in conservation. He is currently coming to the end of his Pride campaign, which was focused mainly on sustainable agriculture, and will return to the University of Guadalajara in March 2007. During this time, he will strategize with Rare staff on key follow up activities that will not only extend his campaign efforts, but also help raise follow up funding. His flagship species for his campaign is the Resplendent quetzal.