Maximum protection across borders for the emblematic jaguar

[Judi Lynn]

28 FEB 2020 STORY ECOSYSTEMS AND BIODIVERSITY

The jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest and most emblematic cat in Latin America, will obtain maximum protection, after being included on 22 February 2020 in the appendices of the global United Nations convention that governs the conservation of migratory species.

Today there are merely 64,000 specimens left in the wild in 19 countries of the Americas. These nations will prioritize the conservation and connectivity of habitat corridors and achieve concerted action to curb further isolation of the jaguar population.

The inclusion of the jaguar in Appendices I [endangered migratory species] and II [migratory species that that require international agreements for their conservation and management] of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, also known as the Bonn Convention, was approved during the Convention’s 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) in Gandhinagar, India.

The measure was proposed by Costa Rica with the support of Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay. Several non-governmental organizations collaborated with the initiative: Wildlife Conservation Society, Humane Society International, Panthera, and International Fund for Animal Welfare, among others.



Roads and human settlements are obstacles to Jaguar’s journeys. This picture was taken at Iguaçu National Park in 2018. Photo by Carmel Croukamp / Parque das Aves

More:
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/maximum-protection-across-borders-emblematic-jaguar

[IndyOp]

1. Bless them! Making corridors for protected species provides corridors for all species.

It sounds weird to build corridors so animals have a safe place to travel to get from one large patch of land to another but it can have a big positive impact on maintaining genetic diversity for a species.