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Marine Corridors: Why Have Them?

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The world’s oceans are teeming with all kinds of marine life but it may not stay that way for much longer.

By the year 2100, over half of the world’s marine species may be extinct. But we can reverse this destructive trend by preserving our marine corridors. 

Read on to discover how these vital corridors maintain the health of marine ecosystems. If you’re up for the challenge, you can lend Paso Pacifico a hand by volunteering.

Marine Corridor: Definition 

One Earth defines marine corridors as “areas of air and ocean that serve as migration routes for seabirds, fish, and marine mammals across the ocean.”

Protecting these marine corridors and the biodiversity they hold is challenging, especially when their ranges include different regions.

But there is some encouraging news. More than 7% of the world’s oceans are currently being protected in some way. We already know that their conservation calls for a strong collaboration between governments, organizations, and locals. 

According to the 2020 global diversity framework, decision-makers must ensure that at least 30% of land and sea areas are protected. They must be selected based on their importance in terms of biodiversity and their contributions to people. This is fundamental to human well-being and a healthy planet.

A Look at the Benefits of Marine Corridors 

Before all else, let’s clarify one common misconception: Many people believe that marine corridors and marine protected areas (MPAs) are the same thing but they aren’t. 

MPAs restrict human activity in specific sections of the ocean. A bunch of them, with their varying sizes and levels of protection, combine to form “biological corridors.”

When implemented right, they can help:

  • Strengthen valuable biodiversity
  • Facilitate genetic resilience in fragmented habitats
  • Encourage abundant and diverse fish populations
  • Safeguard migration routes of predators like whales and seals

Creating marine corridors can be prohibitively expensive. It can be even harder to manage without effective regional collaboration. But we must overcome these obstacles now since our oceans are deteriorating faster than researchers previously predicted.

Initiatives Undertaken by Paso Pacifico to Protect Marine Life

Here are some ways Paso Pacifico makes a difference:

Marine Monitoring 

Reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor but they are immensely important since they host the highest diversity of any ecosystem, including tropical rainforests! 

In addition, they shape the culture of coastal communities around the world. Their value in tourism generates nearly$36 billion in revenue.

There’s a big chance we won’t continue enjoying the benefits of healthy reef systems since coral reef cover globally declined by 50% from 1957 to 2007. Losing them has grave consequences such as the disappearance of vital spawning and feeding grounds. Moreover, there are economic drawbacks since they support the livelihood of over 1 billion people. 

To protect and expand this cornerstone of ocean health, we developed a scientifically effective marine monitoring program. Our efforts focus on the marine areas of La Flor Wildlife Refuge, a region that holds important coral reefs. Humpback whales and juvenile hawksbill sea turtles also reside here.

Habitat Restoration

Habitat loss due to destruction or fragmentation affects 9 out of every 10 species. It is a leading cause of biodiversity loss, with extinction estimated at least 10 to 100 times faster than the pre-human era. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg—the real problem is far more complex. 

By working with local communities, Paso Pacifico conserves ecosystems from land to sea in Mesoamerica’s Pacific Slope. In the La Flor Wildlife Refuge (Nicaragua), we are working on species conservation in two remote nesting beaches, protecting threatened and endangered sea turtles.

We’re also dedicated to preserving the “open coast” subpopulation of hawksbills from southwestern Nicaragua and coastal areas in Costa Rica. 

But that’s not where our efforts end. Our conservation projects protect potential habitats of flagship species like crocodiles. It’s an important initiative, even as studies show growing crocodile populations in Pacific Central America.

Creating Aquacultures 

The sea is the greatest source of life on the planet. It accounts for 17% of total animal-source protein for human consumption. When fishing vessels catch fish faster than the breeding population can recover, it has a nasty impact on the marine environment. Here’s a look at the consequences:

  • Alters the size and structure of food webs
  • Affects the ocean’s ability to store carbon for climate mitigation
  • Destroys habitats that serve as important nurseries for many species.

If we don’t make necessary changes in the way we exploit our oceans, there may be no more fish by 2048. Data from the World Wildlife Fund revealed that over a third of chimeras, rays, and sharks are in danger of becoming extinct.

To combat this, Paso Pacifico partnered with Fauna and Flora International, Oceans5, and PRETOMA to promote sustainable fishing. Since hundreds of thousands of turtles die annually because they are accidentally caught in fishing gear, our programs also show how to rescue these turtles. 

Developing a marine corridor at Paso del Istmo has equipped us to save sea turtles, a very rare frog, and endangered primates.

Junior Ranger Program 

The fall of marine ecosystems threatens the communities that rely on them, leaving them vulnerable to hardships. Many are already experiencing large economic gaps, slower economic growth, and poor life expectancy.

This is why Paso Pacifico’s marine conservation approach emphasizes community involvement. We tap into knowledge passed down through generations to protect species while ensuring locals enjoy food security and use marine resources sustainably. 

In Paso del Istmo, we work with women to develop oyster aquaculture and combat overfishing.

We also invest in educating children to show them how to interact with nature without destroying ecosystems. Our Junior Ranger program was launched in 2012. It teaches 8- to 13-year-olds how to safeguard biodiversity and become responsible stewards.

Our lessons go beyond the theoretical with field trips that allow students to experience nature firsthand. Through personal exploration, they can see mangroves, sea turtles, and more.

Take Action Now

There are many ways of protecting marine life. Species of the ocean are disappearing faster than land-based organisms so we must work together to protect critical habitats and the marine life they support.

Sea turtles are an excellent example. Nearly all turtle species have been categorized as endangered or threatened. Losing this keystone species has a huge impact on beach and marine ecosystems. It affects us too since over 3.5 billion people rely on the ocean for food.

Paso Pacifico recognizes the urgency of the issue and has initiated a sea turtle conservation program in El Salvador and Nicaragua. We rely on technological tools like the InvestEGGator, a tracking device that looks like a real turtle egg. These are placed inside turtle nests so when the eggs are stolen by poachers, Paso Pacifico can pinpoint their smuggling routes and minimize illegal trade. 

But there’s still a lot that needs to be done. With your help, we can work together and make a difference.

Work With Paso Pacifico 

You can aid our work on the Pacific coast by volunteering or donating. As a 501(c)(3) certified organization, you can even withdraw your funds tax-free as a qualified charitable distribution. 

Your charitable donation will safeguard sea turtles while preserving the marine ecosystems they belong to and their marine corridors. 

Let’s keep this ancient species safe, ensure their continued existence, and safeguard our own well-being in the process.

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Are you a retired individual with a tax-deferred Individual Retirement Account (IRA)?

Once you reach a certain age, you’re required to start withdrawing money from your IRA. The additional income you receive can push you into a higher tax bracket, which means you’ll have to pay more taxes. This can have a significant impact on your net income. 

Because of this, many retirees opt to donate the money (all or part of it) to their chosen institutions. Known as the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) rule, this requirement enables them to deduct certain amounts from their annual taxable income.

The result is a win-win because their withdrawals don’t get taxed, they can remain in the same tax bracket, and they get to choose which causes to support.

If you’re interested in enacting the QCD rule to help nonprofits like Paso Pacifico, join us as we tell you all you need to know.

What Are QCDs?

A qualified charitable distribution is a tax-free withdrawal from a traditional IRA that is donated to one or more qualified charities. 

Also called IRA charitable rollovers or IRA charitable distributions, it enables individuals who are 70 1⁄2 years old and above to donate their withdrawals without being taxed. 

The amount withdrawn is known as the required minimum distribution (RMD). As of 2024, qualified individuals can give up to $105,000 annually from their RMDs as tax-exempt donations.

How Do QCDs Work?

If a person wants to fulfill their required minimum distributions through QCDs, they must have one of the following IRA types (which are not employer-sponsored):

Under certain circumstances—such as when an individual doesn’t meet the requirements for a qualified distribution—they can avail of the QCD with a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA typically doesn’t require withdrawals until the beneficiary’s death.

However, this is rarely advantageous as distributions from a Roth IRA are generally tax-free.

Note that for non-inherited IRAs, the QCD will be reported as normal distribution on IRS Form 1099-R. You can refer to IRS Form 1040 for more information regarding this. 

Understanding the Intricacies of QCDs

For your QCD to count towards your RMD, the money should not pass through your hands. Your donation must come directly from your IRA account through an electronic funds transfer or a check initiated by the IRA custodian. You can also deliver it yourself, but you’ll have to ensure that the donation gets a written acknowledgment from the charity of your choice.

Remember, QCDs can only be made during the current calendar year, usually until December 31. If you missed the deadline and didn’t use your RMD as a QCD when you were supposed to, it can’t be counted towards the previous year and will still be subject to taxation.

To avoid this, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recommends following the first-dollar-out rule. It essentially means that you should arrange your QCD with the IRA and your chosen charity first and during the early part of the year before withdrawing whatever’s left. This gives them time to complete the transaction while allowing you to enjoy the QCD’s tax-exempt benefits.

What Types of Charities Are Eligible for QCD?

Not every organization categorized as a charity qualifies for QCD. Based on the tax code, only charities classified as 501(c)(3) organizations (like Paso Pacifico, EIN 20-3396421) are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. Donating to private foundations, donor-advised funds, and supporting organizations won’t exempt your RMD from taxes.

Retirees can also donate their RMDs to split-interest entities, nonprofits that manage the funds they receive and share them with other beneficiaries (usually noncharitable). 

As of 2024, qualified IRA account holders can make a one-time donation of up to $54,000 to the following types of split-interest entities:

  • charitable remainder annuity trusts (CRATs)
  • charitable remainder unitrusts (CRUTs)
  • charitable gift annuities

What’s unique about this option is the donor receives a fixed percentage of their donated funds for life.

However, there are certain rules that determine your eligibility. Before giving a gift, it’s best to consult a tax advisor.

Benefits of QCDS

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of QCDs.

Lower Your RMDs

As of January 2023, IRA account holders must start withdrawing their RMDs once they turn 73 years old. If it is not withdrawn, they could be liable for a 50% excise tax on the amount that wasn’t distributed. 

Fortunately, you can start using QCDs as early as 70 ½ years old. Doing so reduces your IRA balance and lowers your RMD withdrawals in the future. 

Pay Less Income Taxes 

Regular withdrawals from IRAs are taxable. When you use your required withdrawals as QCDs, however, they aren’t considered taxable income. Plus, they don’t have to be itemized, which significantly lowers your adjustable gross income (AGI) if you apply the standard deduction.

This keeps you from being pushed into higher income brackets so you aren’t taxed as much. It also keeps you safe from phaseouts, which can limit your tax credits and deductions.

Here’s a Simplified Example

A 74-year-old has an annual RMD of $15,000 and an annual pension of $50,000. This brings his annual total income to $65,000, making him qualified for 2024’s $59,851 to $95,350 tax bracket. 

Without the RMD, the retiree would only have to pay 12% in taxes. But because the RMD moved him up to the next tax bracket, he now has to pay 22% in income taxes.

Without the QCD rule and under his new tax bracket, he would pay $14,300 in taxes and only get to keep $50,700 from the original $65,000. [$65,000 x 22% = $14,300, he keeps $50,700]

With the QCD rule, he can donate $2,000 to revert to his former tax bracket. This means that he would only pay $7,560 in taxes and get to keep $55,440. [($65,000 – $2,000) X 12% = $7,560, keeps $55,440]

$55,440 versus $50,700 may not seem like much but imagine if higher amounts were involved. Heads of households who earn over $609,350 a year get taxed 37%!

Support Your Favorite Charities

Thanks to QCDs, you can make a larger charitable gift as the amount comes directly from your IRA. Since you aren’t receiving your RMD as income, you don’t have to pay income tax on it, which makes your contribution bigger than cash and other appreciated securities. 

If you and your spouse are at least 70 ½ years old and have tax-deferred IRAs, you can double your donation to $210,000 through married filing jointly.

How Do QCDs Compare to Charitable Deductions? 

Charitable deductions are often mentioned as a means to offset taxes but how do they compare to QCDs?

QCDs can only be used by individuals who are at least 70 ½ years old and have tax-deferred IRA accounts. The maximum annual QCD is $105,000 per year. As long as you don’t exceed this amount, you don’t have to itemize it. 

The amount is transferred directly by the IRA custodian. A retiree who avails of the QCD gets to deduct the donated amount from their taxable income, thus lowering their tax obligation.

With charitable deductions, you don’t have to wait until you’re 70 to start donating. The maximum amount you can donate is 60% of your annual gross income (AGI). Technically, this should reduce your taxes but since it comes from your personal account and not your RMD, the tax benefits are much lower. Moreover, you have to itemize the deductions.

By comparison, RMDs are much simpler to understand and execute.

Paso Pacifico: A QCD-Eligible Nonprofit

Paso Pacifico is a 501(c)(3) certified organization. This means that your donations to us qualify for federal tax exemption. 

By assigning your QCDs to Paso Pacifico, you can help protect and restore the ecosystems of Mesoamerica’s Pacific Slope. This vital region is comprised of endangered eastern Pacific coral reefs, mangrove wetlands, and dry tropical forests. 

We work with partner organizations, landowners, and local communities to preserve the region’s wildlife corridors. As we secure core habitats, we also drive awareness and conservation of endangered animals like cyanoptera macaws, sea turtles, yellow-naped amazon parrots, stingless bees, and more.

Enjoy the benefits of QCDs while protecting biodiversity. Donate to Paso Pacifico.

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On a recent trip to El Salvador with Paso Pacífico, I listened to a local farmer proudly naming the jaguar as a local species.

I didn’t like to contradict him, but the outside world says that nobody has seen one in decades, and jaguars are now officially extinct in El Salvador. Still, there are many cases where locally extinct species reappear after decades of being absent.

Though nature is resilient, at Paso Pacífico, we believe in taking action before that time comes so that we never have to say “they are all gone.”

The jaguar is an apex predator, threatened only by humans. In the early 1800s, the jaguar population ranged from the southern US to the tip of South America, and numbered around 400,000. Now, isolated pockets of jaguars total around 15,000 in Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia. We have managed to hunt them and destroy their habitat to the extent that they are in danger everywhere they live. Even though poaching jaguars is forbidden in most countries, the big cats are still killed by poachers. 

The loss of habitat threatens jaguars most. Accustomed to roaming over huge areas to look for suitable mates, jaguars now can often interbreed only with their family members, weakening the gene pool and making the cats less healthy both physically and mentally. This leads to more dangerous behavior and more clashes with humans. There’s a good reason we don’t marry our close relatives!

In areas where human habitat has encroached on jaguar habitat, farmers often try to shoot big cats to protect their livestock. Jaguars will usually go after big prey, but as food sources shrink, they are forced to widen their diet. That invites new dangers, such as eating a dog with distemper and spreading the disease through the forest, or eating a rat which has been poisoned, or getting hit by cars on newly-built roads.

Paso Pacífico is trying to create wildlife corridors which are basically strips of land between jaguar habitats where development is banned or restricted so that the areas can remain suitable habitat for jaguars and their prey. This also prevents rodent populations from exploding and protects the biodiversity. We have also helped establish programs to encourage farmers to corral their animals and compensate them for livestock lost to jaguars. Our Junior Ranger programs have educated children about the value of preserving their environment and trained them to record signs of jaguars and operate camera traps.

These links will tell you more about our projects to protect jaguars. Interested? Please donate and get involved.

Jaguars
Securing Core Habitats

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by Nicholas Bridgman

At Paso Pacífico, we talk a lot about wildlife corridors like the Paso del Istmo Wildlife Corridor. What is a wildlife corridor?

A wildlife corridor is a network of larger areas of wildlife habitat linked by another passage of habitat. Its goal is to counteract habitat fragmentation, a main cause of biodiversity decline. Fragmentation, such as by human development, leads to smaller and smaller islands being created, so that species become more and more isolated. This leads to a breakdown in ecological processes, since animals cannot travel to food, water, mates, and shelter, and plants cannot disperse their pollen and seeds to their full extent. This results in inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity. 

By connecting habitats, wildlife corridors enable migration, colonization, and interbreeding of plants and animals. Maintaining wildlife corridors as a network across both public and private lands can help mitigate some of the effects of fragmentation and aid landscape conservation efforts.

Corridors help prevent species from becoming endangered and stabilize populations in three main ways. First, they aid colonization, so that animals are able to move to new areas when food or natural resources are absent in their core habitat. Second, they aid migration, so that animals can effectively seasonally relocate. Third, they assist with interbreeding, so that animals can find mates in neighboring regions, which increases genetic diversity and positively impacts the overall population.

Corridors can be categorized according to their width. In general, wider corridors receive more use from species. However, proper construction and other design features, such as width-length ratio, also contribute to effectiveness, reducing suffering from edge effects such as weeds, predators, and chemicals. The main general corridor widths are:

  1. Regional (>500 m wide), connecting major ecological gradients, such as migratory pathways
  2. Sub-regional (>300 m wide), connecting larger vegetated landscape features, such as ridgelines and valley floors
  3. Local (<50 m wide), connecting remnant patches of gullies, wetlands, and ridgelines

Paso Pacífico’s Paso del Istmo falls under the regional corridor width.

The effectiveness of wildlife corridors is generally well-regarded, although more study is needed. There are many cases of birds and butterflies successfully using the corridors, while less successful stories have come from other species such as deer. One reason for this may be that birds are highly migratory to begin with. In the Paso del Istmo, the corridor has helped jaguars to return, and prey species such as lowland pacas, peccaries, and tapirs are recovering. Overall, it can be hard to judge corridors in general, since each one must be observed on its own terms, with its own set of standards and goals, and its own unique mix of species and environmental factors.

The Paso del Istmo Wildlife Corridor

Paso Pacifico has applied the principle of wildlife corridors to the Paso del Istmo, a strip of land in Nicaragua between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean. Deforestation and degradation have occurred here for decades, but even in spite of this, the area retains some of the region’s largest fragments of tropical dry forest. Without the wildlife corridor, plants and animals native to tropical dry forest could not travel north from Costa Rica, and rural farmers would suffer since their rivers would go dry and soils barren, lacking the protection and nutrients that trees and wildlife provide. Creating the corridor has been critical for connecting wildlife habitats and ensuring a healthy environment for local people.

The Paso del Istmo represents what most of the tropical world looks like, no longer virgin forest but rather fragmented habitats that are biologically diverse and need protection. Not surprisingly, Paso Pacífico’s work here translates well to work throughout the area. We first identify a corridor where we plan to work, observing and listening to the greatest needs, both so far as biodiversity and community wellbeing. Next, we identify specific urgent priorities, such as endangered species, degraded watersheds, and isolated habitat. Finally, we put these problems into a local context, enabling us to innovate solutions specific to the community and ecosystem’s needs. These steps can be successfully used in any geographic area, and already we are started work in El Salvador and are planning for other parts of the tropics.

An example of our work in the corridor and beyond is our partnerships with dozens of private landowners who commit their properties for biodiversity conservation. They give up profits that they could otherwise make from agriculture or infrastructure development, instead choosing to help protect the environment by maintaining the corridor. Some projects we have undertaken with their help include protecting almost 500 sea turtle nests, protecting a very rare frog, managing and supporting the growth of thousands of recently planted native trees, and protecting endangered primates. The landowners’ generous commitment helped make building the corridor a success.

What We Could Do in the Future

One main interest is continuing to help facilitate the development of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC), established in 1997 by the governments of eight countries in the Mesoamerican region. The heart of the MBC is a wildlife corridor connecting habitats, but it is also more than that; the MBC is a system of land planning. It consists of four natural areas: core areas, exclusively for ecosystem conservation; buffer zones, areas with restricted use surrounding the core areas; corridor zones, which link habitats and facilitate species’ movement, dispersal, and migration; and multiple use areas, devoted to various activities including agriculture, fisheries, and forest management. The MBC works towards three main goals: maintaining biological diversity, reducing fragmentation, and promoting sustainable production processes that improve the quality of life of local human populations.

The MBC began with a strong focus on protected areas, but it has evolved towards integrating conservation interests with those of economic and rural development. Mesoamerica has over 600 protected areas that cover about one fifth of the area, but they virtually all have significant human populations, oftentimes indigenous. Thus, conservation of green areas requires focus on the needs of local peoples, millions of which depend on MBC-protected areas. The MBC itself also contributes to a culture of peace, bringing together countries in the region and focusing on international cooperation.

Paso Pacifico hopes to scale up its work on the Paso del Istmo to build corridors across Central America for the MBC. Many of the lessons we have learned in Nicaragua would greatly contribute to developing successful corridors throughout the region. For example, when we worked on coastal conservation in the Paso del Istmo, we observed how dwindling shellfish supplies impacted marginalized women who collected oysters. We found that a solution could be developing an oyster cooperative. By empowering local women, we enabled them to practice sustainable fishing and obtain a new economic opportunity, while at the same time enabling us to restore the native shellfish. This practice of observing, identifying priorities, and placing solutions in a local context could aid conservation efforts in corridors throughout Central America. Sustainable conservation practices and wildlife corridors can go hand in hand with providing strong economic opportunities and contributing to human well-being.

References

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/nature/landholderNotes15WildlifeCorridors.pdf

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020135221.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_corridor

http://pasopacifico.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2017-Paso-Pacifico-Annual-Report-Web.pdf

https://www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/v_ingles/corridor/mesoamericanCor.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Biological_Corridor

http://www.tbpa.net/page.php?ndx=65

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sarah Otterstrom

Phone: +1-805-643-7044

Email: sarah@pasopacifico.org

Paso Pacífico Commits to Launch Machete Project for Forest Restoration

A youth-led, farmer-centered solution to address climate change

New York, New York, Sept. 22, 2023

Paso Pacífico and its partners announced a Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 Meeting. Paso Pacífico will launch its open-source digital platform, the Machete Project, to catalyze forest restoration by connecting 300,000 youth with small-scale farmers.

According to the United Nations, nearly 3 billion people, many indigenous, reside in the rural moist tropics. This population often relies on the machete, a large steel knife, as a daily tool for their livelihoods in farming.  

The machete can also be used to rebuild the forest. In a practice known as “farmer-mediated natural regeneration,” farmers expertly apply their tools to propagate trees grown from shoots and reduce weedy plants competing with young saplings.

“Small-scale and indigenous farmers are the forestry experts we need,” said Dr. Sarah Otterstrom, Ph.D., Executive Director of Paso Pacífico. “They know how to grow food for their families and are experienced at using tools to shape their environment. Yet, there’s a risk this knowledge will fade away as younger generations migrate to cities.”

The Machete Project platform provides tools needed to listen, learn, and document reforestation techniques in a digital format, enticing younger populations to connect with their hometown and become empowered as citizen scientists and visual storytellers.

Over the next three years, 300,000 youth and 2 million farmers will become engaged in this movement. Their efforts can catalyze the removal of more than a gigaton of greenhouse gasses and support a social fabric that sustains agroforestry and natural forests by recognizing the deep knowledge possessed by people who use traditional tools and their unique mastery of vegetation management.

The values that underpin the platform came about through Ashoka-ASPIRe, started in 2020 as a global initiative from Ashoka and Societal Thinking to support social entrepreneurs who seek to make a systemic impact through platform thinking and technology. Societal Thinking is an initiative of Ekstep Foundation that aims to help reimagine and realize exponential change.

The platform is possible thanks to commitment partner SoftServe and its crowdsourcing platform Open Tech. The software architecture has been generously supported by dozens of volunteers from SoftServe, including many programmers, business analysts, and engineers working from Ukraine.

Thanks to support from the Clinton Global Initiative, Paso Pacífico and its commitment partners, SoftServe, Ashoka – Aspire, and Societal Thinking, are sharing our Commitment to Action to increase climate resilience by sharing knowledge across the generations.

About Paso Pacífico

Paso Pacífico is on a mission to protect biodiversity in places where people live, especially in western Central America and Mexico. Through its locally led and placed-based initiatives, the organization is cultivating cross-generational engagement (and nature-based enterprise) for the preservation of wildlife corridors and the economic prosperity of stewards of the land. Dr. Sarah Otterstrom, ecologist and Ashoka Fellow leads the organization that sustains programs in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

About the Clinton Global Initiative

Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart.  Through CGI’s unique model, more than 10,000 organizations have launched more than 4,000 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries.

About SoftServe

SoftServe is a premier IT consulting and digital services provider. We expand the horizon of new technologies to solve today’s complex business challenges and achieve meaningful outcomes for our clients. Our boundless curiosity drives us to explore and reimagine the art of the possible. Clients confidently rely on SoftServe to architect and execute mature and innovative capabilities, such as digital engineering, data and analytics, cloud, and AI/ML.

Our global reputation is gained from more than 30 years of experience delivering superior digital solutions at exceptional speed by top-tier engineering talent to enterprise industries, including high tech, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, retail, energy, and manufacturing. Visit our website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (Twitter) pages for more information. 

About Ashoka – ASPIRe

ASPIRe is a global initiative of Ashoka Innovators of the Public, the largest network of 4000+ leading social entrepreneurs from 90+ countries.  Ashoka envisions a world in which everyone is a changemaker: a world where all citizens are powerful and contribute to change in positive ways.

ASPIRe is a global Accelerator and a Learning Lab that enables Ashoka Fellows with knowledge, processes, and a support ecosystem so that they can induce exponential social change towards achieving impact at scale by activating agency, cultivating changemaking networks empowered by data and enabled by technology.

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Press Release: SoftServe and Paso Pacífico to Deliver a Digital Platform for Tropical Forest Restoration

SoftServe supports the non-profit Paso Pacifico to develop a digital platform to slow climate change through tropical forest restoration in Central America. The project has started within Open Tech, SoftServe’s corporate pro bono program, where the company’s associates volunteer to deliver tech solutions for communities.

Carbon emission is one of the primary drivers of climate change on the planet. At the same time, farmers in Central America have unique knowledge and experience in growing forests by using their machetes (knives used for farming) to assist natural regeneration. Named the Machete Project, the new digital platform can help to catalyze this method at scale while enabling innovation and co-creation by local people, gathering farmer expertise, and transferring knowledge to a younger generation.

Paso Pacífico’s executive director, Dr. Sarah Otterstrom says, “Rather than offering a transactional approach to growing trees, the machete project emphasizes an intergenerational connection, community, and knowledge sharing. SoftServe’s talented architects, designers, and business strategists quickly honed in on this project’s unique and holistic nature. The company has also shown its strong commitment to addressing climate change.”

The Machete Project can become a digital force against climate change by catalyzing a social movement around forest restoration. The development stage has started, and the project is expected to roll out in five Latin American countries, including Colombia and Mexico, in the coming year, engaging thousands of farmers and resulting in the growth of hundreds of thousands of trees.

“Open Tech is created to extend SoftServe’s positive impact to communities we work and live in. In 2022, 518 of our associates were volunteering for 40 pro bono projects worldwide, and now we are delighted to join a good cause for Latin America’s locations as well. Besides, designing sustainable it solutions is one of our environmental priorities”, – says Lukasz Popkowski, project manager at SoftServe.

Paso Pacifico’s executive director and Ashoka fellow Dr. Sarah Otterstrom began to design the Machete Project through Ashoka’s ASPIRe program which supports social entrepreneurs in orchestrating impact at scale through societal thinking, an approach well-supported by technological platforms.

About SoftServe

SoftServe is a digital authority that advises and provides cutting-edge technology services.

Employing more than 13,000 associates in 41 centers, offices, and client locations globally, SoftServe is one of the biggest software development companies in Central and Eastern Europe. Headquarters are located in Lviv, Ukraine and Austin, Texas, USA. The company has development centers in Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, and started operating in Romania, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia in 2022.

SoftServe has a proven track record in healthcare and life sciences, financial services and insurance, retail, high-tech (ISVs), manufacturing and energy industries. The company is working on more than 900 active projects for clients in Northern America, the EU, and Asia. Among the company’s clients are such giants as IBM, Cisco, Panasonic, Cloudera, Henry Schein, Spillman Technologies, and others. SoftServe is proud to partner with Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and other well-known tech companies.

The company offers deep expertise across software engineering, cloud and DevOps, big data and analytics, AI and machine learning, the Internet of Things, experience design and platforms, extended reality (XR) and robotics.

SoftServe delivers open innovation—from generating compelling new ideas, to developing and implementing transformational products and services. We empower enterprises and software companies to (re)identify differentiation, accelerate solution development, and vigorously compete in today’s digital economy.

Visit our website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

About Paso Pacifico

Paso Pacifico is a non-profit organization that promotes and implements landscape-scale conservation projects in Central America. The purpose is to build wildlife corridors that protect biodiversity where people already live. By working with local communities, landowners, and partner organizations, we restore and protect the habitats that form building blocks for wildlife corridors. Our organization believes integrated ecosystems, which span from ridge to reef (the mountains to the sea) are key to the successful conservation of the biodiverse natural ecosystems in Central America.

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Our three female educators have completed their 10th year leading the Junior Ranger environmental education program. As members of the local community, these women are well-equipped to connect with other locals and to maintain constant contact with family members of the Junior Rangers. They work hand in hand with sea turtle technicians, biologists, and other conservation experts to bring the kids first-class instruction. As supplement to the lessons, field trips to nesting sites managed by Paso Pacifico were made where the children learned about the life cycles of turtles and how we protect their nests.

In July, our Junior Rangers got hands-on and participated in a 7 day cleanup that gathered a total of 1273 lbs of trash in the span of a week. These cleanups took place across five different beaches in Nicaragua and our Junior Rangers played a big role in keeping spirits high and excited about clean seas! The Junior Rangers also took a field trip to the MoSI station at the Mono Bayo Reserve.

This project reached 282 children ages 8-12 in the Junior Ranger program from Ostional, El Coco, Pochote, and San Juan del Sur. From May to August this year, thousands of green sea turtle eggs have hatched on our beaches. We protected 302 olive ridley sea turtles. These numbers include turtles protected in partnership with us at Rancho Santana, a resort that works in close partnership with our sea turtle program. We have one hawksbill nest under our care and had a total of 53 hatched hawksbills!

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Your support for our sea turtle program is vital for the future of the hawskbill sea turtle in the Pacific Ocean. Recent research by members of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO), including members of our team, collected genetic samples from critically endangered hawskbill sea turtles. Samples were collected from both juvenile turtles that were feeding in mangroves and on reefs, and adult female turtles that were nesting on beaches and in mangroves.

What they found was that the hawksbills that have a life history of feeding on reefs and nesting and feeding on open coasts are a distinct population. The research indicates that hawksbill sea turtles that you can help protect in southwestern Nicaragua are mostly part of a population that comes from nests on open beaches in southwestern Nicaragua and coastal areas like the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. These hawksbill turtles then live most of their lives foraging along the coast and in reefs, as opposed to other nearby populations that live out much of their lives feeding in mangroves.

Unfortunately, the hawksbills that are from this “open coast” subpopulation are more rare and threatened. Thus, your support from these beautiful, smallish turtles is vitally important to their future. Make a donation to support them now.

To read up on this research, click on this link.

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Osmar Sandino es el coordinador de ciencias marinas para Paso Pacífico.

¿Que es el plástico? La palabra se refiere a un grupo de materiales sintéticos fabricados a partir de hidrocarburos. A nivel mundial se producen más de 400 millones de toneladas cada año.

El principal problema que representa el plástico, deriva de los procesos de empacado y envasado; dichas actividades representan más de un tercio de todos los plásticos fabricados. La mayor porción consiste en productos y empaques de un solo uso. Cifras del Atlas del Plástico reflejan que menos del 10% del total del plástico producido está reciclado1.

Life Is Short: Average useful life of various plastic items, by industrial sector, in years. Packaging: 0.5 years. Consumer products: 3 years. Textiles and others: 5 years. Electrical/electronics: 8 years. Transportation: 13 years. Industrial machinery: 20 years. Building and construction: 35 years.

Gráfico: PLASTIC ATLAS | Appenzeller/Hecher/Sack, CC BY 4.0

A large mount of plastic waste in the middle of a forest clearing in Nicaragua.

Los desechos plásticos son un gran problema en todas partes, incluso en las comunidades rurales de Centroamérica.

La fabricación y uso del plástico acelera el cambio climático. Si se mantienen las tendencias, para el 2050 los plásticos habrán causado alrededor de 56 gigatoneladas de emisiones de CO2. Esto significa que la fabricación de plástico y sus derivados podría usar del 10 al 13% del presupuesto restante de carbono para mantener el calentamiento global bajo los 1.5°C1.

El problema del uso innecesario del plástico impacta los ecosistemas a todos los niveles. El 80% del turismo mundial se hace en las zonas costeras, aumentando en sobre medida la capacidad de carga de estos ecosistemas. Este hecho, además del uso abrumador de plástico por parte de los humanos, significa que botellas, pajillas y bolsas son fáciles de divisar navegando en la marea.

Paso Pacifico coordinator Julie Martinez stands at the seashore raking plastic waste into a pile, 2017. Photo by SetNet Communications.

Los desechos plásticos se desplazan fácilmente hacia las vías fluviales y el océano. Aquí, una guardaparque de Paso Pacífico rastrilla desechos plásticos en una pila durante una limpieza costera. Foto de SetNet Communications.

Otros desechos que están cobrando mayor relevancia en los años más recientes son palillos de hisopos de oídos y microplásticos. Si bien estas formas de plástico son más pequeñas, es poco probable que se descompongan en el océano. Un estudio reciente sobre ensambles microbianos marinos en microplásticos descubrió que las bacterias no pueden descomponer el plástico y que es poco probable que adquieran esta capacidad a través de la evolución. Se estima que, entre 15 y 51 billones de partículas de plástico, con un peso entre 93,000 y 236,000 toneladas, flotan actualmente en la superficie del océano1.

On the Way Down: Potential interference of microplastics with the biological carbon pump. Microplastic pollution may reduce phytoplankton’s ability to fix carbon through photosynthesis, reduce zooplankton’s ability to transport carbon by impairing feeding, survival, or reproductive success. Shallow ocean: 1) CO2 (carbon dioxide) is dissolved at the ocean’s surface. 2) Phytoplankton absorb CO2 and fix the carbon through photosynthesis. 3) Zooplankton eat phytoplankton. 4) Fecal pellets and dead plankton sink. Deep ocean: 5) Carbon sequestered in deep ocean for decades to millennia. Sediment.

Infografía: PLASTIC ATLAS | Appenzeller/Hecher/Sack, CC BY 4.0

De acuerdo a datos publicados por The Nature Conservancy2

  • entre 8-10 millones de toneladas tienen como destino los océanos cada año.
  • se ha medido que el impacto de los desechos plásticos afecta a 530 especies marinas y otros 2,249 organismos marinos interactúan con la basura plástica de alguna manera.
  • 50% del total de este plástico utilizado es desechado luego de un solo uso.

Algunos organismos son más sensibles a la contaminación que otros, ya que su papel en las redes tróficas oceánicas suele reflejar el estado de salud de sitios de alimentación, reproducción.

El resultado de diversos estudios realizados sobre contenidos estomacales en tortugas marinas, refleja que al menos el 52% de su ingesta está constituida de plásticos, lo que debe significar una cifra preocupante acerca del destino de nuestros desperdicios3. El plástico más común encontrado en el tracto de dichas tortugas marinas analizadas corresponde a polietileno (utilizado para el envasado de alimentos)4.De esos estudios se ha concluido que muchos de los tortuguillos nacidos dentro de programas de conservación no alcanzan su etapa reproductiva, debido al alto porcentaje de microplásticos que causan en éstos asfixias u obstrucciones intestinales, teniendo implicaciones devastadoras para las siete especies de tortugas marinas que luchan por sobrevivir3,5. A pesar de los esfuerzos de organizaciones como Paso Pacífico de fomentar proyectos de conservación y reproducción de tortugas marinas, si estas tendencias se siguen agudizando en el tiempo, no habrá a futuro un número suficiente de crías de tortugas marinas que alcancen la madurez sexual para compensar las pérdidas naturales y otras pérdidas asociadas al ser humano.

Stop Ocean Plastic Pollution: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Millions of marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. Currently, it is estimated that there are 100 million tons of plastic in oceans around the world. Sea turtles and other marine creatures mistake plastic waste as food (such as jellyfish) and ingest it. The plastic get trapped in their stomach, which prevents them from properly swallowing food. This mistake causes blockages within their digestive system and eventual death. All species of sea turtles are affected by marine debris. Juvenile green turtles are heavily affected by marine debris. Sea turtles eating plastic bag. Love Earth.

Infografía: Shutterstock

En general el reciclaje de plásticos juega un papel menor en la mitigación de los impactos dañinos del plástico en el medio ambiente y la biodiversidad. Actualmente solo existe una forma de reciclaje a través de un circuito abierto. Cada vez que se recicla una pieza de plástico, su calidad se degrada y solo se puede reciclar un cierto número de veces antes de terminar en el relleno sanitario o el incinerador. En este proceso se emiten dioxinas y metales como el mercurio, el plomo y el cadmio que afectan particularmente a las personas y comunidades cercanas, pero también pueden depositarse en el suelo y agua a grandes distancias1.

Una nueva generación de plásticos, a partir de biopolímeros tales como la fécula de maíz, es factible. Por ejemplo, un proceso de producción novedoso ha hecho modificar la quitina en los cascarones de camarón y otros crustáceos para fabricar un polímero biodegradable llamado quitosano o chitosán1. El problema de estos llamados “bioplásticos” es que las materias primas de las cuales se producen-como la caña de azúcar-conlleva el uso considerable de pesticidas, los cuales tienen fuertes impactos en los ecosistemas y la salud humana1.

A Paso Pacífico ranger carries a filled black garbage bag across a pristine tropical beach in Nicaragua. Photo by Matt Dolkas.

Los guardaparques de Paso Pacífico lideran con el ejemplo a través de la limpieza del plástico. Foto de Matt Dolkas.

Los cambios nunca llegan tarde. Reflejo de ello es la iniciativa conjunta entre Paso Pacífico y The Ocean Conservancy, las cuales a través del programa Ocean Cleanup ha involucrado a casi 300 personas (185 de ellos niños del programa Guardaparques Junior) en la limpieza de 20 km de línea costera en el Pacífico de Nicaragua. Desde agosto hasta noviembre 2019, 11 playas de nuestros alrededores han sido limpiadas (Playas Brasilón, Hollman, El Roble, Guacalito, El Coco, Escamequita, Ostional, Pochote, Las Playitas, Arrancabarba y Manzanillo), recolectando 1,208 libras de desperdicios (incluyendo plástico, vidrio, cartón y colillas de cigarrillos). Dichas actividades han tenido una participación activa de los comunitarios que habitan en el Corredor Biológico Paso del Istmo, además de la realización de más de 13 talleres relacionados al reciclaje, la huella ecológica y otros temas de educación ambiental.

De este modo, Paso Pacífico pretende ratificar su compromiso social y ecológico para heredar un planeta azul en mejores condiciones para las generaciones venideras. Por ello a través de nuestros programas tratamos de acercar la ciencia desde los más pequeños hasta a los adultos mayores fomentando estrategias para proteger nuestras playas y costas.

Junior Rangers participate in one of our International Coastal Cleanup events. Photo from Anabel Chévez.

Guardaparques Junior y miembros de la comunidad participan en uno de nuestros eventos de la Limpieza Costera Internacional.

Ya bien lo decía Cousteau, “Somos agua de mar organizada”.

Para más información y material educativo, organizaciones como Plastic Bank a través de su web ha puesto a disposición un método para calcular nuestra huella de plástico, y como fomentar mejores hábitos de consumo para beneficio de nuestro planeta.

Referencias

  1. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung El Salvador / Break Free From Plastic. Atlas del Plástico, Datos y cifras sobre el mundo de los polímeros sintéticos. 2019. Ediciones Böll.
  2. The Nature Cosnervancy. 2020. Let’s Stop the Flow of Plastic Waste. Retrieved July 27th 2020, from bit.ly/plasticTNC
  3. Schuyler, Q., Hardesty, B.D., Wilcox, C. and Townsend, K. 2014, Global Analysis of Anthropogenic Debris Ingestion by Sea Turtles. Conservation Biology, 28: 129-139. https://doi:10.1111/cobi.12126
  4. White, E. M., Clark, S., Manire, C. A., Crawford, B., Wang, S., Locklin, J., & Ritchie, B. W. 2018. Ingested micronizing plastic particle compositions and size distributions within stranded post-hatchling sea turtles. Environmental science & technology, 52(18), 10307-10316
  5. Wilcox, C., Puckridge, M., Schuyler, Q.A. et al. 2018. A quantitative analysis linking sea turtle mortality and plastic debris ingestion. Sci Rep 8, 12536 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30038-z

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By Latoya Abulu for Mongabay

The idea of a “pristine wilderness” in conservation efforts — a natural zone free of people — is an erroneous construct that doesn’t reflect the reality of how many high-value biodiverse landscapes have operated for millennia, a new study says. In fact, enforcing this concept can cause environmental degradation of these areas when their human inhabitants, such as Indigenous peoples and local communities who have adapted to living sustainably in these zones, are displaced from them, the study says.

In their paper published Oct. 5, 2021, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors make the case that a “pristine wilderness” where rich biodiverse forests continue to thrive without humans present is a Eurocentric construct. It emerged during the Enlightenment period in the West and was later imposed on Indigenous peoples and local communities the world over as they were displaced from their ancestral lands. This idea gained particular traction during European colonial and conservation efforts in the 19th and 20th centuries across the Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific and Australia, and may be experiencing a particular resurgence today among large international conservation organizations, philanthropists, foundations, and certain governments.

Wildlife rangers in Cambodia. Image courtesy of Rhett Butler/Mongabay.

A high-profile case that may be giving renewed salience to this idea is the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’s draft target 3, which highlights the importance of preserving at least 30% of Earth’s land and ocean by the year 2030. Historically such territorial preservation has been achieved by establishing exclusionary conservation areas, notably national parks. Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and human rights organizations say the creation of such conservation areas will lead to the continued displacement and abuse of Indigenous peoples and local communities if it’s framed in the Eurocentric concept of creating a “pristine wilderness,” a system also dubbed “fortress conservation,” where human inhabitants are seen as a liability.

“Fortress conservation is motivated by the mistaken belief that successful conservation outcomes require ‘pristine wilderness’ free from human inhabitants,” David R. Boyd, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, writes in his policy brief on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

“Mounting evidence confirms that Indigenous Peoples and other rural rights holders possess the knowledge and ability necessary to successfully conserve and manage biodiverse ecosystems more effectively than governments and at a fraction of the cost, particularly where their rights are recognized, respected and supported.”

Separating humans from nature

The idea that natural wilderness areas should be sanitized of any kind of human presence stems from the Enlightenment theory that sought to release humankind from the binds of religion and other subjective cultural influences, and showcase an objective human isolated from the surrounding world. In doing so, however, this process created a whole new “religious” idea of human beings as separate from nature, while its exclusion of other beliefs narrowed the possibilities and solutions that could be used to address our environmental crises — notably Indigenous traditional knowledge.

The result is the now familiar binary of humans versus wilderness, with the former seen as a civilized entity and the latter, an untamed, primitive, wild space. As this concept evolved over the centuries, it fed the notion that humans could tame and conquer nature — and, by extension, “uncivilized” Indigenous peoples — without any adverse impacts on the humans that were tied to it.

For the authors of the new study, the underlining issue is that, at its core, this construct isn’t in touch with the reality of how many ecosystems operate and how high-value biodiverse landscapes are continuously preserved by human stewardship.

Certain ecosystems as “historical products”

Tropical forests, such as the Amazon, are often showcased as the last key biodiversity hotspots that were in place prior to human contact. However, more than half of the spatial landscape of the Amazon has seen and lived along with human activity over the last 10,000 years, to the extent that the region is shaped by it.

The forests are the center of the domestication of more than 80 crop species, such as cassava (Manihot esculenta), wild rice (Oryza spp.), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), and chili (Capsicum baccatum). Agroforestry and the cultivation of maize began around 6,300 years ago and intensified more than 1,000 years later. This domestication and cultivation actively produced human-generated organic soils called Amazonian dark earth that now extend across a significant part of the Amazon and support the “distinct human-modified forests” and their diversity.

“This has influenced forest composition to such an extent that much of the forest is disproportionately rich in domesticated species,” the paper says.

Agroforestry cultivation practices, called chagra by Indigenous communities such as the Nonuya, Andoque and Ceima Chacivera in the northwestern Colombian Amazon, have been shown to lead to “diverse and highly dynamic landscapes” that are largely in line with forest cover thresholds set by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Kyoto Protocol.

Maps detail how much of the “wild” hotspots of the Amazon are actually the ancestral territories of Indigenous communities that have lived, hunted, gathered and cultivated there for millennia. Most areas that aren’t Indigenous territories are areas containing either the predicted human-generated soils, domesticated plants, or earthworks.

In the case of another biodiversity hotspot, Southeast Asia and New Guinea, humans have been hunting and using horticulture techniques, such as swidden, for more than 40,000 years. A technique of rotational agriculture used sustainably in the highlands, it requires clearing a strip of forest by cutting down trees and burning them to have land to cultivate for a short period. The land is then returned to the forests as the farmers shift to another strip of land.

Sustainable swidden agriculture is often lumped together with the encroachment of farms on forests, giving it the name “slash and burn.” Certain large conservation organizations and the REDD+ program see it as “incompatible with nature and conservation” or having degraded the “pristine ecology of tropical forests.”

However, today, swidden agriculture supports more than 14 million highlanders in the Southeast Asia and New Guinea region, and paleo-ecological research has demonstrated how it may increase landscape-scale biodiversity and forest resilience to climate change.

“Despite long being cultivated, these highland zones capture some of the most biologically, linguistically, and culturally diverse zones on earth,” the paper says.

Ecological functions performed by people

Removing humans from these zones that they have co-evolved with and shaped may degrade the ecosystem’s health by removing the human drivers they have come to depend on. A case study focuses on what occurred in Australia from the 1960s to the 1980s. After displacing the Aboriginal inhabitants, who consist of the world’s oldest continuous culture, from the tropical deserts, savanna and forests around the western deserts, uncontrolled wildfires and an erosion of the region’s biodiversity ensued.

According to researchers, the culprit was the lack of humans to perform low-intensity patch burning and hunting. Patch burning diminishes the intensity and destruction of wildfires on flora and fauna through controlled burns, while hunting balances species’ populations. The lack of patch burning in the region helped precipitate the decline and endangerment of many species in the western deserts, including keystone species such as the sand monitor lizard (Varanus gouldii).

“Long-term, multidisciplinary data from all three biomes indicate the long, continuing legacies of humans in shaping these supposedly ‘wild’ landscapes, ranging from food tree manipulation in the Australian Wet Tropics, to the construction of place-based societies across the Western Deserts,” the paper says.

Aboriginal notions imagine a “pristine wilderness” to be one that is, in fact, ecologically degraded without the presence of humans. This illustrates how the concept of “fortress conservation” doesn’t take into account the environmental necessities of various different ecosystems to maintain their integrity.

The co-evolution between people and place, between managed forests and the cultural, spiritual and economic needs of Indigenous peoples and local communities, occurred over millennia. Displacing humans from their lands to create “pristine” conservation areas not only entails human rights violations and social conflicts over territory, but may erode the biodiversity of ecosystems that co-exist with human intervention while impeding conservation efforts by ignoring Indigenous traditional knowledge of forest management.

Boyd, the U.N. special rapporteur, highlights multiple recommendations for the post-2020 global biodiversity targets to avoid continuing on the same failing conservation path of separating humans from nature, and encourages embarking on a transformative path that puts rights-based approaches at the heart of biodiversity conservation.

“Accelerated efforts to expand protected areas have proven insufficient to stop or even slow the tidal wave of environmental destruction sweeping the planet,” Boyd says. “Indigenous Peoples and other rural rights holders who successfully steward vast portions of the world’s biodiversity [are] vital conservation partners whose human, land, and resource rights must be recognized and respected if biodiversity loss is to be stopped and reversed.”

Citations

Fletcher, M., Hamilton, R., Dressler, W., & Palmer, L. (2021). Indigenous knowledge and the shackles of wilderness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(40), e2022218118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2022218118

Oldekop, J. A., Holmes, G., Harris, W. E., & Evans, K. L. (2015). A global assessment of the social and conservation outcomes of protected areas. Conservation Biology, 30(1), 133-141. doi:10.1111/cobi.12568

Iriarte, J., Elliott, S., Maezumi, S. Y., Alves, D., Gonda, R., Robinson, M., … Handley, J. (2020). The origins of Amazonian landscapes: Plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America. Quaternary Science Reviews, 248, 106582. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106582

Piperno, D. R. (2011). The origins of plant cultivation and domestication in the New World tropics. Current Anthropology, 52(S4), S453-S470. doi:10.1086/659998

Bush, M., Correa-Metrio, A., McMichael, C., Sully, S., Shadik, C., Valencia, B., … Overpeck, J. (2016). A 6900-year history of landscape modification by humans in lowland Amazonia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 141, 52-64. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.03.022

McMichael, C. H., Piperno, D. R., Neves, E. G., Bush, M. B., Almeida, F. O., Mongeló, G., & Eyjolfsdottir, M. B. (2015). Phytolith assemblages along a gradient of ancient human disturbance in western Amazonia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 3. doi:10.3389/fevo.2015.00141

Barker, G., Barton, H., Bird, M., Daly, P., Datan, I., Dykes, A., … Turney, C. (2007). The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: The antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). Journal of Human Evolution, 52(3), 243-261. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.08.011

Mertz, O., Leisz, S. J., Heinimann, A., Rerkasem, K., Thiha, Dressler, W., … Potter, L. (2009). Who counts? Demography of swidden cultivators in Southeast Asia. Human Ecology, 37(3), 281-289. doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9249-y

Bliege Bird, R., Bird, D. W., Fernandez, L. E., Taylor, N., Taylor, W., & Nimmo, D. (2018). Aboriginal burning promotes fine-scale pyrodiversity and native predators in Australia’s Western Desert. Biological Conservation, 219, 110-118. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.01.008

Crabtree, S. A., Bird, D. W., & Bliege Bird, R. (2019). Subsistence transitions and the simplification of ecological networks in the Western Desert of Australia. Human Ecology, 47(2), 165-177. doi:10.1007/s10745-019-0053-z

Bliege Bird, R., Tayor, N., Codding, B. F., & Bird, D. W. (2013). Niche construction and dreaming logic: Aboriginal patch mosaic burning and varanid lizards (Varanus gouldii) in Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1772), 20132297. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2297

Banner image: Indigenous Tikuna man in the Amazon rainforest. Under a human rights-based framework, communities on the ground would take a leading role in biodiversity protection, with outside conservation projects or initiatives structured as an equal partnership rather than an imposition. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Republished from Mongabay with permission under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.

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