Amazon Program

WWF began working in the Bolivian Amazon in 1999 with the primary objective of conserving large, representative blocks of Amazon biodiversity and contributing to the improvement of the standard of living of the local population in the mid to long term.

The Bolivian Amazon forms part of the humid forests of the Southwest Amazon, an ecoregion shared by Bolivia, Brazil and Peru and given priority as one of the 200 priority ecoregions worldwide. The Bolivian portion of this ecoregion is located in the northern part of the country in the departments of Pando, Beni (excluding the savannas in the Beni), northern La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz (excluding the Dry Chiquitano Forest), occupying 24% of the country's surface area.

Conservation Vision and Action Plan:
WWF Bolivia’s intervention in the conservation of the Southwest Amazon is based on an important legacy of information including scientific research that is applied and used through the development of a Vision for Biodiversity Conservation and Ecoregional Action Plan. The Vision for Biodiversity Conservation gives priority and identifies specific sites in which to implement the conservation schemes. In Bolivia, the most important landscape units are the forests in the Iténez-Mamoré Corridor and those in Pando.

WWF has involved itself in these two areas through a long term Ecoregional Action Plan that focuses on the creation of a system of protected areas with improved management, promotion of the use of sustainable resources (mainly timber and non-timber products) and the mitigation of threats faced.

Objective:

• Maintain blocks of forests representative of the Amazon biodiversity focusing on two areas: 
  - Iténez-Mamoré Bi-national Corridor (CIM) 
  - Amazon forests of Pando

Lines of action:

• Protected area management, strengthening institutionally and supporting the management of protected areas within the Bolivian portion of the Amazon, primarily in the Iténez-Mamoré Corridor and the Amazon forests in Pando.
   
• Sustainable management of natural resources with local communities, supporting productive activities such as the planning and implementation of sustainable fishing, sound forest management, diagnosis regarding existing resources and identification of potential alternatives for their sustainable use.
   
• Sustainable infrastructure, supporting the research and dissemination of technical information related to the possible impacts that may be generated in Bolivian territory by the construction of the dams of the Madeira River in Brazil, aiming at providing inputs for involved local actors to influence decision makers towards ensuring sustainable energy infrastructure in the Bolivian Amazon.
   
• Species, monitoring and conserving habitats of species such as the Bolivian river dolphin (Inia boliviensis), the giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), the marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) and the large catfish.