2023
by Third Millennium Alliance

A Community-based Conservation Corridor Management Program to Protect the Critically Endangered Ecuadorian White-fronted Capuchin

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Species protection Community managed nature protection Ecosystem protection
2023
by Third Millennium Alliance

A Community-based Conservation Corridor Management Program to Protect the Critically Endangered Ecuadorian White-fronted Capuchin

Our project aims to reduce drivers of deforestation threatening the Critically Endangered Ecuadorian White-fronted Capuchin monkey, and other threatened and endangered fauna, in the greater TFCC (~2000 hectares) of coastal Ecuador. Our ecological research program informs our forest monitoring efforts, strategic education activities and incentive programs for local citizens to participate in conservation and restoration activities that create sustainable economic opportunities. Promoting a culture in which local communities recognize both the practical and intrinsic benefits of forest stewardship will create both economic and environmental sustainability in the region and in turn will encourage responsible local land management.

 

Applied conservation:

  1. Employ locals to conduct field monitoring for illegal activities, and maintain research and security technology (e.g. camera traps) in the TFCC.
  2. Incentivize local landowners to plant heirloom cacao paired with native trees (forest-friendly cacao with above market value) informed by conservation research in degraded areas adjacent to the TFCC.

Community conservation education and outreach:

  1. Parabiologists with TMA staff scientists will host educational presentations in local community centers, highlighting local conservation themes and how land management practices impact the wellbeing of both humans and wildlife.
  2. Design and distribute educational posters about the TFCC.
Name organisation:
Third Millennium Alliance
Start date:
19-12-2023
Social media/website
Country/Territory:
Ecuador
Name organisation:
Third Millennium Alliance
Start date:
19-12-2023
Social media/website
Country/Territory:
Ecuador Africa

Three Forests Conservation Corridor

Third Millennium Alliance recently established the Three Forests Conservation Corridor to form a protected area spanning three ecologically distinct forest types in the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Global Biodiversity Hotspot of coastal Ecuador, one of the most biologically important yet threatened ecosystems in all of Latin America. Tree canopy and terrestrial camera traps and audio recording devices are used to assess spatial and temporal use patterns of the Critically Endangered Ecuadorian White-fronted Capuchin monkey (Cebus aequatorialis), one of 25 most threatened primates on the planet, for analysis of corridor connectivity and identification of barriers to dispersal or migration. This research will provide the scientific support to inform a community-based adaptive management program to effectively expand the protected area through conservation and restoration activities. The project builds local capacity and promotes sustainable economic opportunities through the creation of a community-based parabiologist wildlife monitoring and agroforestry incentives programs.