Conserving Neotropical Migratory Birds in the High Andean Wetlands, BirdLife International

The Andes Mountains are home to lakes, lagoons, marshes, and bogs that are collectively known as the high Andean wetlands. These ecosystems provide fresh water for more than 100 million people and provide important habitat for valuable plants and wildlife, including Neotropical migratory birds. However, major threats to these wetlands are putting the well-being of human and animal populations that depend on them at risk.

Since 2011, BirdLife International and a group of local partners have been working across four countries in the region on a project called “Conserving Neotropical Migratory Birds in the High Andean Wetlands.” We talked with Isadora Angarita-Martínez, the project’s regional coordinator, and Patricia Marconi, project coordinator in Argentina, about the current situation in the high Andean wetlands and how the project is working with governments and local communities to protect these ecosystems and contribute to migratory bird conservation.

• Question: Why are the high Andean wetlands special or important?

Angarita-Martínez: These ecosystems are large producers, regulators, and storehouses of water in the Andean countries. The high Andean wetlands of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina provide stopover and overwintering habitats for approximately 15 species of Neotropical migratory birds of interest to conservation and are also home to farming and indigenous communities.

Marconi:  The high Andean wetlands, as well as the grasslands or puna ecosystems in Catamarca, the most extensive in Argentina, provide important bird habitat.  They are summer concentration and nesting sites for the two species of high Andean flamingos (Phoenicoparrus andinus and P. jamesi), and safeguard all the endemic and characteristic species of the Altos Andes and the puna, such as the giant coot (Fulica gigantea) and the Andean avocet (Recurvirostra andina).  They’re also home to five species of migratory birds from the Northern Hemisphere: Baird’s sandpiper (Calidris bairdii), lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca), Wilson’s phalarope (Steganopus tricolor), and the American golden plover (Pluvialis dominica).

• Q: What are the main threats to these ecosystems?

Angarita-Martínez: They are seriously threatened by mining, which has cleared vegetation and contaminated water sources, as well as the unregulated growth in agriculture, ranching, and tourism.  These activities are largely unregulated since it’s difficult for authorities to reach and guard the ecosystems. Moreover, most of the conservation efforts on this continent have been focused on forests and jungles and not so much on other ecosystems such as the high Andean wetlands, savannahs and natural grasslands.

Threats in Catamarca also include road development mainly linked to mineral prospecting, which have facilitated illegal activities such as the hunting of vicuñas and guanacos and collecting flamingo and Darwin’s rhea (Rhea pennata) eggs. Another major threat is unregulated adventure tourism activities, like off-road races. The Dakar Rally crosses Catamarca every year without any regulations or monitoring of its impact on the ecosystem.  It has made 4×4 vehicle tourism popular and led to circuits called “Following the Dakar Paths.”

Review the complete interview HERE