The Loro Parque Fundación recently held the annual meeting of its Advisory Committee, which has decided how to distribute the $1,000,000 that the foundation dedicates each year to nature conservation projects carried out in the five continents. The meeting took place in Puerto de La Cruz, the city where both the non-profit organisation and its main sponsor, Loro Parque, are based.
Threatened species and ecosystems on the American continent will receive almost 60 per cent of the funds ($577,000), followed by projects focusing on European nature, which will receive just over $203,000, and the African projects will receive a total of $126,000. Asia, with $73,000, and Australia-Oceania, with $21,000, close the funding, which reaches the five continents and will be distributed among 40 conservation and research projects to be implemented by 34 NGOs and universities around the world.
By country, Colombia stands out, as it will receive almost $145,000, followed by the Philippines, Brazil and Bolivia, which will receive just over $60,000 each. However, the list of states is much longer, and this year the foundation will also carry out projects in Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Belize, Costa Rica, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Madeira, New Zealand and Polynesia. In addition, some of these projects are trans-national, so their benefits will reach the ecosystems and endangered species of many other bordering countries.
From an ecological point of view, terrestrial species and ecosystems are the ones that will receive the most help from the Loro Parque Fundación ($800,000). Among them is the Philippine cockatoo – on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered – whose project will receive $68,000 to continue securing the populations on the island of Rasa and try to extend the reproductive success achieved in that area to other places in the region.
Other major projects on terrestrial species and ecosystems are aimed at protecting lions in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, the Great Green Macaw and the Lilacine Amazon in Ecuador, or the Blue-throated Macaw in Bolivia – all of which will receive funding about approximately $60,000 in 2019.
In addition to the marine mammal projects, the Foundation will also continue conservation work on other species, such as sea turtles and sharks, during 2019.
The combination of in-situ and ex-situ conservation of the Loro Parque Fundación is proving to be a success. The scientific experiences of management in controlled environments with the different parrot species can be applied to the different realities of nature. In this way an endless number of methodologies developed over time, get to make real conservation that protects through the parrots to the ecosystems where many other species live.
The direct contact of the expertise LPF team to each funded project, allows to solve problems of veterinary and educational level, as well as in bird management. The comparison of data, design of strategies and access to genetic material, for example, can provide immediate solutions for the species. Loro Parque Fundación’s knowledge network currently encompasses connections with scientific institutions around the globe to assist in the application of science where it is needed.
The future release of 6 Lear’s Macaws, which were born in Tenerife, in collaboration with the Government of Brazil, is one of the examples of scientific application and connection between zoos and the needs of nature when it needs it.
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