Conservationists in Nicaragua are calling for urgent measures to help control the country\u2019s illegal capture and trade in wild birds.<\/p>\n
The call comes after a BBC journalist, posing as an interested foreign buyer, was offered a number of parrot species, many for sale on the roadside. The same journalist was later offered a Great Green Macaw Ara ambiguous, listed by BirdLife and IUCN as Endangered, meaning that it\u00a0faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the capital of Nicaragua, any tourist can buy all kinds of threatened species, in particular those from the Psittacid [parrot] family.\u201d said Jose Manuel Zolotoff of Fundacion Cocibolca (BirdLife\u2019s project partner in Nicaragua). \u201cYou can get a sense of how profitable the trade is when a Great Green Macaw and Scarlet Macaw can be sold in a buffer zone for an average of $200-$400 [USD], being sold in the US for up to $2,000 [USD].\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2004, a national monitoring study in Nicaragua found parrot numbers had decreased by 69%, compared to previous monitoring exercises in 1999. The decline was put down to habitat loss and exportation for trade. As a result of the study, CITES, the convention governing international trade in species, recommended a ban on all parrot exportations in Nicaragua.<\/p>\n
Since the ban though, illegal capture and trade has become a critical issue facing the country\u2019s birds.<\/p>\n
In a BBC News article, Nicaragua\u2019s Environment Minister, Cristobal Sequiera, expressed frustration in controlling the problem, citing economic pressure and lack of awareness as factors driving the illegal trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are poor. They don\u2019t understand that we are trying to attract eco-tourists and that those tourists want to see Nicaragua\u2019s beauty.\u201d Mr Sequiera is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we tell the poachers they could get real jobs in the tourism industry, they don\u2019t see it\u2019s in their interests to leave the birds alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other problem is the lack of financial resources of MARENA [Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources\/Ministerio del Ambiente y Recursos Naturales] to hire rangers to cover extensive amount of protected areas and buffer zones.\u201d said Zolotoff.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut these are problems that we must address if we are to save many of these species from a near certain extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fundacian Cocibolca are currently putting together Nicaragua\u2019s first directory of Important Bird Areas, alongside another organisation, Alianza para las Areas Silvestres (ALAS, Alliance for Natural Areas).<\/p>\n
Using BirdLife\u2019s IBA programme, the organisations are working to form a foundation for site monitoring and protection \u2013 both of which will become crucial components in future efforts to control the country\u2019s illegal wild bird trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Conservationists in Nicaragua are calling for urgent measures to help control the country\u2019s illegal capture and trade in wild birds. The call comes after a BBC journalist, posing as an interested foreign buyer, was offered a number of parrot species, many for sale on the roadside. The same journalist was later offered a Great Green […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[11,26],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}