Background
The Ulla Ulla National Fauna Reserve - which today is part of Apolobamba Integrated Management Natural Area - was created in 1972 with an extension of 240,000 ha. Its principal objective was to protect the local vicuña populations and high-Andean ecosystems. In 1977, UNESCO declared it a Biosphere Reserve, but this international recognition has done little if anything to bolster external support for the protected area and is not even mentioned in recent publications.
From 1977 on, vicuña protection was delegated to INFOL (Instituto Nacional de Fomento Lanero) under terms specified by a World Bank project titled “Ulla Ulla Integrated Rural Development.” After several years of rather unsuccessful management, the protected area’s administration was transferred to the Bolivian Institute of Agricultural Technology (Instituto Boliviano de Tecnología Agropecuaria).
In 1994, through the National Directorate of Biodiversity Conservation (Dirección Nacional de Conservación de la Biodiversidad - DNCB) supervised the signature of a co-administration agreement between the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Environment (Ministerio de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Ambiente) and the Canadian Center for International Cooperation and Studies (CECI). Valid for four years, the agreement’s mission was to create and progressively transfer the administration of the protected area to a Management Committee. In 1996, CECI’s role was redefined in a new four-year agreement signed by the Franz Tamayo and Bautista Saavedra Peasant Federations - and the Alpaca Project was launched, also with a four-year duration. In 1999, once the agreement expired, SERNAP, created in the meantime, assumed the management of the protected area. During those years, a Management Plan was drafted by a consortium of organizations composed of the Institute of Ecology of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, the National Herbarium, the Institute of Hydraulics of La Paz, the Etnography and Folklore Museu, and the Bolivian Fauna Collection - with CECI funding.
In the year 2000, with urging and support from the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional - AECI) as part of its Araucaria Program, the reserve’s current size, category (1), and name (2) were established through D.S. N°25,652.
The main reasons for increasing the size of the protected area include:
- incorporation of the area into the binational Vilcabamba-Amboró Biological Corridor (VABC), which includes neighboring Madidi NP-IMNA and Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Communal Lands (BR-TCO), and Peru’s Bahuaja-Sonene NP and Tambopata-Candamo Natural Reserve (NR);
- adaptation of the area’s limits to natural features in an effort to facilitate enforcement and management activities;
- inclusion of representative samples of well-conserved, eastern Andean forest ecosystems characterized by extremely high levels of biodiversity;
- incorporation of yet unprotected parts of the Tuichi river basin (comprised in great part within Madidi NP-IMNA);
- extension of the area’s coverage of undisturbed ecosystems in order to establish a strict protection zone.
View of the densely forested low mountains which were incorporated to the protected area with the extension of the Ulla Ulla National Fauna Reserve. Photo: MSD
In addition, by incorporating large extensions of extremely biologically diverse Amazonian forests, reserve designers hoped to increase their chances of securing funding for the area, since its actual budget only covers minimum management needs. However, it is worth noting that the ex-director did not share this opinion, and rather considered that instead of contributing to realistic conservation objectives, this surface extension lead to the dilution of already very limited management capacity over an area inhabited by people traditionally fiercely opposed to governmental control and conservation initiatives.
Administration and staff
Apolobamba IMNA was created in January 2000 to protect the natural, cultural and landscape values of an area representative of high-Andean ecosystems.
Within Bolivia’s SNAP, Integrated Management Natural Areas (IMNAs) are intended to harmonize the conservation of biological diversity with the sustainable development of local communities. In addition, since the region has a long history of human occupation and is ethnographically diverse, Apolobamba IMNA was also conceived to protect the local cultural heritage.
Placed under SERNAP’s jurisdiction, the area relies on a reasonably staffed management team, composed of a director and chief ranger based in La Paz and 29, generally native park rangers. There is also currently a team of three technicians in charge of elaborating the new Management Plan, funded mostly by Conservation International. The protection corps carries out law enforcement and surveillance activities in accessible areas and according to vehicle availability, which is made highly variable by the disbursement irregularities of GEF-II Fund, the PA’s major source of funding. Occasionally, special patrols are made to less accessible areas.
The fact that the existing Management Plan expired in 2002 greatly limits the work of the protection corps. What is more, this document only applied to the original Ulla Ulla Reserve and did not include the nearly 250,000 hectares incorporated in 2000. While it did consider a possible surface increase, its different management programs focused exclusively on the western part of the area. Finalizing the new Management Plan (planned for March 2006) is therefore extremely important, although its strategies and management programs are already partly being implemented.
Zoning
The 1997 Management Plan defined seven zoning categories:
- Core zone (conservation of pristine or nearly pristine ecosystems, scientific research)
- Strict protection zone of hydrographic basins (allowing tourism and scientific research under certain restrictions)
- Internal buffer zone
- Extensive sustainable extractive use zone (regulated resource management)
- Intensive extractive use zone (regulated management, use, and “intensive” use of resources)
- Recovery or restoration zone (areas degraded by human activities, such as the Polylepis forests in the Pelechuco valley)
- Special use zone (public utility infrastructure)
Nonetheless, this zoning should be reconsidered for two reasons: First and foremost, the area’s size has increased since this zoning was originally proposed. Moreover, the general lack of local consultation during the zoning process has generated resentment among the local communities. Therefore, any new attempts to rezone the area must work to reach consensus among the various stakeholders. This aspect is apparently being considered by the team responsible for elaborating the new Management Plan.
Infrastructure
In addition to the two existing Liaison offices (La Cabaña and Charazani) and ranger stations (Qotapampa, Hichocollo, Suches, Pelechuco, Puyo Puyo, Challhuani, Curva and Siatha), three new stations were inaugurated in 2004 (Antaquilla, Huancarani and Paján) with support from AECI. In addition, the COBIMI Project (Biodiversity Conservation for Integral Management) is providing funds to build an interpretation center in Hichocollo.
Hichocollo ranger station, in the western meseta. Photo: MSD
As was previously mentioned, the protected area is divided into an “implemented” part (highlands and valleys) and a part that is in the process of consolidation (lowlands), which lacks management presence and infrastructure. Constructing two stations in this area (in Shiata and Yuyo) depends on external financing and improved relations with local communities.
Concerning transportation, the area’s road network is relatively dense. There are two main roads: one that crosses the entire western meseta before diving into the Pelechuco valley across the Apolobamba Cordillera, and another that follows the Charazani valley all the way to the remote town of Apolo, which is regularly damaged by landslides. In addition, there are several secondary routes connecting most of the communities and mining cooperatives. There are also many trails and footpaths interconnecting the highlands with the foothills in a west-east direction. An important trail, recently adapted for vehicular transport, begins in Pelechuco and connects the communities of Queara, Mojo, Puina, and Pata before reaching Apolo.
Participation
Apolobamba IMNA was the first conservation unit within the SNAP to have an operational Management Committee. This Committee was constituted in May 1995, shortly after the promulgation of the Law of Popular Participation (Law N°1,551), which gave local communities the opportunity to exercise direct administration over their territorial jurisdictions.
Reshaped in 2000 and again in 2005, there are now two regional Management Committees in the PA’s highlands and lowlands. These include:
- representatives from central and local governmental agencies, including SERNAP, the PA administration, national governmental institutions, and the Municipal governments of Charazani, Curva, and Pelechuco;
- local authorities;
- social organizations from the Franz Tamayo province, including the provincial Mallku, local delegates and representatives from the Central mining cooperatives;
- social organizations from the Bautista Saavedra province, including the provincial Mallku, local delegates and delegates from the Yungas sector;
- one representative for national NGOs;
- one representative for international organizations working inside the PA.
Transportation of members of the Management Committee with a vehicle provided by the Spanish Cooperation Agency. Photo: MSD
Activities are being organized according to the Management Plans and Annual Operating Plans of the three Municipal governments. Management and environmental planning workshops have been carried out with the Apolobamba Inter-Municipal Association with support from WCS.
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Vicuña Management in Apolobamba
Integrated Management Natural Area
Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) conservation, together with the conservation of high-Andean flora and fauna assemblages of the Northern Altiplano, was the main reason for the creation of the Ulla Ulla National Reserve in 1972. At that time, the species was on the brink of extinction from overhunting for its fur, used to make luxurious vicuña wool.
In 1997, part of the vicuña population was placed on CITES Appendix I, which generally prohibits all commercial international trade. It had originally been placed on CITES Appendix II in 1964, which allowed regulated trade in vicuña fiber (wool) originating from live animals (3).
Vicuñas, as with other high-Andean camelids (llama and alpaca), have adapted to high altitude ecosystems that are not easily accessed by other mammals of its size, so that it is the largest herbivore throughout most of its distribution range and has very few natural predators. However, pumas (Puma concolor) and Andean foxes (Pseudalopex culpaeus) can have notable impacts on this species, principally attacking young, sick, or old individuals.
Of the millions of vicuñas inhabiting the continent before the Conquest, residual populations are only found in the Andean highlands (between 3,800 and 4,800 m asl) of southeastern Peru, western Bolivia, northeastern Chile, and northwestern Argentina - totaling approximately 200,000 individuals (Torres, 1992). In Bolivia, vicuñas are found in the high-plains and high-Andean region of the Departments of La Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Cochabamba, and Tarija, where around one-fourth of the national population (or approximately 15,000 individuals) is comprised within protected areas. With 10,694 individuals (4), Apolobamba IMNA harbors by far the largest vicuña population in the entire SNAP system, representing more than 70% of all vicuñas placed under some form of protection, and approximately 18% of this species’ estimated contingent in the country. Furthermore, despite facing continued pressures such as poaching, predation by shepherd dogs, theft from Peruvian nationals, a variety of pathologies (including scabies), and competition with domesticated camelids, Apolobamba’s vicuña population has dramatically recovered over the years (97 animals 1965; 1,139 in 1979 and 6,536 in 1996).
Considering that a large part of Apolobamba’s western meseta has been greatly affected by overgrazing due to the high densities of domesticated llamas and alpacas, the vicuñas distinguish themselves for their low-impact browsing (their upper lip is formed in such a way that it can cut the leaves without pulling the plant from its roots) and their relatively low contribution to soil erosion (they have soft padded toes that do not compact or damage soil as is the case with other ungulates’ hooves). This species is thus a key component in the conservation of the protected area’s highlands, who are also home to other large vertebrates, such as the Andean cat (Oreailurus jacobita), the Peruvian guemal (Hippocamelus antisensis) and the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus).
Started in 1999 with funds from the AECI and the GEF-II Project, the Vicuña Management and Conservation Program (Programa de Manejo y Conservación de la Vicuña) promotes sustainable capture and shearing practices (i.e., that do not result in the animals’ death) in order to generate economic benefits from sale of their quality wool, which is highly valued on the international market and can yield between US$ 400-500 per kilogram (SERNAP, 2003). Under this program, capture and shearing is carried out at a certain time of year (from September to October, sometimes through December) under the supervision of park rangers, and all animals are later released. This benefits not only the vicuña but also the ranchers who supposedly rely on a sustainable source for income.
According to the regulations established by the Vicuña Conservation and Management Act (D.S. 24,529) (5), communities located in the Ulla Ulla Conservation Unit were grouped into communal management areas. Together, these form the Regional Association of Apolobamba Vicuña Managers (ARMVA), which unites 27 communities and is about to be legally incorporated in order to “carry out training, management, and harvest activities and to guarantee equitable distribution of benefits among rural farmer communities” (ARMVA, 2003).
In comparison with similar initiatives in other protected areas, the level of implementation of this pilot program is exemplary; yet, it faces a series of problems that not only put the completion of activities at risk, but also weaken the protected area administration, briefly described below:
- At the time of the project’s officially closing and the departure of the technical support team, the communities still don’t have all the necessary equipment (such as corrals) to carry out capture and shearing (6), nor enough economic resources to strengthen the ARMVA.
- Given the nature of the market, a large quantity of wool has to be stored until a buyer can be found, which is why, at the time of writing, 300 kilograms of wool valued at $60,000 had been stored at the Ulla Ulla storage center since 1998, and have yet to produce benefits for the communities.
- By allowing only certain communities to harvest vicuña wool (1,200 families are affiliated with the pilot centers in the Ulla Ulla Vicuña Conservation Unit), inhabitants from communities neighboring the protected area without use permits feel wronged and threaten to retaliate if the situation is not rapidly changed.
Given these factors, the successful implementation of the Vicuña Management Program - elaborated in 2003 by ARMVA with technical support from the Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and Research (Instituto para la Conservación e Investigación de la Biodiversidad - ICIB) with funding from the Dutch Agency for International Cooperation -, depends on additional financial support before self-sufficiency can be achieved. Immediate needs involve the publication of technical manuals on wool fiber management and building a quarantine center to combat scabies and safeguard abandoned young. |
Apolobamba IMNA harbors the country’s largest protected vicuña population. Photo: MSD
Throughout the western meseta, large herds of llamas and alpacas compete with the vicuñas for scarce forage. Photo: MSD
In the middle of the highland plains, the new vicuña fiber storage and treatment center (funded by AECI) and the La Cabaña liaison office. Photo: MSD
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(1) In order to ensure compatibility with the Protected Areas General Regulations Act (Reglamento General de Áreas Protegidas - RGAP - D.S. N°24,781 of July 31, 1997), the Integrated Management Natural Area category was found to be the most appropriate for the reserve since native indigenous communities reside and carry out productive activities throughout much of the area.
(2) The name was changed from Ulla Ulla to Apolobamba (commonly used for the region since pre-colonial times) after repeated requests from the local communities. They felt that Ulla Ulla was too restrictive and too closely referred to the community of Ulla Ulla and the protection of the vicuña populations and Puna grasslands, overshadowing other important aspects.
(3) The recent prohibition of the sale of vicuña fiber is more of a hindrance than help when it comes to this species’ protection, considering that 90% of local inhabitants are barely meeting their basic needs and the vicuña compete with domestic cattle for scarce grazing lands.
(4) 2003 Vicuña census, in which ParksWatch participated. Vicuña censuses are organized on an annual basis by PA staff in close coordination with ARMVA. Results are published in the Apolobamba ANMI’s Official Newspaper, First Edition, October 2003.
(5) The 1997 Vicuña Conservation and Management Act (Reglamento para la Conservación y Manejo de la Vicuña) contains two main clauses: a) grant rural farmer communities custody of the vicuñas in order to protect them and help their populations recover; and b) grant the communities exclusive rights to use the vicuñas and harvest their wool.
(6) Nonetheless, it should be noted that the area has one of the best storage centers in the country, equipped with two vaults, a loom weaving room, a meeting room, a museum, and an administrative office (J.C. Gómez, pers. comm.).
