Madidi MUST be protected at ALL COST! we and the world must let the coca caudillo in power to stop his delusional and absurd dam construction in El Bala and Chapete, we must preserve Madidi as is!
The above opinion is from Bolivian Thoughts.
EFE reports via El Diario, the photos are in the internet:
According to a scientific expedition
The world’s greatest biodiversity is in Bolivia
After thirty months of arduous expedition work, a group of scientists and researchers in Bolivia confirmed that Madidi National Park is the most biodiverse protected area in the world.
The Identity Madidi expedition was headed by Englishman Robert Wallace and followed by a score of Bolivian scientists, who visited fifteen sites in the park.
The purpose of the exploration was to register as much as possible of the natural wealth that is conserved in its different ecological levels.
This titanic task began in May 2015 and ended in November 2017, two and a half years in which these scientists traveled through páramo grasslands, mountain savannahs, Amazonian forests and high Andean vegetation.
“The results indicate that Madidi is the protected area with the most species of plants, species and subspecies of butterflies, birds and mammals confirmed within the protected area,” said Robert Wallace, director of the Madidi Great Landscape Conservation program, of the Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (WCS).
In the two and a half years of the expedition, the scientists added 1,382 species of plants and animals to the Madidi park registration list, which has two of the “most biodiverse ecoregions” such as the Amazon and the tropical Andes.
The researchers added 100 mammals, 41 birds, 27 reptiles, 25 amphibians, 138 fish, 611 butterflies and 440 plants to the registry.
With these data the park has a total of 8,880 registered species in which there are 265 mammals, 1,028 birds, 105 reptiles, 109 amphibians, 314 fish, 5,515 plants and 1,544 species and subspecies of butterflies.
Of all the records in the expedition it is estimated that at least 124 species are candidates as new to science, said the scientist.
Wallace explained that probably before these data the most biodiverse protected area in birds, butterflies and plants was the Manu National Park, located in southeastern Peru.
In addition, he emphasized that in a differentiated registry of birds, amphibians and reptiles the Madidi is in second place after the Yasuní National Park in the eastern Amazon of Ecuador.
“The Madidi is extraordinarily spectacular, has a great diversity of plants and animals and as a team we are aware of the privilege of visiting that area and sharing the beauty of the place with the Bolivian society,” said Wallace.
In this regard, he stressed the “pride and happiness” that all Bolivians must feel when confirming with these data that the country protects more species than any other place in the world, but at the same time it is a “responsibility” of all to protect and care for this natural wealth.
This exploration has the support of the Bolivian Biodiversity Network, the Vice Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of the Environment, the National Service of Protected Areas, the Institute of Ecology, the National Herbarium, the Bolivian Wildlife Collection and the National Museum of Natural History and Harmony of Bolivia.
The research was funded by WCS and the Moore Foundation. (EFE)
Great pictures in this article by The New York Times:
Map of Madidi National Park in Bolivia, Wildlife Conservation Society, was shown in EurekAlert! web page:
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Bolivian Thoughts 