CMS Assists the Preparation of the Action Plan for the High Andean Flamingos in Antofagasta Chile

Flamingos © CONAFBonn,
13 August 2013
- A workshop of the CMS Family instrument
- the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of
High Andean Flamingos and Their Habitats (MOU) - was held
8 to 9 August in Antofagasta Chile, to finalize the design
of an Action Plan to conserve the two species of Andean
flamingos – the Andean flamingo Phoenicopterus
andinus
and the James flamingo Phoenicopterus jamesi
and their habitats.

The objectives of the Action Plan are
to promote the co-ordination of the conservation actions
undertaken by the signatories of this MoU and to establish
a coordinated plan of capacity building, monitoring and
research for the two species of Andean flamingos. The workshop
was organized by the National Forest Corporation of Chile
(CONAF-Antofagasta) with support from the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and sponsored by the mining factory “Minera
la Escondida “. It was attended by the MoU signatory
countries as well as representatives from the private sector,
mining, tourism and academia. The participation from the
Grupo de Conservación de Flamencos Altoandinos was
especially appreciated. The final version of the Action
Plan will be distributed and adopted during the first meeting
of the signatories.

Workshop participants © F RillaChile,
together with the neighbouring countries Bolivia and Peru,
has taken on international commitments to conserve and sustainably
manage the species and their habitats in the High Andes
through the signature of the MOU in 2008.

For more than 15 years, the Conservation
Group Andean Flamingos (GCFA), a group of private and public
specialists in the conservation of flamingos and Andean
wetlands management in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru,
has been implementing the conservation actions. They would
benefit from enhanced co-ordination.

The two species of Andean Flamingos are
listed in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation
of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). The MOU which
aims at improving the conservation status of the species
and their habitats was concluded among the range states
during CoP9 on 4 December 2008.

The High Andean flamingos undertake continuous
migrations between the South American wetlands of Argentina,
Bolivia, Chile and Peru to forage and to search for breeding
sites. The populations of those flamingos have been subject
to a drastic reduction and fragmentation of their habitats.

[Preliminary
report of the meeting in Spanish
]

 

Last updated on 16 June 2014