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"Conservation of Fauna Is a Titanic Task" |
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By Diego Cevallos*
Tierramérica
spoke with Gerardo Ceballos, winner of the Whitley Award for his
work to create a habitat reserve to protect the prairie dogs in
the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
MEXICO CITY - Mexican ecologist Gerardo Ceballos
(1958) has added to his list of achievements the Whitely Award,
a 55,800-dollar prize from the British Whitely Fund for Nature,
for his work to protect the Cynomys ludovicianus, or prairie dog.
With a doctorate in zoology and as a researcher at the Ecology Institute
of the National University of Mexico, he hopes the award -- one
of the top recognitions for those involved in conservation and recovery
of fauna and flora -- will help pressure Mexican authorities to
declare a nature reserve in a 500,000-hectare area of the northern
state of Chihuahua, where he has been working since 1994 to protect
prairie dogs.
Although he has fought unsuccessfully for the declaration since
2001, his zeal in favor of these rodents has not flagged. The existence
of the prairie dog colonies benefits other species and abates desertification
processes. Tierramérica spoke with Ceballos in Mexico City:
TIERRAMERICA: What does the Whitley Award mean for your work?
GERARDO CEBALLOS: It is a stimulus for me and my working group.
Conservation of fauna is a titanic task. We run up against serious
problems and barriers inside the circles of power. We hope this
prize will help overcome those, and that the declaration of a national
park in the municipality of Janos (home to 15,000 people with limited
resources) is made before December (when President Vicente Fox's
term comes to an end).
- Why is that declaration so important?
- With the nature reserve, in six or eight years we would recover
the area's pastureland, the productivity of the peasant farmers,
and we would have well-designed areas where there is farming, livestock
and a space for the wild animals. We believe it could be a big tourism
and environmental center, and an example for the world, because
there will be many other species along with the prairie dogs that
are already endangered, like bison, foxes and others.
- What role does the prairie dog play in the habitat, and
why is it endangered?
- In the region where we are working, which is the last great colony
existing in the world, there are some 600,000 prairie dogs, with
eight to 10 per hectare. Their benefit is that they feed on desert
bushes, which are very aggressive and invade pastures to the point
of overtaking them. The prairie dogs control the scrubland, and
that allows the native pastureland to survive, making it a key species
with a disproportionate impact on its surroundings. If it is removed,
the whole ecosystem would be lost. Some see this animal as a pest.
They say prairie dogs compete with livestock and that they have
a negative impact, but that isn't true. They have been poisoned
by the thousands, but we are working to fight that practice.
- How do you and your team work in the area?
- I arrived in 1987 to look for prairie dogs in Chihuahua state,
because for more than 50 years there were no reports on them. I
found them and began work that was formalized in the 1990s. We have
worked with civil society, with the ranchers, the peasant farmers
and the municipal government for the declaration of a nature preserve,
and everyone is in agreement. The consensus is the product of a
broad process of raising awareness and payment for environmental
services in a zone of 4,000 hectares, where for the next decade
the owners will receive money each year for not cultivating or grazing
the land. The resources are from private foreign foundations.
- Do you see the barriers you confronted in protecting the
prairie dog as symptomatic of what is happening with the environment
across Mexico?
- Yes, in part. The environment is like a sick person who the authorities
give certain things and half cure, but who ends up dying later if
he doesn't receive more aggressive help. The problems are greater
than the efforts to stop them. And that can't change without strong
support from the government and other segments of society. In this
regard, we are still just learning to walk.
* Diego Cevallos is an IPS correspondent.
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