DESCARGA AQUI EL TEXTO DE LA CAMPAÑA EN ESPAÑOL

Tapirs are worldwide threatened species due to poaching and habitat loss. Although they are not so charismatic animals like, for instance, pandas or tigers, the public interest on their conservation is increasing step by step. Why? because these creatures play important ecological roles in the tropical ecosystems, especially in the rainforest, and their conservation is crucial to sustain natural balance so important to mitigate the climate change at a global scale.

The South American common tapir (Tapirus terrestris) is the only tapir species found in Venezuela. In fact, it is largest terrestrial mammal in this country. Though this species is protected by law, poaching hunting is still common in several rural areas of the country, even inside the national parks. Noticeably, the enforcement of the Venezuelan environmental laws has been unsuccessful in to avoid the threats to this majestic species. Tapir has vanished in many areas of its historic range and it is Vulnerable to extinction in the country. For this reason, during last four years we have promoted and sustained a pioneer tapir conservation project in Waraira Repano national park, located in the Central Coastal Range of Venezuela. This protected area is surrounded by the megacity of Caracas, capital of Venezuela, and other large human settlements. Waraira Repano national park is one of the last refuges for tapirs in the north of Venezuela where the species is critically endangered.

The conservation of tapirs in Venezuela is a complex issue due to: 1) lack of motivation and commitment amongst the environmental authorities (park rangers, national guards, etc.), 2) access difficulty to financial support and logistical resources and 3) lack of interest or inadequate training amongst the scientific community (professionals, students and professors) to study them. This situation obliges the implementation of a well-built educational component in order to reinforce the public awareness and commitment toward tapir’s conservation in Venezuela in the near future.

Through this campaign, we look forward to sustain an educational work started 3 years ago in partnership with our local partner Guarenas Repano Foundation, to highlight the importance of tapirs as a national conservation symbol in Waraira Repano national park. This new stage will allow us to reinforce the local capacity in order to assure other tapir conservation initiatives in Venezuela.

Background

AndígenA Foundation is a Venezuelan non-governmental organization created on 1999 with the aim to promote the environmental conservation in the Neotropical region with emphasis in the Andes Mountain range. Since 1999 AndigenA has kept a joint work in favor of tapir conservation in Venezuela with a positive impact in other countries of the species’ range. On 2010, AndígenA created a novel environmental education initiative called “Tapir’s House” (La Casa del Tapir) with the aim to generate a popular interest and commitment regarding tapir conservation.

Tapir’s House works mainly like a virtual center for spreading scientific and popular information about all tapir species through Internet. In order to reach a better efficiency, we produce visually attractive science-based educational materials, in Spanish language. In this respect, our materials have been used by hundreds of teachers and their students all across Latin America. Thanks to this original and professional work, Tapir’s House is currently an important reference and regional leader regarding tapir conservation.

From the beginning, Tapir’s House activities has been carried out as a volunteer work due to the lack of a financial support to sustain the activities in a regular way. However, we must recognize an important and valuable support offered by a small group of people identified with our noble cause, several recognized as Honorary Members. Because we want to reinforce the educational success reached until now, we ask again for your kind attention, generosity and sincere support today.

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.” — Baba Dioum, 1968.

What we are looking for now?

Venezuela is a megadiverse and developing country where people’s daily survival takes up almost all time and energy. Faced with this shocking reality, we must admit that the environmental conservation issues are always a very low priority for the most people. It is precisely in this scenario where we must outreach the limitation to reach the goal to establish a people-nature future in harmony. In this sense, we believe that tapirs are excellent symbols to promote the biodiversity conservation because they are very threatened and because they fulfill important ecological roles in the rich tropical ecosystems, so vital for humanity and the planet. Environmental education is one of the best strategies to promote tapir conservation in Venezuela due this is still an unknown species to most people.

In spite our presence on Internet is useful to reach a greater international audience, we consider very important the direct contact with the people who live near or inside the tapir's habitat in Venezuela. For this reason, we want to reinforce our environmental education work through a series of visits to educational centers and national parks. In the framework of these activities, we want to offer first-hand information about tapir conservation through a series of public talks with interactive presentations and giving free educational materials (pamphlets, educational games, stickers, among others).

At schools, we want to highlight the ecological and cultural importance of the tapir in Venezuela to enhance the local pride and sense of belonging. In this way, we will look for the teachers’ involvement in a most proactive way. Likewise, we will keep our educational presence through Internet and we will carry out several virtual meetings to share information about tapir conservation.

Saving the tapirs and their habitat will contribute towards:

• To conserve the tropical ecosystems, especially the rainforests.

• To protect the watersheds, vital for the people, to irrigate the lands and to produce electric energy.

• To protect the soil from erosion so that the land will continue to support agriculture and to prevent natural disasters.

Tapirs are flagship species in the tropics; the symbol to foster important conservation efforts in the most biodiverse regions on Earth.

Aims

Increase people awareness in favor of tapirs’ conservation and their habitat in Venezuela with emphasis in the Coastal Range:

• by developing hands-on, education activities for various educational levels.

• by using in the environmental education, the most updated science-based information about tapir ecology.

• by creating and distributing educational materials for free use through Internet, in educational centers and other community-based organizations.
• by using the South American common tapir as “focal species” for the conservation in some wild areas from Venezuela, especially in national parks.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the environmental education for future implementation in specific areas of the lowland tapir’s range in Venezuela:

• by measuring attitude changes in the people regarding the tapir conservation within the work areas.

What difference can your contribution make?

Maybe one single dollar means nothing to many people in developed countries, but for us in Venezuela is a concrete possibility to sustain a wonderful long-term wildlife conservation project based on environmental education as strategy to arouse interest I people toward tapir conservation. Each contribution can help us to sustain this wonderful initiative in favor to biodiversity conservation.

Each contribution that you give through this crowdfunding campaign will allows us to provide education to our closer neighbors, especially children from the urban and rural areas as well as sustain our informative websites and social media.

Your contribution is a precious opportunity to recognize the real value of the nature and our responsibility with its future. Please, consider your sincere support today and so we can make together a difference in this world full of contrast.

What the money raised will be used for?

The money raised through this campaign it will allow us to sustain an active work during next quarter (December 2023 – March 2024). We will produce new original educational materials to reinforce a distance learning program through our page on Facebook “La Casa del Tapir” and our website: https://lacasadeltapir.blogspot.com.

We want:

• To pay professional fees linked to the production of educational materials (pamphlets, stickers, educational games, multimedia slideshows, etc.).

• To pay administrative expenses (communication: mail, phone, internet, etc.).

• To pay hosting and domain of our websites and the social media maintenance.

• To pay living expenses (meals, accommodations and fuel) during the visits to educational centers (mainly elementary schools and high schools): 1 visit each 15 days / 3 people.

Project Outputs

• Publication of regular information through our websites and social media which can be freely used as educational tool by teachers at schools as well as the general public.

• Production of a new educational presentation for children entitled "My Neighbor, the Tapir in Waraira Repano national park" as well as a new series of didactic games focused on tapir natural history and conservation.

• Production of stickers (500 unidades).

• Development of a series of virtual conferences and talks as part of a Distance Learning Program.

Outcomes

• Students and their parents will get qualified information about tapirs and related environmental conservation issues.

• Children and adults will wake up a stronger awareness and commitment toward the tapir conservation and the environment.

• Government’s staff and community leaders will assume a more active role to reinforce local conservation programs.

• Our environmental education initiative will be used as a joint model for other conservation programs in Venezuela and eventually in neighboring countries.

Updates        

We will be providing updates and work progress through:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LaCasaDelTapir

Website and Blog: https://lacasadeltapir.blogspot.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/lacasadeltapir

Website: www.andigena.org