Eco-scientific expeditions for conservation of threatened species: tigers, jaguars and pumas
Location
The main focus of the project is to provide an unique experience to participants, which will be engaged in a conservation project that make a real difference for endangered species and to the people that are their stewards.
The endangered species conservation programs we are addressing with these tours are the jaguar in Brazil and the tiger in the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Participants will see rainforests with unmatched beauty, walk trails in search of animals and their vestiges, and record all the information necessary to make a difference for the conservation of native habitats and species.
About You
Contact Information
Title
Dr.
First name
Marcelo
Last name
Mazzolli
Your job title
Biologist
Name of your organization
Projeto Puma
Organization type
NGO
Annual budget/currency
40,000
Mailing address
R. Liberato Carioni 247 - Lagoa - Florianopolis, SC
Telephone number
+55 49 3251-1157
Postal/Zip Code
88062-205
Country
Brazil
Website
Email address
Alternative email address
Your idea
This will be the address used to plot your entry on the map.
Street Address
R. Liberato Carioni
City
Florianopolis
State/Province
Santa Catarina
Postal/Zip Code
88062-205
Country
Brazil
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of tourist experience and educational benefit to tourists .
Organization size
Small (1 to 100 employees)
Indicate sector in which you principally work
Conservation/Preservation organization
Year innovation began
2005
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Nature.
Name Your Project
Eco-scientific expeditions for conservation of threatened species: tigers, jaguars and pumas
Describe Your Idea
The main focus of the project is to provide an unique experience to participants, which will be engaged in a conservation project that make a real difference for endangered species and to the people that are their stewards.
The endangered species conservation programs we are addressing with these tours are the jaguar in Brazil and the tiger in the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Participants will see rainforests with unmatched beauty, walk trails in search of animals and their vestiges, and record all the information necessary to make a difference for the conservation of native habitats and species.
IDB/Fomin
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
No deseo postularme.
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
Atractivos naturales y culturales.
Indica cuales de estas tematicas cubre tu innovacion (elige todas aquellas opciones que apliquen)
Innovación y diversificación en el desarrollo de productos turísticos.
Innovation
What is the goal of your innovation? Please describe in one sentence the kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Provide the most rewarding and productive experience to participants, in the belief that this will revert positively to wildlife conservation.
Please write an overview of your project. Include how your approach supports or embodies geotourism or destination stewardship. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the map located on the competition homepage.
The main focus of the project is to provide an unique experience to participants, which will be engaged in a conservation project that make a real difference for endangered species and to the people that are their stewards.
The endangered species conservation programs we are addressing with these tours are the jaguar in Brazil and the tiger in the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Participants will see rainforests with unmatched beauty, walk trails in search of animals and their vestiges, and record all the information necessary to make a difference for the conservation of native habitats and species.
Explain in detail why your approach is innovative
There is a general lack of support for endangered species worldwide, and many of the advertised ecological tours lack vertical scientific knowledge on the subject area to make real difference. Conservation is not just see animals or capture them in traps. Our innovation starts with the fact that an experienced wildlife researcher is the manager of all tour operations. This ensures that participants make a definitive contribution to wildlife conservation within the period of their tour. An example of such contribution are the scientific articles that we have produced from the data collected by the participants themselves, published in per-review scientific journals. Furthermore, since the inception of our project and with the knowledge gained from it, our contribution has expanded to collaborate with national and state conservation action plans and policies for the threatened and endangered species we are targeting.
Impact
Describe the degree of success you have had to date. How do you measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the impact on sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How has it transformed or contributed to the power of place or demonstrated the sustainability of tourism? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
Our impact is measured by the contribution of our participants’ contribution have in the well being of the threatened and endangered species we are targeting to help. To date this work has been recognized widely by scientists and by policy makers. We are using the information gathered by participants to enhance current government and NGO policies for the targeted species. With the information collected by participants we have also published relevant scientific articles in per-review scientific journals that will provide technical guidance for the conservation measures we have suggested (for example see http://uniplac.net/~puma/Jaguar range loss.pdf). Our main approach in conservation is to see in the field what is missing to achieve conservation of targeted species and take this information for decision makers, with sound scientific foundation. It is our procedure in the field to look for the best habitats for the targeted species, and we often survey in private areas, in cooperation with local stakeholders.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your work, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Reserves may often not be the best habitats for the species we are targeting. These habitats are important to detect and preserve, as they may serve as a ‘source’ of individual to populate areas in which the species are declining in numbers. Thus we are always crossing private lands with owners approval, a chance that we have to interact with stakeholders and raise their awareness over the importance of our work. The participation of university students and international tourists always bring the attention and respect of the locals towards our work, and this helps our message to get through.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Our approach to keep enthusiasm and provide satisfaction is to maintain several different activities, go to different places, and involve the participant deeply into our work, making tourists feel they belong here. We also prime for safety, health and hygiene. Engagement is provided through visits to local schools and through constant interactions with locals around our base camp.
Describe how your work helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues.
Travelers become part our research group after training on general biodiversity and target species and their environment. They receive full information on the species and habitats featured in the study areas. They’ll be gathering the raw data and also learn how we process the information day by day !
Regarding locals, our approach is meant not only to educate them, but transform the way they interact with the forest. From illegal harvesters they are learning the value of sustainable harvest. For instance, illegal harvesting of palm heart have marginalized many locals. They run risks of being shot by the environmental police and suffer a lot by having to drag heavy bunches of palm heart up and down mountains for many kilometers during the night. Now, we have identified that the fruit from palm heart 'açaí' may yield a revenue 40 times higher (and legaly). We've been working to bring this notion to the community, something that is practical, not just general awareness.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
Our project is financed exclusively with the fees paid by travelers. Our annual budget is small, in the house of 30,000 USD and all income is converted into the project, we are however running on surplus, there is no deficit. We have one full time employee, and about 5 volunteers (part time). Locals are hired at the time of the expeditions. We are aiming to reach an annual budget of at least 300,000 USD. This will enable us to increase the quality and the reach of our projects.
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?
Our initiative is sustainable, we have begun in 2005 and we are still conducting expeditions to survey the target species in the rainforest, but we are aiming to grow a lot more. We believe that the initiative has a great potential. We are now firming a number of partnerships that should advertise our tours and thus increase our capacity, but we hope to find many more partners to help consolidate our project into the future.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
We have identified that what we need are more travelers to join real conservation programs such ours. It is with their contribution that we’ll be able to expand. With the right international partnerships and broader exposure of our project we are sure that it will have a greater impact
What is your plan to expand or further develop your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
Our plan now is concentrated on marketing so that our revenues increase. Once that is done we aim to build several base camps in key areas for the conservation of threatened species. With permanent base camps we aim to increase the number and quality of services that we are able to provide to our guests.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
I’m Brazilian, biologist, with a Ph.D. in ecology, and have dedicated over 20 years of my life to the study and conservation of the puma and the jaguar. I founded Projeto Puma, a non-profit NGO in 1993 to broaden my conservation actions. I’m member of the Cat Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other advisory boards such as the Felid Conservation Working Group of the national environmental agency (IBAMA). I’m also environmental consultant for projects such as wildlife corridors and management plans, ultimately participating in projects run by our regional environmental agency (FATMA).
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.
My most recent area of interest in Biology is the conservation of endangered species. With my research I'm able to detect what are the species and regions that need most attention and conservation efforts. Take people safely to these places and get them in contact with rare species and demystify the ‘dangerous’ rainforests will hopefully broaden our efforts by raising awareness across the world.
Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.
The most unique experience that we provide, aside from the spectacular landscapes and scenery to be seen, are that during our expeditions tourists gain enough knowledge on the species we are surveying, on the trails and how to navigate them, that they become part of the research crew. After few days of training and some experience, people that never had left their towns feel at home in the rainforest. We’ll be searching for pumas, jaguars, tigers, and any other threatened wildlife, in the wild. And to do that we’ll always find the unexpected. Information on the presence of attacks on livestock will, for example, guide us to places that we had never been before. Assignments such as look for new trails is common in our expeditions. We navigate rivers and lagoons, walk across mountains, and overnight in areas distant from base camp to reach the places where our target species are to be found. During overnights we have the chance to be at night in the deepest of the jungle, hearing the most astonishing bird and mammal cries and calls , which awake our sleeping souls to an ancient experience. We then make us of a jaguar caller to await the large cat's response. If they do not reply, we do not rest peacefully, we walk the trails deeper into the jungle to get a reply, or at least to get a glimpse of any wild creatures that happen to meet us on the way.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
We already have many partnerships at technical and community level to implement our actions, thus the most beneficial partnerships would be with international tour operators that would be willing to sell our trips, and other international agencies and NGOs that would also be willing to advertise our work. We need that people come and participate, this will bring the maximum benefit to wildlife, habitats, and the local communities.
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 | projeto puma said: Dear Robert, I'm sure North Americans will like our trips. Trekking and outdoor activities are part of the daily life of ... about this Competition Entry. - 1013 days ago read more > |
| Robert Billington said: Dr. Marcelo, A very interesting program indeed. Do you market your programs to the US? What are the flight times between NYC and LA ... about this Competition Entry. - 1013 days ago read more > |
| mauriciocps said: Contd. IMPROVEMENTS to your entry: First, please include in your entry some of the comments you have already done to the other ... about this Competition Entry. - 1018 days ago read more > |
| mauriciocps said: Dear Mr. Marcelo, I want to divide my comment in two given constraints in the comments space. Please bear with me. The AMAZING ... about this Competition Entry. - 1018 days ago read more > |
| projeto puma said: We indeed track jaguars and pumas on the ground as a mean to raise information that will help their conservation. Security must be ... about this Competition Entry. - 1031 days ago read more > |
| cds1514 said: This is a great idea because it takes the adventure-seeking tourist on an exciting expedition, and at the same time it helps protect ... about this Competition Entry. - 1031 days ago read more > |
| projeto puma said: Dear Denisa, thank you so much for such positive input. We are not actually the only ones who train people to collect data, but perhaps ... about this Competition Entry. - 1037 days ago read more > |
| projeto puma said: Dear Erica, we could not have found the core areas of animal diversity as we did weren't for the advice of locals. They know where the ... about this Competition Entry. - 1037 days ago read more > |
| projeto puma said: Dear Claustin, thank you very much for your comments. It make sense to think that we target students and young professionals, but ... about this Competition Entry. - 1037 days ago read more > |
| projeto puma said: Dear Claustin, thank you very much for your comments. It make sense to think that we target students and young professionals, but ... about this Competition Entry. - 1037 days ago read more > |
