The Long Path to the Return of the Jaguar — Bangalore, 23 July, 2012

We are happy to invite you to a joint talk titled “The long path to the return of the Jaguar”, by Ms. Sofia Heinonen, President, The Conservation Land Trust (CLT), Argentina, and Mr. Ignacio Jiménez Pérez, Endangered Species Recovery Coordinator, The Conservation Land Trust (CLT), Argentina.

Ms. Sofia has been responsible for numerous programs, including the overall coordination and strategic planning of the eight conservation programs developed for the creation of Iberá; establishing the management policy with provincial and municipal governments; ecological restoration projects through the reintroduction of extinct species; and boosting public relations with local NGOs.

Prior to CLT, she worked for the National Parks Administration for fifteen years, where she coordinated biodiversity surveys and management plans for several parks in Northern Argentina.

Mr. Jimenez Perez has been instrumental in the planning of projects for the re-introduction of endangered fauna in the region of Argentina. He has coordinated research and management projects with Manatees in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and with Golden-crowned Sifakas in Madagascar, worked on wetlands projects in El Salvador, and coordinated a national assessment of the Spanish experience in endangered species recovery.

He also heads the project for recovery of Giant Anteaters in the estuaries of Iberá, Argentina.

Iberá Natural Reserve (INR) is a 1.3 million ha provincial reserve comprised of grasslands, wetlands and small forests sited in North-eastern Argentina. Sixty percent of INR is private, with an estimated population of 1500 people. Conservation Land Trust has purchased 150,000 ha inside INR in order to establish the largest national park in Argentina, with an estimated area of 700,000 ha. INR has also suffered one of the largest extinction processes in Northern Argentina, by losing five large mammal species. Hence, in order to restore ecological integrity of the future national park, CLT has initiated what may be the most ambitious rewilding (i.e. restoration of large species) program in the Neotropics. This program includes the reintroduction of jaguars, the largest felid in America. This presentation will describe the historical, ecological and social context surrounding jaguar reintroduction in INR, and the steps taken to start such a challenging endeavour in a conservative society where there is no such as precedent to this project.