"Use it
or Lose it"
The Guanaco
as a Flag Species in the Reappraisal of Patagonia
By Guillermo Adrian Puccio
The Patagonian
steppe and Patagonian grassland ecoregions are considered under montane
grasslands because their ecological dynamics and conservation requirements
most closely match those for that major habitat type. The Argentine Patagonia
supports regionally distinctive communities of mammals and birds, including
many unusual higher taxa. The Patagonian region is most threatened and
considered its biodiversity conservation at the highest priority at regional
scale, under “A Conservation Assessment of the Terrestrial Ecoregions of
Latin America and The Caribbean”,WWF-The World Bank, 1995.
Excessive grazing by livestock and introduced herbivores, and associated erosion, are major threats. The habitat degradation resulting from the introduction and proliferation of domestic animals, mainly sheep, witnesses the effects of transplanted human populations culture on natural processes, in particular at the expense of the wildlife. A key wildlife mammal species, the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), suffered through the last two centuries, the pressure of transplanted human cultures. Although slaughtered for its skin, meat, and because of considered competition with livestock (especially sheep), and many times for fun, the guanaco was considered the main protein provider for the indigenous communities of Patagonia. Guanacos have long been an important life-sustaining and economic resource. The Tehuelche, Mapuche and Araucano in south Patagonia, and the Ona and Yamana indians in the highlands of Tierra del Fuego, were both guanaco dependent cultures – a very interesting book written by E. Lucas Bridges, The Uttermost Part of the Earth, reflects many aspects of that dependency and the impacts of the white men colonisation - . They made full use of the animal by using its meat for food, hides for shelter, wool for cloth, pelts for clothing and robes, bones for tools, and internal organs and glands as medicines. When the European immigrants arrived, in the 1500s, there were millions of guanacos on the Patagonia. Estimates of the potential pre-European numbers of guanacos have been 30 to 35 million. During the last century almost 7 million guanacos still remained. The currently accepted number of guanacos remaining is approximately 600,000, of which about 95% are in Argentina (1985). This situation lead the guanaco to be enlisted in CITES Appendix II, creating a legal restriction to the international trade of guanaco products. In terms of the Convention, Argentina should establish a population assessment to ensure that the level of exploitation is not detrimental to the survival of the species. The Appendix II listing of guanaco, the manifest desertification effects caused by overgrazing, and the contraction of sheep populations linked to this, the chute of sheep wool prices in world market, and the need to prioritise specific actions to prevent the complete degradation of the Patagonian steppe, lead to immediately reach for alternative methods to revert the process. Wildlife conservation and management
in Latin American countries dictate a “use it or lose it” philosophy. The
world conservation strategy set the stage for this approach, proposing
the managed harvesting of wild animals in those situations where economic
incentives are likely to be the most effective motivator for species conservation
(IUCN 1981). Despite their dramatically reduced numbers throughout their
former range, guanacos continue to be an important and viable asset to
local and regional economies. Actual tests sampled excellent quality cloth
fabric from guanaco fibre. In this context, the adaptive management approach
provides for designing a program on the Sustainable Use and Conservation
of the Guanaco in south Patagonia, Argentina. The main objective of this
kind of program is the conservation and sustainable use of the guanaco
through sheering of live wild animals to obtain natural high quality fibre.
At the household level, this could represent a complementary alternative
to sheep monoproduction. Other objectives are to promote the sustainable
use of the guanaco through the shearing of live wild animals at the global
level generating sample units of production alternatives in Patagonia,
and determine the most favourable areas for sheering of wild guanacos at
the regional and sub-regional scale. It is likely that this experience
translated into a regional approach could represent the most appropriate
conservation tool for the rehabilitation of the Patagonian steppe, and
consequently the reestablishment and reappraisal of many other endemic
species sharing the natural ecosystem in which the guanaco occurs.Ť
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