Theme Biodiversity & Conservation • Protecting Wildlife

Under Theme B, “Biodiversity and Conservation”, the Environmental Cooperation Program concentrates on three related areas concerning preservation of species and conservation of habitat. In Protecting Wildlife, the focus is on some of the most vulnerable of CAFTA-DR’s endangered wildlife species. We have, for instance, acted to...

• Rescue Centers. Improve the capacity of local wildlife rescue centers to house, treat and rehabilitate individual animals to prepare them to return to the wild. The centers deal primarily with animals confiscated at borders, airports and elsewhere in the course of enforcing laws against illegal wildlife trade.
  
  
• Endangered Sea Turtles. Protect endangered sea turtles. Sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs on the region’s beaches, offering poachers an easy harvest. At sea, turtles perish from accidental by-catch in the nets of large and small scale commercial fishing operations. We work with coastal communities to reduce poaching of turtle eggs and to encourage use of “turtle excluder” devices which help turtles escape from fishermen’s nets.
  
  
• Public Awareness. Increase public awareness of the importance of wildlife and of promoting conservation. Through workshops and media campaigns, we reach diverse groups—communities, tourists, schoolchildren—with the message to refrain from purchasing wildlife products or taking wildlife as pets, and information on conservation in protected areas.