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LINKING LANDSCAPES IN A NEW MILLENNIUM: ECOLOGICAL CORRIDOR OF THE AMERICAS

Archie Carr III, Felicity Arengo (Wildlife Conservation Society)

Gary Tabor (Wilburforce Foundation)

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could trek all the way from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego along a greenway? Better yet, suppose a puma could? Can we, in this new century, hope to ensure the ecological integrity of myriad wide-ranging species along a stretch of the American continent reaching half the circumference of the planet?

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) presented the vision of an Ecological Corridor of the Americas (Corredor Ecológico de las Américas, or EcoAméricas) at SCB's 2000 annual meeting. Inspired by existing regional conservation initiatives like the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor and the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) projects, EcoAméricas will be a hemispheric system of protected areas and other wildlands linked through sustainably managed landscapes that follows the mountainous backbone of the Americas. In broad terms, the purpose of the corridor will be to conserve biodiversity, maintain ecological viability and services, and ensure that evolutionary processes can proceed. EcoAméricas will provide a conceptual framework for cooperative action that will support and link local, national, and regional conservation efforts along its path.

The corridor will facilitate biodiversity conservation in two fundamental ways. First, corridor development will inevitably lead to an absolute increase in protected habitat in the hemisphere. Second, by definition, the corridor will enhance ecological linkages among parcels of habitat, reducing the deleterious effects of habitat fragmentation and isolation of populations. It is anticipated that the corridor will hug the eastern slope of the Andes in South America. Such a trajectory would encompass tropical landscapes that are generally acknowledged to harbor more species of plants and animals than anywhere else on earth. The outcome will be a "cordillera" of diversity--a chain of life.

Continental corridors and planetary greenways, like those suggested by the concept of EcoAméricas, would course over lands governed under numerous forms of tenure. Taking advantage of conventional conservation commitments of the past century, the corridors would rely heavily on existing national parks and other large conservation areas. The existing sites, mostly established during the 1900s, would be nodes, building blocks, and stepping-stones to a more complete and effective conservation strategy. But the need to provide biological linkages among existing sites also presents a profound challenge: finding ways to improve land use in the largely privately-held landscape between the parks.

The Ecological Corridor of the Americas received overwhelming support from the ~50 seminar attendees in Missoula. There were, however, some words of caution. Embarking on a project at this scale will require close coordination among many projects in many nations, while always maintaining a broad, continental vision. The proponents of Y2Y have taught us that a large scale vision provides a compelling context for local and regional scale conservation activities; that local conservation efforts, often dismissed as

parochial, benefit when viewed within a broader ecological framework; and that sound science is necessary to implement the vision on the ground. Most importantly, with over 180 conservation organizations involved in some fashion, Y2Y demonstrates that while diverse groups can work together for a common conservation purpose, good communication is essential to reinforce the vision and share experiences.

While WCS and collaborators could champion the vision of a hemispheric greenway, success of a continental, transboundary project like EcoAméricas will ultimately depend upon leadership and enthusiasm on the ground, support from governments of countries along the route of the corridor, and international cooperation.

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