Palms for Yellow-eared parrots in Colombia
Fabio Arjona, Executive Director, CI Colombia
Bogota: High in the mist-shrouded Colombian Andes, the yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) and the QuindÃo wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense) today have a new lease on life—as do the remarkable landscapes that sustain them. Five years ago, a unique pact was forged between CI, its partners, and the Roman Catholic church to save both species, which are on the verge of extinction. Today, the alliance is lauded as one of the most successful biodiversity conservation campaigns in Latin American history.
The goal was to end the use of millions of wax palm fronds in Palm Sunday services here and in the United States, a practice that was killing the trees and destroying the parrots’ sole habitat. This merging of religion and ecology culminated this Easter with a priest blessing thousands of palm seedlings in Bogota’s main park, and the news that the parrots and the palms are well on their way to recovery. Since the campaign was launched by CI and national partner Fundación ProAves, 81 surviving birds have rapidly reproduced and today’s population stands at 660 individuals.
This engaging story has captured the imagination of the nation. In 1999, Fundación ProAves with the support of CI, American Bird Conservancy, and Loro Parque Fundación launched their emergency field conservation project. The goal was to identify and address the threats facing these flagship flora and fauna species and their home range—the nation’s threatened high-Andean ecosystems.
For centuries, Colombians have used wax palm fronds for Palm Sunday processions commemorating the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, where residents greeted him by waving palm branches. Peasants fell the wax palms just to strip the highly prized young emerging fronds for sale to worshippers.
Research shows that the parrot is extraordinarily dependent on the QuindÃo wax palm, which is Colombia’s national tree—and at 225 feet (68 meters) the world’s tallest palm. Wax palms are now restricted to a few small pockets in the Andes of Colombia where recruitment is virtually nonexistent because cattle graze on the tender young seedlings, leaving few to grow to maturity.
The strategy to protect both species included the creation of 25 private nature reserves protecting 22,000 acres (8,870 hectares), and the reforestation of 36,000 trees, including 10,000 wax palms. National television public service messages aired more than 1,000 times on donated commercial slots, educating Colombians on the ecological problems facing the two dependent species. The campaign fostered a new cultural tradition of celebrating the environment at Easter, positively affecting the nation’s social, economic, religious, cultural, and political values.
Some American churches this Easter began using fronds from other palm species sustainably harvested in Guatemala and Mexico. In Colombia, people paraded with fronds of common palm species and avoided using wax palms. Rural communities no longer cut down wax palms but plant them and sell the seedlings.
Government, police, military, and even rebel guerrilla forces now prohibit the sale or exploitation of both wax palms and yellow-eared parrots. And the extraordinary collaboration between conservationists, policymakers, the private sector, the church, and rural and urban communities has evolved into an unusual and powerful alliance.
It is miraculous that the Critically Endangered parrot and palm have engendered such fundamental changes. Few conservation campaigns have had an impact of such magnitude on the national consciousness. The alliance begun by CI and ProAves has grown to more than 35 national NGOs, government institutions, and the Catholic church. It demonstrates the very real, long-term impact being made toward conserving Colombia’s rich and amazing biodiversity.
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