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The Red-tailed Amazon Amazona brasiliensis is one of the many species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, and with an estimated population of 2000-4000 individuals its status is becoming increasingly worrying. The main factors threatening its survival are unabated habitat destruction, hunting for food, and in particular, illegal capture for trade.
In the years 1995 and 1996, the LPF supported the census work of Pedro Scherer Neto of the Natural History Museum of Curitiba in the state of Paraná, which provided some valuable data about some of the relatively unstudied coastal populations of the amazon. Since 1999, the LPF has been strongly involved in a conservation education programme conducted by the Brazilian NGO Instituto de Pesquisas Ecologicas on the island of Superaguï in Paraná. Superaguï Island National Park forms part of the larger Protected Area of Guaraqueçaba, which represents one of the last significant remnants of Atlantic Forest in the entire country. It is also the home of a notable endemic mammal, the endangered Black-faced Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus caissara, that was only discovered in the year 1990.
The environmental education project uses both the parrot and the lion tamarin as "flagship species" to promote the conservation of the habitats on the island. The project entails activities with local fishermen, school children, and women's groups, to raise awareness about the critical status of the two species, and enhance public action and participation. At the same time, it aims to provide economic benefits to the community, including the sale of local arts products and the promotion of ecotourism, to curb the pressure on the wildlife and forests.
Environmental education is a long term process that is difficult to monitor. However the community has responded very positively to the presence of the project and has already actively supported the project in the context of wildlife trade, which is an encouraging sign that the project's goals are being achieved.
2005 sees a further expansion of LPF support to conserve this species and its habitat. The LPF is supporting SPVS (Sociedade de Pesquisa em Vida Selvagem e Educação Ambiental – Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education) to monitor and protect the main breeding sites of the Red-tailed Amazon on the Paraná coast. This will take place on the most important breeding islands of Rasa, Gamelas, Grande, Peças and Mel.
Financial support: US$40,00 + €90,000