2023-11-08 13:02:32
An initiative of transfer of guanacos to the Parque Luro Pampas reserve is causing a strong controversy between scientists who oppose the restoration of species and environmentalists who consider it a possible solution to the harmful effects of man on ecosystems.
Rewilding Argentina, the organization of Kris Tompkins -widow of powerful businessman and philanthropist Douglas Tompkins– is a fervent promoter of “refaunation” initiatives that seek to restore endangered (and in the most extreme cases, extinct) species in environments where they once reigned.
Why is the migration of guanacos to Argentina becoming less and less?
That’s what the project is about. transfer 45 guanacos from the Santa Cruz steppe to Parque Luronear Santa Rosa, a 7,600-hectare provincial reserve with caldenes and red deer, which Rewilding considers an ideal environment for its project to reintroduce the South American camelid, whose population decreased by 97%. The NGO even dreams of taking the guanacos further north, to the Chaco Impenetrable.
Critics of the plan argue that the approval of the Ministry of Environment It was done without a proper risk assessment. Months ago, they had reported that Rewilding threatened with defamation lawsuits against the almost one hundred researchers who signed a paper in the same way.
Wildlife watching in the great canyons of Santa Cruz
The conflict revived the controversy around these projects in the country, where they have already been reintroduced jaguars, tapirs and giant otters to their original habitats. Those who oppose the idea doubt that animals adapt to current ecosystem conditions that have not been inhabited for decades or even centuries.
“The global and even climatic characteristics changed,” recalled the biologist Enrique Derlindati. In addition to the challenges to flora and fauna, the project activates a philosophical dilemma: To what extent do we have the capacity, the right and even the obligation to rebuild what we destroy?
TO JL
#Scientists #environmentalists #war