Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: The Páramos Are Shrinking

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CARACAS, Jun 20 2011 (IPS) - The Andean páramo grasslands, located between 3,000 and 4,500 meters above sea level, are shrinking as the result of the expansion of agriculture and cattle farming and the demand for freshwater, leading to the loss of endemic flora and fauna. The Venezuelan páramos, which cover around 2,700 square kilometers, are home to “64 species of frailejón (genus Espeletia), a plant that grows one centimeter a year and can reach heights of several meters, and the world’s largest and smallest varieties of hummingbird,” researcher Luis Llambi told Tierramérica.

The soil of the páramos "is like a sponge that stores water and carbon, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere," said Lllambí, coordinator of the regional Andean Páramo Project in Venezuela. They are also a very popular tourism destination, he added.

Llambí called for an updating of management plans for the national parks that encompass or border on 121 páramo areas in southwestern Venezuela.