Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

Conservation of Fauna Is a Titanic Task”

MEXICO CITY, May 20 2006 (IPS) - Tierramérica spoke with Gerardo Ceballos, winner of the Whitley Award for his work to create a habitat reserve to protect the prairie dogs in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Mexican ecologist Gerardo Ceballos (1958) has added to his list of achievements the Whitely Award, a 55,800-dollar prize from the British Whitely Fund for Nature, for his work to protect the Cynomys ludovicianus, or prairie dog.

With a doctorate in zoology and as a researcher at the Ecology Institute of the National University of Mexico, he hopes the award — one of the top recognitions for those involved in conservation and recovery of fauna and flora — will help pressure Mexican authorities to declare a nature reserve in a 500,000-hectare area of the northern state of Chihuahua, where he has been working since 1994 to protect prairie dogs.

Although he has fought unsuccessfully for the declaration since 2001, his zeal in favor of these rodents has not flagged. The existence of the prairie dog colonies benefits other species and abates desertification processes. Tierramérica spoke with Ceballos in Mexico City:

TIERRAMERICA: What does the Whitley Award mean for your work? GERARDO CEBALLOS: It is a stimulus for me and my working group. Conservation of fauna is a titanic task. We run up against serious problems and barriers inside the circles of power. We hope this prize will help overcome those, and that the declaration of a national park in the municipality of Janos (home to 15,000 people with limited resources) is made before December (when President Vicente Fox's term comes to an end).

– Why is that declaration so important?

– With the nature reserve, in six or eight years we would recover the area's pastureland, the productivity of the peasant farmers, and we would have well-designed areas where there is farming, livestock and a space for the wild animals. We believe it could be a big tourism and environmental center, and an example for the world, because there will be many other species along with the prairie dogs that are already endangered, like bison, foxes and others.

– What role does the prairie dog play in the habitat, and why is it endangered?

– In the region where we are working, which is the last great colony existing in the world, there are some 600,000 prairie dogs, with eight to 10 per hectare. Their benefit is that they feed on desert bushes, which are very aggressive and invade pastures to the point of overtaking them. The prairie dogs control the scrubland, and that allows the native pastureland to survive, making it a key species with a disproportionate impact on its surroundings. If it is removed, the whole ecosystem would be lost. Some see this animal as a pest. They say prairie dogs compete with livestock and that they have a negative impact, but that isn't true. They have been poisoned by the thousands, but we are working to fight that practice.

– How do you and your team work in the area?

– I arrived in 1987 to look for prairie dogs in Chihuahua state, because for more than 50 years there were no reports on them. I found them and began work that was formalized in the 1990s. We have worked with civil society, with the ranchers, the peasant farmers and the municipal government for the declaration of a nature preserve, and everyone is in agreement. The consensus is the product of a broad process of raising awareness and payment for environmental services in a zone of 4,000 hectares, where for the next decade the owners will receive money each year for not cultivating or grazing the land. The resources are from private foreign foundations.

– Do you see the barriers you confronted in protecting the prairie dog as symptomatic of what is happening with the environment across Mexico?

– Yes, in part. The environment is like a sick person who the authorities give certain things and half cure, but who ends up dying later if he doesn't receive more aggressive help. The problems are greater than the efforts to stop them. And that can't change without strong support from the government and other segments of society. In this regard, we are still just learning to walk.