Jaguar Detectives

Category: Day by day | Date: Nov 27 2008 | By: jaguardetectives

To celebrate my 13th (or is it the 16th? Think I lost the account… anyway) project proposal denied I decide to write some lines on this issue. E-mails starting with “…we regret to inform you…” can change pure hope in complete frustration… But what is behind it? The proposals do not achieve the excellence required? Technical problems? Limited funds? Priorities? Economical crisis? Maybe a little of each. Wait a minute, I just remember an important one: how about political issues? Doesn’t matter how many people review it. Doesn’t matter how different is the approach. Doesn’t matter how hard you try to change and improve it. Doesn’t matter how many nights you spend awake studying and writing. Doesn’t matter how hard you work in the field… Let’s think on the causes listed above. If you remember something, please, let me know.

Excellence. Yes, English is not my first language – and one can say that it is obvious by reading what I am writing – but two north-Americans and one British did a review on the text. The proposal was reviewed by jaguar specialists, ocelot specialists, landscape ecology specialists, ecologists, geneticists, and other “ists” from universities, NGO’s, Zoos and Governmental agencies in Latin America, USA and UK. These are just the ones I know. Here are not counted the reviews from the places where the proposal was submitted (they never send their review, even if you ask for it). The concept, background and actual results are been presented in scientific congresses, meetings and institutions. People always come to us to say how impressed they are and on their interest in know more or even participate on the work. Excellence is not eliminated, nothing is perfect, everything is evolving.

Technical problems. No methodology is perfect. We study a lot to increase precise and unbiased designs to collect our data. That is one of my major concerns at the moment. Reviewing literature we find lots of garbage that do not follow any assumptions and despite that are been published. A critical review is needed on camera trap sampling using capture recapture models and if you weight the number of projects using the methodology and the number of good estimates you will understand what I am talking about. Most part pretend to estimate wildcat densities and at the end all they can do with the data is a list of mammal species because do not had a sampling design BEFORE goes to the field. I am talking about this particular issue because is my concern now, but we can develop the same speech on other methodologies. We have a saying in Brazil: there are people that can take milk from stones… One can say: So, where are YOURS publications, Fernando? I am finishing my data collection, give me a few months.

Limited funds, crisis. Ok, there is an economical crisis and I can feel it on my bank account… Let me made something clear: our Landscape Detectives approach is divided by fronts. We have the jaguar and puma studies in Pontal been developed by IPÊ – Insituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, in Ivinhema by Pró-Carnívoros and Ilha Grande also by IPÊ. All then along in the Upper Paraná Ecoregion one of most important area for conservation of neotropical cats. I am member of the jaguar team and coordinator the ocelot initiatives in Pontal - another front. The ocelot project had a long history from 1999 and I just jump in the history in 2003 informally and officially in 2005. I improve the design and expand the approach. The proposals are been submitted couples of years before the crisis.

On priorities I still talking on limited funds and arrive where I want: political issues… Sometimes is quite funny to see the Big International NGO’s – BINGOS fighting for their territory. How many times in events and meetings you find people from BINGOS without contribute with nothing, but spent lots of money in flights just to be there and mark territory? They launch beautiful books with titles like “last unbelievable threatened areas of the world” or “the last amazing almost totally destroyed ecosystems in the biodiversity hot points of earth”. They probably spend rivers of money to pay the photographers and, of course, marketing and design consultants to produce and give these cool names to the books. Oh, yes! There are lot’s of volunteers to do it also, but not all.

After all I have travel a lot on Atlantic Forest and never saw one of these beautiful books on local people hands. I indeed don’t have any, they are really, really expensive and don’t bring any relevant information. But they do have something: mixed with the landscape and almost extinct animals photos are excellent professional photos of poor simple local people from Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, India, Indonesia, Sumatra, Kenia, South Africa, etc, etc, etc… They are always smiling. The book is almost saying: look what a great job we are doing! Isn’t that great?

What local people think of that? I heard friends that work in small villages in Amazonian Forest saying how the local people reacts when BINGOS come to do protests that goes overseas against deforestation and they are not talking about the timber workers.  The locals have no idea why these people are in there and why they are doing this and they don’t seem to care in explain. Most part are “altruistic” volunteers that don’t even know and don’t care how to say good morning in Portuguese or understand local culture. You turn on TV and there are channels that only exhibit documentaries on animals and cool researches around the world. But between the lines what do you see? It is always Dr. Somebody from University Somewhere in Europe or North America – USENA is doing a research in blablabla. Dr. Somebody with his team of students of USENA now blablabla. Local people are field assistants, auxiliary, or equivalent. Why local researches are not in there? Why Dr. Somebody needs to bring his team? Why our adorable adventurer PhD. does not encourage local people to become a researcher? Why do not include local researchers? Too generalized? Ok, some exceptions do. But if we are talking on conservation it needs to change. Conservation depends on long term actions. It needs multidisciplinary approach. Conservation of endangered species is not just to write a dissertation. It is not just a North American or European coming to the tropics to collect the data and coming back to university. I repeat: Conservation needs long term action.

Conservation will be promoted by those who accept the challenge to leave their home countries and spend decades on the study region and those who already live and work in there.

Please, don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying that people from other countries shouldn’t come to do their researches. They must come! My point is: most of these development and even poor countries have good professionals, good universities and good – some excellent - research institutions. These researchers have the advantage to already know the culture, the language and most important: they live in the places. They are the main tool to promote conservation. They do not suppose to be treated just as labor. I know some people that are coming to collect jaguar data in Brazil to their PhD. and masters – of course there are many more. Ok, the specie needs research and we are happy in help then if they need to. But I also know dozens of brilliant Latin American students  and researchers that could - and want to - do the same job and maybe can do it better if they get the opportunity. Why they are not included or even consulted? I know researchers that are coming collect data on ocelots in South America – and this is great. I am glad for then. But, what make me mad is: the amount of money they spent just with flight tickets, accommodation and food could support one year of a local researcher project.

My ocelot project needs U$ 20.000 YEAR to carry on, and this is change compared with some projects doing the same. What is wrong? Why they approve a much more expensive project applied by a North American or European than a local if they have the same goals? Many times the local project is much more advanced and has long term objectives instead a short research for a graduate program. If the BINGOS, Universities and Grant Institutions don’t think we are able to do the job: say it! Please, don’t come with political correct e-mail answers talking about priorities if you are supporting research in areas where the specie is not endangered and refuses it in places where it needs recovery action just because of political stuff. Don’t threat us as fools! Don’t understimate us! And by us I mean people from all Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. This does not suppose to be a game.

Please, don’t interpret it as some xenophobic speech. I restore all my faith and admiration on North Americans after last president election! I still loving Scotland, Ireland (love your accent) and England. My list of things to do before die include go to Germany (to learn German is also in the list, but the first previous item sounds easiest). My point here is that conservation biology is about a global crisis and can’t be used as political games. It is important that researchers from all around the world join efforts on wildlife conservation, but this needs to be made together, not top-down or bottom-up.

Yes, I am frustrated. Yes, I am angry and tired. But, of course, I am too stubborn to quit… I will do it, even if I have to pay from my own pocket. You will see…

Cheers,

[pH]