Conservation through coexistence: Andean bears and people in Bolivia

Ximena is a conservation fellow at Chester Zoo UK, and research associate at WildCRU, University of Oxford. Based in Bolivia, Xime has been actively involved in the study of the ecology and  conservation of Andean bears. She has an M.S. in Geographic Information Systems from the  University of Leicester, UK, and a Ph.D from the University of Antwerp, Belgium

Thursday 25 May 2017, 18.30
Room G34, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Tickets, including refreshments: members and non-members £5, students (with valid ID) £3

Conserving large carnivores is a pressing issue worldwide.  The ecological and conservation roles of bears, as keystone and umbrella species, and even the cultural importance of this group addressed by the scientific community, is rarely reflected at the local level where communities suffer diverse costs from coexisting with bears. In Bolivia 45% of people live in poverty, and Inter-Andean dry forest (IADF) poverty reaches the 90%. This is a joint project of Chester Zoo and WildCRU to assess human-bear conflict in the Inter – Andean dry forest of Tarija, Bolivia, an ecosystem identified as a priority for Andean bear research and conservation, and to estimate bear’s population size.