The National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

Within the framework of the Sim贸n Bol铆var National Project

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Minister Alejandro Hitcher Marvaldi Viceminister for Environmental Conservation Jesús Alexander Cegarra Viceminister for Environmental Planning and Administration Sergio Rodríguez Viceminister for Water Cristóbal Francisco General Director of the National Office for Biological Diversity Jesús Manzanilla Puppo General Director of the Office for Strategic Analysis José Félix Uzcategui General Director for Institutional Communication Marlon Zambrano Coordinating Committee Jesús Manzanilla Puppo Claudia Giraldo Esquisa Omaña Guillermo Barreto Douglas Mora Violeta Gómez Editorial Board Violeta Gómez Pedro Borges Irene Montaño Astros Olga Casañas Graphic Design Luis Ovalles Photographs Luis Ovalles Jesús Manzanilla Puppo Irene Montaño Astros Institutional Communication Archives, Ministry of Popular Power for the Environment Legal deposit: Lf22220123333007 ISBN: 978-980-04-1485-9 For further information: Ministry of Popular Power for the Environment, Oeste 8, Torre Sur, Centro Simón Bolívar, El Silencio 1010. Piso 6, National Biological Diversity Office. Telephone: +58 (212) 4084757 Email: biodiversidad2010@gmail.com Web page: www.diversidadbiologica.info.ve/estrategia August – 2010 Not for sale - Free Distribution This is a free translation from the original.

Spanish text is available at: http://www.diversidadbiologica.info.ve/biblioteca/encdb_2010-2020.pdf

The world is undergoing an immense global crisis, that can be felt both in the economy and the environment and that is manifested as climate change, accelerated loss of Biological Diversity and the scarcity of water and energy that Venezuelans have recently suffered at first hand.

This global impact is the result of an unsustainable development pattern: capitalism.

This development pattern turns men and women, natural elements and even the climate into mere commodities. At the Conference of the Parties for Climate Change in Copenhagen we saw how the “developed” countries, responsible for the global crisis, attempted to impose their way of life to the rest of the world, even though they are aware that a two degrees rise in the planet’s temperature would cause many countries to be flooded and disappear under the sea. No agreement was reached at Copenhagen, but the ALBA countries cannot permit people and cultures to disappear. In contrast, the People’s Conference on Climate Change and Mother-Earth’s Rights, in Cochabamba, was a resounding success: the people showed the world and the governments of the so called developed countries,that we are actually concerned about humanity’s future and understand that the solution lies, not into changing the climate, but changing the system.

In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela we consider that the greatest contribution a government can make to the conservation of the environment is to help to change the system, this being the structural cause of the global crisis. Thus, Venezuela’s great contribution is to fight against capitalism and construct Bolivarian Socialism. It is for this reason that the Ministry of Popular Power for the Environment have prepared the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity, as an instrument of the revolution, in order to contribute to the construction of XXI century socialism, as a proposal for a different relationship between men, women and nature.

Alejandro Hitcher Marvaldi Minister of Popular Power for the Environment

Using the experience gained from the Bolivarian Revolution we seek to bring ourselves closer to the proposals of eco-socialism as a way to live on earth. With humility and a lot of passion, we take on the commitment to plan a National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity, developed on the basis of participation and the maximum consultation of all sectors of the population and with the hope of contributing to the debate on this subject that is being currently developed in many regions of the world. Thus we uphold, in agreement with Michael Löwy, that “the dynamic of infinite «growth» brought about by capitalist expansion is threatening the natural foundations of human life on the planet” and that “the insatiable quest for profits, the productivist and mercantile logic of capitalist/industrial civilization is leading us into an ecological disaster of incalculable proportions”.

This contribution, delivered by the National Biological Diversity Office, aspires to be yet another instrument in the group of actions that the Bolivarian Government is developing in its permanent struggle for the eradication of poverty, the main risk to the conservation of Biological Diversity, as well as promoting the rational and responsible use of ecosystems, thus satisfying social necessities as the only way to ensure the conservation of the environment.

From the Ministry of Popular Power for the Environment we have developed methods for the practice and protection of our national environmental sovereignty against the aims and actions of the transnational conservation organizations that have plundered the biological resources of developing countries for decades. With this in mind, we present the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity, within the framework of the Simón Bolívar National Project, emphasizing that the collective construction of this strategy represents an especially relevant step in the building of the XXI Century Socialism.

Jesús Alexander Cegarra Viceminister for Environmental Conservation

TABLE OF CONTENTS Presentation

1

Introduction

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Assessment 1.Proximate causes 2.Intermediate causes 3.Structural causes

5 11 14

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Strategic Lines 18 1.Management of the information on Biological Diversity 19 2.Conservation of endangered species 21 3.Strategic areas for conservation 23 4.Sustainable use of Biological Diversity 25 5. Prevention, control and eradication of exotic species 27 6.Control and fiscalization of genetically modified organisms 29 7.Prevention and management of the illegal traffic and trade of species31 Crosscutting Themes 1.Eco-socialist ethics 2.Sovereignty 3.Inclusion and social justice 4.Education for conservation 5.Environmental legislation 6.Conservation management 7.International politics and management

33 34 35 36 38 39 40 41

National and Bioregional Action Plans

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Glossary

45

Participating Organizations

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PRESENTATION Venezuela is moving towards the construction of XXI Century Socialism within the framework of the Simón Bolívar National Project, first Socialist Plan for the Economic and Social Development of the Nation, 2007-2013.

Within this setting, the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity aims to drive towards a new eco-socialist ethic, by means of the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity, as a way to achieve Supreme Social Happiness for both present and future generations.

Biological Diversity forms part of our national heritage and is a fundamental resource for the Nation’s development. On it depends the ecological balance, the water and the electrical energy that it generates, the agricultural diversity, the large majority of medicines and the authoctonous cultures.

The conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity by the people is crucial in order to attain Supreme Social Happiness. The loss of Biological Diversity undermines food sovereignty and cultural diversity, provokes the displacement of human populations and the increase of hunger, injustice and poverty, thus affecting the most fundamental human rights. Without Biological Diversity, human life and the sovereignty of the people is difficult, or even impossible, to achieve; and without sovereignty, understood

Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) Ciénaga the Los Olivitos Wildlife Refuge

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

as the capacity to collectively decide on our own destiny, lasting Supreme Social Happiness is an unattainable goal.

The National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity is based on a humanist concept that promotes a different relationship between human beings and Mother Earth as a driving force towards an alternative development pattern, based on ecological, cultural, social and political sustainability. To this end, we propose seven strategic lines as the technical elements needed to tackle the current loss of Biological Diversity and seven crosscutting themes as the political and social elements necessary to guarantee the conservation of Biological Diversity with social commitment, within the framework of the construction of XXI Century Socialism.

JesĂşs Manzanilla Puppo General Director of the National Biological Diversity Office

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INTRODUCTION Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Venezuela has been committed to achieving the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB). This includes the periodic elaboration of national conservation strategies for Biological Diversity that guarantee its protection from all the way from genetic to ecosystemic level, the sustainable utilization of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. In 1994, Venezuela ratified the Convention by law and pledged to draw up national strategies, plans or programs for the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity, integrated with the national plans.

Biological Diversity, genetic resources and ecological processes have been given a preponderant role in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela approved in 1999, and are declared as being of public use and general interest in the Organic Law of the Environment. Subsequently, in 2000 the National Biological Diversity Office was created in order to monitor and comply with the commitments established in the CDB. In 2001 the first National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was presented. This Strategy succeeded in obtaining important information based on a national diagnosis that focused on three basic themes: knowledge, conservation and sustainable use, and generated 15 strategic lines. Within its particular

1st Venezuelan Congress for Biological Diversity Rancho Grande, Aragua State - May 2010

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historical context, that Strategy represented an important step forward in the development of instruments for the national management of Biological Diversity. However, the advances in the Bolivarian Process have brought the need for a new Strategy in accordance with worldwide and regional processes that point towards a profound revision of national approaches, looking for effective actions that ensure a reduction in the loss of Biological Diversity. Venezuela has taken on board this challenge by collective construction of a National Strategy in accordance with the Simón Bolívar National Project.

Collective Construction The National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity 20102020 was prepared with the participation of a wide variety of sectors within society (academic, Government employees, enthusiasts and communitybased organizations) in several workshops that took place over a period of 18 months. Overall, over 1600 people participated nationwide promoting debate and enriching the diagnosis by giving their different points of view.

During the workshops, the problems associated with the loss of Biological Diversity were identified and its causes and consequences analyzed. The identified causes were then grouped in three different scales: proximate, intermediate and structural. The next stage consisted in the collective construction of strategies for the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Using the diagnosis of the problems and current situation as a starting point, seven strategic lines were formulated, as the technical elements required to confront the loss of Biological Diversity and seven crosscutting themes identified as the political and social elements necessary to guarantee biological conservation together with social commitment.

This collective construction ensured that the participants were involved in the entire process of the preparation of the Strategy, generating an emergent awareness and contributing to the transformation of the country’s situation via the transformation of individuals and vice versa.

The National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity contains the fundamental guidelines that will govern actions taken during the 20102020 period. It is composed of a general objective and several specific objectives, which contain general actions that constitute the basis on which the Action Plans are built.

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ASSESSMENT This participative diagnosis permitted us to detect the principal causes of the loss of Biological Diversity at three scales: proximate causes (those that directly affect Biological Diversity), intermediate causes (those that produce the proximate causes) and structural causes (ultimate causes linked to the development model).

1. PROXIMATE CAUSES Four immediate causes that directly affect the loss of Biological Diversity in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela were identified: 1. The destruction, degradation and fragmentation of ecosystems.

2. The introduction, establishment and invasion of exotic species.

3. The unsustainable use of Biological Diversity.

4. The introduction of genetically modified organisms.

Destruction, degradation and fragmentation of ecosystems The destruction, degradation and fragmentation of ecosystems have been recognized as the principal of the loss of Biological Diversity. The contamination of water bodies, soil and air is one of the root causes of the degradation and destruction of habitats, and is produced by the large quantity of waste materials generated during the extraction of natural elements and by their production, industrial transformation, transport and subsequent disposal.

Illegal Gold Mining field BolĂ­var State

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

Accumulation of solid waste Sucre State

Industrial mining, petrol spills, the use of chemical inputs in modern agriculture, industrial and domestic waste are the principal causes of the contamination of soil, rivers and the sea. The dumping of solid waste is another main reason for ecosystem degradation, this being commonly dealt with as a management problem (recollection, final disposition and recycling). However, even with optimum management, the problem of contamination is not solved. The solution should be oriented rather to the reduction of waste generation by a change in the patterns of the consumption of unnecessary articles and profound changes in the system of production, transformation and disposal.

In the case of food, the cultural pattern of consumption sustained by industrial agriculture requires large extensions of land, which implies the advance of agricultural frontiers, transforming forests and savannas into crop monocultures or into pastures for cattle ranching. This causes the displacement of local people, banishing them to marginal and less fertile land and generating hunger, misery and the loss of agricultural and cultural diversity.

Climate change alters the weather patterns and is manifested though more intense dry seasons, followed by concentrated and torrential rains, which represent a direct cause of the loss of ecosystems. Moreover, the increase in the temperature and the reduction in the rains results in more frequent and intense fires. Those fires can destroy thousands of hectares of forests or savannas in minutes, generating, furthermore, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are added to the greenhouse gases, thus contributing further to climate change.

The disorganized and accelerated growth of cities is yet another of the main causes of the loss of ecosystems. Large cities that destroy rivers, forests, savannas and agricultural land require the transport of large quantities of water, food and waste, generating an environmental impact that goes beyond the local scale and the city itself.

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Caracas, Capital District

Bushfire, BolĂ­var State

On the other hand, the pattern of occupation of Venezuelan territory, based on a concentrated, unbalanced and polarized socio-territorial model, produces important social and environmental differences. This generates a mosaic where completely devastated zones coexist with 40% of the national territory managed as Areas Under a Special Administrative Regime (ABRAE, as per its Spanish acronym) such as National Parks, Reserves and Natural Monuments, all of them dedicated to the preservation of Biological Diversity. This concept of the land compartmentalized into protected areas, areas of production and areas of occupation, among others, leads to an unsustainable land-use planning. The protection of the National Parks is just not possible without the participation of the local communities, neither is it possible to practice sustainable agriculture without Biological Diversity nor enjoy a decent standard of living without the air and water generated by natural ecosystems.

It is for this reason that a new coherent socio-territorial organization that guarantees lasting Supreme Social Happiness is necessary. This model should take into consideration ecological precepts in the process of rational resource management and land use planning and contemplate the development and spatial organization of a new socio-productive endogenous model founded on sustainability. This model could be materialized and put into practice by eco-socialist communes with people that actively participate in their own management processes in a sustainable way.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

Bullfrog control program.

Lion Fish, an invasive exotic species.

Introduction, establishment and invasion of exotic species The second cause of the loss of Biological Diversity on a global scale is the introduction of exotic species. Species that are transported to places far from their area of natural distribution can compete with, predate on, displace or transmit diseases to native species, causing unpredictable impacts on local Biological Diversity, which are irreversible, difficult to control and frequently devastating.

The trade and commerce of exotic species, their uncontrolled distribution with the discharge of ballast water along our coastlines and their use in agriculture as biological controls, have been identified as the principal causes of their entry into Venezuela´s territory. Furthermore, the increase in temperature as a result of global climate change has produced variations in the geographical range of these species due to their colonization of zones outside the original natural distribution areas.

It is thus necessary to generate and compile information about the ecology and biology of exotic invasive species in order to design effective eradication and control programs. As regards the legal aspects, the formulation of a partial regulation of the Law of Biological Diversity Management was suggested in order to regulate the introduction and management of exotic species in Venezuela. This should include the elaboration of an official list of invasive or potentially invasive species as a reference for the prohibition of the importation and introduction of these species into the country.

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Wood extraction in the Amazon.

Unsustainable use of Biological Diversity The utilization of Biological Diversity is one of the fundamental links between humans and the rest of nature. When this occurs in a sustainable way it constitutes the basis of sovereignty and the individual and collective development of both present and future generations. However, when this is done without respect for the sustainability principles it can convert into a threat for Biological Diversity and human wellbeing over the medium and long term.

The selective extraction of species with a high commercial value or that are high in protein is one of the causes of the loss of Biological Diversity and endangers both the populations of the exploited species and the ecosystem of which they form part and thus the social benefits that these provide. This is especially the case in the selective extraction of wood, which produces the destruction of forest ecosystems.

On the other hand, the unsustainable use of the soil in “modern� agriculture alters natural processes that permit the accumulation of carbon as organic material. Irresponsible and unsustainable tourism was also identified as a risk factor that requires special attention as a cause of contamination and the destruction of fragile ecosystems.

It is thus vital to design, implement and collectively monitor programs for the sustainable use of Biological Diversity, with advice and consultancy given by the State, as well as ensuring adequate land use planning, orientated towards the correction of social inequalities and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that derive from these activities. We also need to generate and compile information about the biology and ecology of species with potential for their sustainable use.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

Farm products at the supermarket.

Introduction of genetically modified organisms Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) represent a threat to the conservation of Biological Diversity, due to the potential contamination of authoctonous species or varieties by genetic transfer. These organisms can induce modifications and imbalances in natural ecosystems that are generally irreversible and potentially serious.

GMOs, for biological, political and economic reasons, influence the disappearance of important authoctonous species used as food by the local people as well as forming part of a system that promotes technological dependence by the farmers thus representing a threat to collective and national sovereignty. GMOs are commercialized within an economic system in which the farmers have no control over their seeds and cultivation systems, thus weakening them in favor of rich biotechnological transnationals. These crops also favor the maintenance of large scale monocultures production, which is unsustainable ecologically, culturally and socially.

Other GMOs, such as those used for the production of medicines, have positive implications for the development of communities and represent a lesser threat to Biological Diversity if they are managed within laboratories.

However, GMOs use should be regulated in order to guarantee sovereignty and fair and equitable access to all who need them for health purposes.

The causes of GMOs-related problems were identified as being national and international pressures levied by large amounts of capital and the absence of clear and strict regulations that control activities involving live genetically modified organisms, their derivatives and products. Information about the risks that GMOs represent should be made widely available and debates about their use carried out at community level. It is the State´s duty to guarantee the availability of the information necessary for the emWithin the framework of the Simón Bolívar National Project

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powerment of the people and communities. It is essential that the nation articulate a clear position on this matter, as well as providing laboratories equipped to detect GMOs and staff that are qualified to give the technical assistance required and respond to any problems that may arise. Also, the capacity for monitoring and control in ports and airports should be increased.

2. INTERMEDIATE CAUSES Four basic factors that indirectly affect the loss of Biological Diversity were identified: 1.

Social exclusion and the unequal distribution of benefits.

2.

Ignorance of the importance of Biological Diversity.

3.

Weakness in the legal framework as regards Biological Diversity.

4.

Weakness in the management of the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Social exclusion and the unequal partitioning of benefits The management of Biological Diversity without taking communities into account has been one of the reasons for the failure of the large majority of management policies and conservation programs worldwide. The consequences of this exclusion throughout history have been an ineffective management and an unfair and unequal distribution of the benefits derived from Biological Diversity. The need for community participation, incorporating their traditional, scientific and ancestral knowledge, by means of a respectful and productive dialogue, for the identification of problems and the design, implementation and auditing of environmental management, has been recognized as an ethical and practical requirement for effective environmental management. The goal of this management should be to incorporate an understanding of the interdependence of nature and human society in order to ensure its permanence over time, and avoid a fragmented, mercantilist and utilitarian vision.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

Popular customaries and traditions.

Left: The ”arepa”, a kind of corn bread.

Right: “Kachiri”, a fermented drink made from manioc root.

Ignorance of the importance of Biological Diversity Another intermediate cause is the ignorance of the importance of Biological Diversity as part of the natural heritage essential for the nation´s development, the sovereignty of the people and the daily lives of all of us.

This has generated an ecological unawareness, both in the community and in state institutions, which is fueled by limited information about our Biological Diversity and a lack of understanding of its ethical and social value. In addition, commercial communication media and the industrial culture promote individualism and irrational consumerism with distorted, tendentious and empty ecological discourse, which does not get to the root of the problem, but rather creates new marketing ploys: “green capitalism”. A liberating and crosscutting education for conservation that informs, generates awareness and promotes debate about the causes and consequences of the loss of Biological Diversity and how this directly and indirectly affects our lives and those of future generations, is thus urgently needed. We require an education that produces social human beings who are critical, able to analyze and reflect, and who participate with clearly defined principles and values in the co-responsibility of the care of Mother Earth.

Weakness in the legal framework as regards Biological Diversity Weaknesses in the legal system were identified. Although great steps towards the generation of legal instruments oriented towards ecology and eco-socialist have been made, starting with the 1999 Constitution of the Within the framework of the Simón Bolívar National Project

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Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and continuing with the Organic Law for the Environment (2006) and the Law for the Management of Biological Diversity (2008), many weaknesses remain. There is a clear need to draft specific regulations and update legal documents that were conceived before the actual Constitution, which are outdated both in philosophical – political terms and as regards criminal and administrative sanctions.

Weaknesses in the management of the conservation of Biological Diversity The consequences of bureaucracy, corruption and institutional inefficiency inherited from the badly conceptualized representative democracy that prevailed during the IV Republic, were identified as large obstacles to the correct management of Biological Diversity. In spite of the many advances in the use of information and communication technologies, and the efforts made to implement the mandates of the Law for the Simplification of Administrative Procedures (2008), among many other initiatives undertaken, the current institutional structures are still stultified and excessively centered on complying with bureaucratic red tape, rather than on providing quick and effective solutions to concrete problems. The terrible capitalist load of the sub-culture of bribery and corruption as the means to accelerate the accumulation of goods, money and power, still exists in several sectors of society associated with the management of Biological Diversity, thus impairing the culture of creative and productive work orientated towards conservation with social commitment.

These weaknesses were systematically promoted by extraterritorial interests and facilitated the operations of conservationist transnational organizations and their local allies, who deliberately usurped important state functions, favoring the establishment of the environmental elite, who not only appropriated the benefits of this sector, but also blocked the practice of sovereignty and the truly, fair and equitable sharing of the benefits generated by Biological Diversity.

We need to develop a new institutional structure, whose supreme value is the practice of justice and equality. These institutions should be integrated with the communities and oriented towards the accompaniment and support of social processes rather than their regulation and control. The vision of these new institutions should be of a sustainable way of life based on

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

respect, conservation and the sustainable use of Biological Diversity. The construction of this new institutional framework should guarantee that the institutions genuinely work for the people and necessarily has to undergo the deconstruction of the structures of the bourgeois state, developed in order to guarantee the benefits to a few at the cost of sovereignty and the social well being of the collective community.

3. STRUCTURAL CAUSES The accelerated loss of Biological Diversity is just one of the ways in which the immense environmental crisis that threatens us with the global destruction of the conditions that make life on the planet possible and the harmonious relationship between humans and Mother Nature, is expressed. This environmental crisis is part of the terminal crisis of a civilizing patriarchal model based on the submission and destruction of human beings and nature.

The capitalist model of production, consumption and life style, is based on the maximization of profits and the commercialization of nature and human beings under a logic of progress and unlimited growth, without taking into account the planet´s limits. This system has generated hunger, violence and misery, and has massacred and expulsed indigenous peoples and farmers from their homes by taking over their land, common goods, gene banks and knowledge, resulting amongst other things in the disappearance of ancestral cultures.

Billboard. Caracas, Miranda State.

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Industrial agriculture.

Caracas, Capital District.

This model is supported by hegemonic philosophy, in which human beings are separate from, and above nature, thus justifying the cultural practices that act against Mother Earth. This patriarchal mentality, based on the domination of human beings over other human beings and human beings over nature is older than capitalism; however is it within this model that it has been articulated and empowered.

In addition, this model has driven a corporative pattern of food production, distribution, wastefulness and consumerism based on the regime of the agro-businesses (animal factories, crop monocultures, transgenics, nanotechnologies, agro-toxins, agro-fuels, amongst others), destroying the sustainable production of food, peasant farming and food sovereignty. It is increasingly obvious that the image of a “green miracle� with which the technified agriculture of monocrops at the expense of local cultures was originally sold, has converted into a cruel and deceitful myth.

Capitalism has planetary effects that generate ecological imbalances on a worldwide scale. Global climate change, generated mostly by and for the development of a minority but that is suffered by all of the earth´s inhabitants and most intensely by the poorest, heads these effects.

Climate change affects Biological Diversity, provoking changes in the distribution, growth, reproduction and migration patterns of species, thus increasing their rates of extinction. Although the environmental crisis has been produce by all human beings, it is well recognized that we have common but differentiated responsibilities. In other words, we do not all share the same quota of responsibility. An indicator of the pressure we

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

Antagonic models with contrasting ecological footprints.

Opposite page: Large cities - Above: Pemón community, Bolívar State.

place on worldwide ecosystems is our ecological footprint: in Africa the ecological footprint per capita is 1.5 Ha; in Asia and the Pacific it is below 1.8 Ha; in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Central Asia, it revolves around the worldwide mean of 2.85 Ha; in Eastern and Central Europe it is close to 5 Ha; in Western Europe it reaches 6 Ha; and in the United States 12 Ha, this last equivalent to 425% of the world average.

In other words we would need 5 planets if everybody was to live like the average US citizen. Thus, our responsibilities are common yet different, with those countries that are called “developed” being the principal causes of the global environmental crisis, and within these hegemonic countries the powerful elite, colonials and bourgeoisie, who control resources as well as economic, military, industrial and political power, carry the main responsibility.

In addition, ecology has also been commercialized and globalized in the form of “green capitalism”, which individualizes possible solutions, leading us to believe that it is not the system that is at fault, which thus does not need to be changed, and that it is enough to be more “aware”; recycle, re-use, mitigate, adapt. We certainly need to change our daily way of life, but it is also true that the solutions cannot be individual: they must be collective.

The battle against the environmental crisis is not only undergoing an

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urgent transformation of production and consumerism, but is also fighting against the paradigms and patterns of colonial and hegemonic thought.

We must break with colonialism and overcome the idea that development necessarily means being like the first world, as if the only way to human happiness is that established by the Europeans and North Americans.

The unifying of a lifestyle presents an enormous risk to the whole of humanity and the planet. We are not now just talking about a culture that is risking its own existence, as has occurred historically. The globalization of a sole rational matrix headed by capitalist logic is driving us inexorably towards an economy that ignores our dependence on the earth, with the result that all of humanity (although unequally) is subject to the risks produced from the course of action decided by and for the benefit of, a few.

In Venezuela economic activity has historically been influenced by the hegemonic countries of the world, establishing an economic model highly dependent on the interests of power that favor denationalization and little productive diversification. Today, we are a country fundamentally sustained by petroleum production and the generation of fossil fuels that feed the energy requirements of the world in its present state; we have not chosen this route. Nevertheless, petrol has provided us with a fundamental tool in the search for social justice and the union of peoples, and provides our only guarantee for transition towards the Communal State, which requires us to adopt different patterns of energy consumption, based on productive diversification, endogenous development and the sovereignty of the people. The construction of this new State implies a profound transformation of our view of civilization, without which the continuity of life on Mother Earth will not be possible. Humanity is up against a great dilemma: either to continue along the route of capitalism, a patriarchal society, “progress� and death, or start out along the route of harmony with nature, respect for life, and of lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

STRATEGIC LINES As a result of the analysis of the participative assessment of the threats to Biological Diversity, seven Strategic Lines were established in order to achieve the conservation of Biological Diversity. These lines are listed below in no particular order of importance: 1. Management of the information about Biological Diversity.

2. Conservation of endangered species.

3. Strategic areas for conservation.

4. Sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

5. Prevention, control and eradication of exotic species 6. Control and fiscalization of genetically modified organisms.

7. Prevention and management of the illegal traffic and trade of species.

Line 1 Management of the information about Biological Diversity, In spite of sharing some of the characteristics of a cross theme, this is classified as a strategic line due to its importance for the cohesion of the rest of the strategic line and for the proper management of Biological Diversity, as well as representing an exercise in sovereignty in itself. Line 2 Conservation of endangered species, is necessary in order to give an immediate response to the present situation of some species whose populations are declining, which could lead to their extinction. Thus, specific actions directed towards the recuperation of their natural populations are urgently required, above and beyond the causes that threaten them. Line 3 Strategic areas for conservation, 4 Sustainable use of Biological Diversity, 5 Prevention, control and eradication of exotic species and 6 Control and fiscalization of genetically modified organisms.

These strategies have been put forward to answer the proximate causes identified by the assessment, under the premise that the first step in the conservation of Biological Diversity is to control the direct causes of its loss. Lastly strategic line 7, Prevention and management of the illegal traffic and trade of species, has been drafted as for strategic line 2, in order to control the present situation due to the fact that the magnitude and complexity of the problem requires the establishment of a specific strategy, above and beyond the control of unsustainable use.

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Establish the mechanisms, tools and processes that promote the investigation of and guarantee access to, knowledge relevant to the execution and monitoring of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

1.1 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.1.5 1.1.6 1.1.7

Generate relevant information for the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Widen the understanding of the need for information on Biological Diversity.

Generate information about Biological Diversity with emphasis on its endangered, endemic, usable and potentially usable components.

Generate information on the immediate and future impacts of climate change on Biological diversity.

Rescue and systematize traditional and ancestral knowledge about Biological Diversity in order to guarantee the peoples´ sovereignty.

Define research and innovation priorities for the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Establish funding priorities for training, research and innovation for the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Strengthen the capacities of investigation groups and provide new spaces for science, technology and innovation in order to promote research on Biological Diversity.

1.2 Guarantee Access to Information on Biological Diversity.

1.2.1 Consolidate a National Platform for Information about Biological Diversity.

1.2.2 Create bridges that guarantee the flow of information between the generators of information, the users of that information and decision makers.

1.2.3 Provide “open source” initiatives for increased access to national and international scientific journals.

1.2.4 Promote periodic meetings for a “dialogue of knowledge” and the exchange of information and experiences regarding Biological Diversity.

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Guarantee the preservation of endangered species using management techniques that include re-introduction, species transfer and program monitoring, together with the incorporation of ex situ conservation centers.

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2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.1.4

Draw up official books of the endangered species of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Define the criteria, indicators and parameters to determine the threat status of species.

Develop mechanisms that guarantee fair and inclusive participation in the preparation of the official books of the endangered species.

Draw up an official list of the endangered species of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Create mechanisms that guarantee the periodic review and updating of the official books of the endangered species

2.2 Promote the recovery of natural endangered populations.

2.2.1 Assess the population status of the endangered species.

2.2.2 Establish programs for the recovery of endangered species, focusing conservation efforts on the modification of specific population parameters.

2.2.3 Generate standardized protocols for the management and monitoring of each species.

2.2.4 Establish permanent and wide ranging programs for the breeding, cultivation and re-introduction of endangered species, maintaining where possible the natural genetic variability of the populations.

2.2.5 Undertake monitoring programs of managed populations of endangered species.

2.3 Promote the ex situ conservation of endangered species.

2.3.1 Establish priorities for the ex situ conservation of species.

2.3.2 Generate standardized protocols for the management, breeding or cultivation of species in ex situ conservation centers.

2.3.3 Transform zoos, aquariums, nurseries and botanical gardens into genuine ex situ conservation centers.

2.3.4 Generate a National Network of Collections of ex situ conservation centers.

2.3.5 Design conservation programs for species or other endangered groups considering the threats towards them, their current situation and population viability.

2.4 Promote the rescue of authoctonous varieties to maintain agricultural biodiversity 2.4.1 Undertake inventories and develop reference collections of local agricultural varieties as well as species with nutritious potential.

2.4.2 Develop rescue programs for local agricultural varieties and endangered species with nutritious potential, together with indigenous peoples and farmers.

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Preserve and manage those areas of the country whose natural elements make them strategic for the Nation, due to the social benefits that derive from their conservation and their contribution to lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

32 23National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

3.1 3.1.1 3.1.2

3.1.3

3.1.4

3.1.5 3.1.6

3.1.7 3.1.8

3.2

3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3

Guarantee the conservation of habitats and ecosystems.

Design plans for national land use planning that guarantee the conservation of Biological Diversity in situ.

Integrate the different sub-systems of the protected areas in a sole system with policies that guarantee conservation with social commitment.

Prioritize the creation of new categories of conservation status that are socially inclusive and based on the management of the land by the local inhabitants.

Create and design new Strategic Areas for Conservation, principally focused on areas that can be sustainably used and in order to favor connections between existing protected areas.

Prepare, update and implement Management Plans and Regulations for the Use of Strategic Areas for Conservation.

Promote environmental guardianship by organized communities, using social auditing mechanisms for the management of the Strategic Areas for Conservation.

Prepare and strengthen environmental contingency programs (forest fires, disasters, among others).

Reduce the generation of waste and implement effective management plans to guarantee the preservation of ecosystems.

Design and implement programs for the mitigation of impacts and the restoration of degraded or fragmented ecosystems as well as strengthening existing ones.

Undertake a nationwide assessment of the status of the Strategic Areas for Conservation.

Investigate the impact of potentially damaging activities on ecosystems.

Design and review recovery and restoration plans for degraded ecosystems.

Within the framework of the Sim贸n Bol铆var National Project

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Promote and guarantee the sustainable use of Biological Diversity in order to guarantee the sovereignty of the people and lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

4.1 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.2 4.2.1 4.2.2

4.2.3 4.2.4 4.2.5 4.2.6 4.2.7

4.2.8

4.2.9

Regulate the non sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Regulate and restrict practices of unsustainable use of natural elements that endanger Biological Diversity.

Regulate access to genetic resources.

Promote the sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Develop and support community programs for the sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Undertake pilot schemes for the small scale utilization of species in captivity that are potentially applicable at a family or community scale.

Develop and implement programs for sustainable tourism in the Strategic Areas for Conservation.

Encourage the creation of ecological communes, based on principals of the sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Create national companies for the sustainable use of key components of Biological Diversity.

Promote traditional and ancestral practices of the sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Support indigenous and peasant agricultural methods, small-scale fishing and other forms of the traditional sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Strengthen and promote agro-ecology as an ecological, social, political and cultural method for the sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Strengthen and promote the economy for rural development from an ecological perspective.

Within the framework of the Sim贸n Bol铆var National Project

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Establish and undertake actions directed towards the identification, prevention, control and/or eradication of invasive or potentially invasive species found outside their natural geographical range.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

5.1 5.1.1 5.1.2

5.1.3 5.1.4 5.1.5 5.1.6

5.1.7

5.2 5.2.1

5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.4

Prevent the introduction of invasive or potentially invasive exotic species into the country.

Generate an official list of invasive or potentially invasive exotic species and create a permanent review committee.

Undertake research into the ecology of invasive or potentially invasive exotic species present in the country and their effects on authoctonous species. .

Generate early detection mechanisms of invasive or potentially invasive exotic species Regulate the movements of invasive or potentially invasive exotic species.

Strengthen frontier controls related to the traffic of exotic species, with increased control in ports, airports and ecological customs.

Seek alternatives to exotic species used as biological controls in agriculture and promote research on potential native biological controls.

Generate alternatives to the commercialization of invasive or potentially invasive exotic species, thus favoring the production, trade and consumption of native species.

Control and eradicate exotic species established in the country.

Undertake permanent monitoring of the distribution of exotic species in the country and other actions regarding national sources for the commercialization of these.

Design control and eradication programs of exotic species.

Draw up protocols of the whereabouts of exotic species that have been confiscated, following the relevant international legislation.

Give priority to programs for the control and eradication of wild and domestic exotic species in the Strategic Areas for the Conservation of Biological Diversity.

Within the framework of the Sim贸n Bol铆var National Project

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Consolidate mechanisms, procedures and actions designed to regulate the use of GMOs, in order to avoid their adverse effects on Biological Diversity and promote food sovereignty and lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

6.1 Promote the elimination of GMOs in agricultural production.

6.1.1 Encourage community based debate about the ecological, economic, politic and social effects of GMOs. 6.1.2 Assess the presence of crops of GMO in the national territory.

6.1.3 Evaluate the impact of transgenics and the biotechnological packet associated with them.

6.1.4 Promote the transition from a corporate production, distribution and consumerist model to one that guarantees food sovereignty, based on endogenous development.

6.1.5 Value and promote indigenous and peasant agriculture based on ancestral techniques that respect the environment.

6.1.6 Encourage agro-ecological production models, free from transgenics and agro-toxins, based on fair production relationships.

6.1.7 Promote traditional genetic improvement.

Regulate the application of biotechnology for the production of medicines under the confined management of GMOs. 6.2.1 Generate mechanisms for the regulation of the application of biotechnology designed for the production of medicines.

6.2.2 Undertake research at a national level of the production of medicines from GMOs under stringent rules that guarantee their confined management.

6.2.3 Encourage technologies alternative to the use of GMOs in the production of medicines.

6.2

6.3 Control and fiscalization of OGMs. 6.3.1 Develop and strengthen integrated policies as regards biosafety, by the creation of a National Biosecurity System.

6.3.2 Build capacity for the detection of GMOs nationwide, with emphasis at customs.

Train specialized personnel to identify, monitor, control and audit 6.3.3 GMOs in ports, airports and at ecological customs.

Encourage the participation of citizens in decision making and 6.3.4 increase access to information about biosecurity issues.

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Consolidate a system of the prevention and management of the illegal traffic of species, based on research, monitoring, rapid command actions and systems for the rehabilitation of live organisms.

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7.1 7.1.1 7.1.2

7.1.3

7.2 7.2.1 7.2.2 7.2.3

7.2.4

7.3 7.3.1

7.3.2 7.3.3

7.3.4

Strengthen the mechanisms for the prevention of trafficking and illegal trade.

Draw up a list of species at risk from trafficking and illegal trade.

Generate a socio-environmental assessment of zones with high indexes of illegal trafficking, considering the capture or extraction of species, trafficking and trade routes.

Generate programs for the monitoring and control of the illegal trade in Biological Diversity.

Implement rapid command actions.

Maintain permanent task forces to control trade in live or dead organisms and their products.

Design a protocol of procedures for the rescue and final destination of confiscated individuals or products resulting from illegal trade.

Effectively coordinate the relevant organizations for the conformation and functioning of special units, in order to guarantee a quick and effective response.

Generate complaint mechanisms that incorporate communities in the fight against the illegal trade of species.

Promote the re-habilitation of individuals rescued from illegal trade.

Coordinate nurseries, botanical gardens, zoos, re-habilitation centers and conservation centers for the re-habilitation or custody of individuals rescued from illegal trade.

Create recovery and re-habilitation centers.

Determine the conditions under which the re-insertion of live organisms rescued from illegal trade into the wild is feasible, without putting at risk the animal´s life or the genetic structure of populations.

Undertake monitoring programs of liberated individuals.

Within the framework of the SimĂłn BolĂ­var National Project

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CROSSCUTTING THEMES The National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity includes seven crosscutting themes, which respond to principals established in the Constitution, the Law and the Simón Bolívar Project 2007 – 2013. These were identified as the baseline strategies, linked to each of the strategic lines, needed in order to achieve the conservation of Biological Diversity, within the framework of XXI Century Socialism. The crosscutting themes are listed below in no particular order of importance: 1. Eco-socialist ethics.

2. Sovereignty.

3. Inclusion and social justice.

4. Education for conservation.

5. Environmental legislation.

6. Conservation management.

7. International politics and management.

Theme 1, Eco-socialist ethics links this Strategy and the Simón Bolívar Project by recognizing the eco-socialist society we are constructing as a crucial ethical issue, in that environmental, social, cultural and political sustainability is a duty of the State, the right and responsibility of each generation and a condition for a decent quality of life for all human beings.

Theme 2, Sovereignty, is a mandate of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and guarantees the right of the people to collectively decide their destiny. Themes 3 Inclusion and social justice, 4 Education for conservation, 5 Environmental legislation, 6 Conservation management and 7 International politics and management, represent strategies to correct the indirect causes identified in the diagnosis. Themes 1, 2 and 3 are fundamental principles that guarantee conservation with social commitment within the framework of the construction of XXI Century Socialism.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

1. ECO-SOCALIST ETHICS To further the collective construction and consolidation of eco-socialism, starting from the historic inheritance of Our America and deepening the humanist values of love, dignity, inclusion, participation, responsibility, social justice, fairness, and intergenerational solidarity, as principals and ways to achieve lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

1.1 1.1.1

Promote the ethics of solidarity and eco-socialist morals Promote and develop a vision of the rights of Mother Earth as a representation of the rights of future generations and of respect to the other forms of life with whom we share one planet and one destiny.

1.1.2 Value, develop and respect human rights and those of Mother Earth as inseparable and indispensable habits for the attainment of happiness and the lasting development of both present and future generations.

1.1.3 Further a united national vision in which human beings have social and environmental commitments with regard to others and to the collective as a whole, for the building and consolidation of a social, cultural political and environmentally just, fair and sustainable society.

1.1.4 Promote the collective fulfillment of individuality, with priority given to common over individual interests from a perspective centered on balance with nature and respect for future generations.

1.1.5 Promote substantive equality between people, genera, communities and cultures.

1.1.6 Encourage creative and productive work in harmony with nature as a form of individual and collective fulfillment.

1.1.7 Promote a pluralist society that recognizes and values individual, cultural and biological diversity.

1.1.8 Develop volunteer work, cooperative community work “cayapa” and others forms of work based on love, such as bartering and solidary exchange in order to meet common needs in a sustainable way, over individual gain and the accumulation of material wealth.

1.1.9 Promote solidarity between peoples, cultures and countries, based on love, and respect for human rights and those of Mother Earth, as well as cooperation and complementarity.

1.1.10 Foment respect for different types of knowledge.

Within the framework of the Simón Bolívar National Project

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1.2 1.2.1

1.2.2 1.2.3

1.3 1.3.1

1.3.2

1.3.3

1.3.4

Promote an endogenous, sustainable and humanist production model.

Strengthen a model for production, ecological consumerism and life that is socially, culturally and politically sustainable as the only way to completely develop desirable human potential and lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

Identify and use local and national human talent.

Promote the sustainable use of local and national resources and abilities.

Strengthen the participatory and protagonic democracy.

Strengthen the concept of what it means to be a citizen as a part of the State, co-responsible for public life and wellbeing and the sustainable development of the individual and that of the community he or she belongs to.

Promote a strong community and social organization, aware of its relation to nature, and its rights and obligations towards the environment.

Promote and strengthen a coordinated public administration, effective in its support of communities for their complete and sustainable development.

Guarantee protagonic participation in the management of the conservation of Biological Diversity.

2. SOVEREIGNTY Promote the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity in Venezuela within a regional, continental and worldwide setting, oriented towards sovereign and honorable management as the way towards supportive integration and the people’s lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3

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Recognize Biological Diversity and its management as an issue of sovereignty.

Guarantee the sovereign right of the State to make its own decisions as regards its Biological Diversity.

Guarantee transparency and fairness as regards the management of Biological Diversity in Venezuela.

Guarantee public access to all information generated in relation to Biological Diversity in the country, except when it interferes with ancestral cultural rights or related traditions.

National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

2.1.4 2.1.5

2.1.6

2.2

2.2.1

2.2.2

Guarantee the indigenous peoples that their consent will be sought before allowing access to the genetic resources on their lands.

Guarantee the participation of national institutions, cultures and groups in the making and implementation of decisions relative to the study, conservation and us of Biological Diversity in Venezuela.

Recognize and value the intangible components associated with the utilization of Biological Diversity, as well as the right to collectively enjoy the benefits generated.

Recognize Biological Diversity and its management as a source of sovereignty and as the means for the development and integration of the people.

Promote the sustainable use of Venezuela´s Biological Diversity as a megadiverse country and as part of its heritage for the development of an endogenous, sustainable, humane and liberating production model.

Guarantee that benefits derived from the use of the country´s Biological Diversity are focused primarily towards the wellbeing and fair and equal development of all Venezuelans, in order to deepen regional and international integration based on solidarity and mutual support.

3. INCLUSION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Guarantee the inclusion and empowering of all Venezuelans in the management of Biological Diversity and in the fair and impartial sharing of the benefits derived from it.

3.1 3.1.1

3.1.2

Value common, traditional and ancestral knowledge about Biological Diversity.

Identify the individuals, groups and communities involved in the problems and seeking of solutions regarding Biological Diversity in order to ensure that their wellbeing and full development is taken into account in the objectives of plans and projects. Human beings must always be the ends, not the means.

Value and protect traditional and ancestral knowledge about Biological Diversity.

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3.2 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3

3.2.4 3.2.5 3.2.6 3.2.7 3.2.8 3.2.9

3.2.10 3.2.11

3.2.12

3.2.13

3.2.14

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Guarantee community participation in all management procedures related to Biological Diversity.

Develop the decision making capacity of the population by promoting the critical debate of ideas.

Promote training and social organization in ecology and the management of Biological Diversity.

Promote the Councils of the People´s Power as structures for debate, training and criticism, increasing their level of participation in decision making related to local and regional environmental policies.

Promote the participatory assessment of local problems regarding the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Support, strengthen and promote community based initiatives for the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Design and consolidate new mechanisms for community level participation in the public sector.

Stimulate the creation of, and strengthen links and communication between social organizations involved in ecological issues.

Strengthen the direct regular channels between the popular power and the national environmental authority.

Incorporate local communities and social organizations in the planning processes for the shared management of Biological Diversity for its conservation and sustainable use.

Promote participation in the undertaking of policies and programs for the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Consolidate an effective social auditing mechanism, in order to provide the means for the continuous critical review, rectification and re-invigorate of programs, as well as complaint mechanisms.

Design programs for the sustainable use, management and conservation of Biological Diversity that consider self management and strengthen endogenous development.

Strengthen the mechanisms for community participation and consolidate the popular power within the Strategic Areas for Conservation and surrounding areas.

Guarantee the understanding and management of the national and bio-regional Action Plans for their joint implementation by communities and institutions.

National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

4. EDUCATION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Promote the development of critical awareness about Biological Diversity by the exchange of information and the encouragement of open discussion of its social value as part of the national heritage and as a fundamental resource for the development of the Nation, the threats towards it and the management policies required for its conservation in our country.

4.1 4.1.1

4.1.2 4.1.3

4.1.4 4.1.5 4.1.6 4.1.7

4.2

4.2.1

4.2.2

Promote spaces for training in the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Create spaces for the integrated debate, communication, documentation and education in ecological issues, based on the dialogue of knowledge related to the conservation of local and national Biological Diversity.

Develop an efficient network of information routes and informal environmental education directed towards communities.

Promote the development of critical awareness in the National Education System and its sub-systems of the direct and structural causes responsible for the loss of Biological Diversity, as well as providing the necessary foundations for promoting a different relationship to Mother Earth.

Promote education in priority areas for the management of the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Design academic training programs for the management of local and national Biological Diversity with social commitment.

Guarantee the permanent training of educators for the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Promote exchange and cooperation between national and foreign universities in order to optimize educational capacities for the management of the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Divulge the social importance of Biological Diversity and promote the understanding and critical awareness of threats to it, as well as making conservation policies known.

Articulate actions that increase the flow of information about Biological Diversity between those that generate that knowledge and those responsible for its communication and management.

Guarantee the broadcasting of true and objective news about events related to Biological Diversity.

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4.2.3

4.2.4

Create spaces dedicated to the promotion of critical ecological thought within media networks, especially community and alternative media.

Promote alternative methods for community communication and intervention related to ecological issues.

5. ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION Define and update the legal framework regulating the management of Biological Diversity as a vital element for collective and individual sustainable development orientated towards the attainment of lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

5.1 5.1.1

5.1.2 5.1.3 5.1.4 5.2 5.2.1

5.2.2

5.2.3

Review and update environmental legislation Review and enact new laws that substitute those that precede the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the new model of the country defined in the Sim贸n Bol铆var National Project.

Identify the legal gaps in the current legislation related to Biological Diversity.

Review and adapt the law with respect to environmental crimes related to Biological Diversity.

Promote community involvement in the construction of legal tools.

Develop mechanisms for the efficient and participatory formulation of legal instruments.

Develop mechanisms of inter-institutional cooperation and coordination in order to generate legislation that guarantees the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity.

Develop mechanisms for the protagonic participation of the people in the elaboration and design of environmental laws, jointly with the relevant institutions.

Promote technical training of the legislators of environmental issues.

6. CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT Promote effective management that guarantees the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity, based on the guidelines of the current Strategy.

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

6.1

6.1.1

6.1.2

6.1.3

6.2 6.2.1

6.2.2

6.2.3

Build a new institutional structure that guarantees the realization, monitoring and updating of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity Establish the baseline concepts and start the construction of a new institutional structure, whose supreme value is the practice of justice and fairness, integrated with the communities and orientated towards accompanying the social processes towards a sustainable life based on the respect, conservation and use of Biological Diversity.

Create and implement structures and mechanisms for the enforcement, updating and monitoring of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity.

Guarantee the financial resources necessary for the monitoring of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity.

Promote institutional coordination for the conservation of Biological Diversity.

Consider the conservation of Biological Diversity with social commitment as a cross theme to the directives laid out in the Sim贸n Bol铆var National Project.

Establish permanent channels of information and working groups for the integration and coordination between government institutions.

Guarantee a unified and articulated response by the institutions to the public as a management principal.

6.3 6.3.1

Guarantee communication between institutions and communities.

Integrate the communities into the design, implementation and monitoring of the plans, projects and programs that derive from the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity.

6.4

Guarantee efficiency in the official processes and procedures associated with the management of Biological Diversity.

Promote a management style orientated towards the systematic resolution of problems.

Simplify and accelerate all official processes and procedures, in order to combat bureaucracy in all its forms.

Guarantee the transparency and full disclosure of all official regulations, channels, processes and procedures related to the management of Biological Diversity.

6.4.1 6.4.2 6.4.3

Within the framework of the Sim贸n Bol铆var National Project

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7. INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND POLICY Consolidate an action strategy for the promotion of an international management policy that guarantees the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity in Venezuela in a regional, continental and worldwide setting, orientated towards integration, sovereignty and lasting Supreme Social Happiness.

7.1 7.1.1

7.1.2

7.1.3

7.1.4

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Strengthen international management policies related to Biological Diversity.

Strengthen intra and inter-institutional coordination in order to develop and consolidate foreign policies related to Biological Diversity.

Promote national participation in international meetings by means of sustained, coherent and efficient work done in areas related to Biological Diversity.

Promote the debate at a National level of the relevance to the country of international obligations that it has adopted related to Biological Diversity or those that affect its conservation and sustainable use.

Include issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of Biological Diversity in the agendas of regional organizations for cooperation and forums such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP), South AmericaAfrica Summit (ASA Summit), among others, in order to establish a common position as regards Biological Diversity.

National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

NATIONAL AND BIO-REGIONAL ACTION PLANS Action Plans play a fundamental role in the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity, since they provide the means for the development of specific actions, indicators, aims, and partners that enable their application at local, regional and national levels.

To this end a National Action Plan has been collectively constructed, in which the actions to be undertaken at a nationwide scale and eight Bioregional Action Plans are specified. These actions have been formulated taking into account the realities of the communities found in areas with similar ecological, geographic, social and cultural characteristics: 1) Marine, Coastal and Insular Bio-regions, 2) The Andes Bio-region, 3) The Coastal Mountain Range Bio-region, 4) The “Los Llanos” Bio-region, 5) The Orinoco Delta Bio-region, 6) The Guyana Bio-region, 7) The Lake Maracaibo Depression Bio-region and 8) The Lara and Falcón Highlands Bio-region The bio-regions approach ensures the inclusion of the different world views present in our country, promotes strategic planning based on local realities and the application of the National Strategy taking advantage of the strengths of each region, and contributes elements to the new national geopolitical system proposed in the Simón Bolívar National Project.

This approach also enables organized communities to construct local action plans, programs or specific projects, within the framework of the Bio-regional Action Plan, thus guaranteeing their protagonic participation in the design and execution of State policies. This new design approach to Biological Diversity conservation policies is consonant with the philosophy of the Simón Bolívar National Project and has been made possible thanks to the huge advances made by the Bolivarian Process.

Within the framework of the Simón Bolívar National Project

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National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity

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GLOSSARY

Agrobusiness: corporative model of production, distribution, wastefulness and food consumption (animal based fabrics, crop monocultures, transgenics, nanotechnologies, agro-toxins, agro-fuels, etc). An agricultural model that imposes the interests of a few, to the detriment of sustainable food production, peasant farming and food sovereignty.

Agroecology: science whose origins are based on the ancestral wisdom of respect for, and conservation and preservation of the natural components of sustainable agro-ecosystems, at any scale.

Agro-fuels: liquid fuels made from vegetables. These are generally foods that could be used to alleviate hunger, or are cultivated on land that could be used to produce more food.

Agro-toxins: chemicals used in conventional agriculture such as fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.

Areas Under a Special Administrative Regime (ABRAE, as per its Spanish acronym): all those areas that according to their characteristics and ecological potential have been decreed by the national executive as having productive, protecting and recreational functions.

Authoctonous or native species: any species, sub-species or inferior taxon whose natural geographical range lies within the national territory.

Ballast water: water stored in deposits or tanks in the interior of the hulls of ships with the aim of stabilizing them. This stored water is the main way by which marine organisms are transported outside their natural distribution area Biological Diversity: the variety of live organisms that comprises the diversity within each species and between species and ecosystems.

Bio-region: Extensive area of land that contains a set of geographically distinct natural communities that share the large majority of their species and ecological dynamics, show similar environmental conditions and interact in an ecologically significant way for their long term survival.

45

Biotechnology: application of non-traditional techniques for the manipulation of live cells and their genetic material.

Cayapa: way in which members of a community work cooperatively in a task, in order to satisfy either an individual or collective need. It is used in agriculture for sowing, harvesting, hunting and fishing and in other community tasks such as the building of homes.

Confined management: all activities undertaken with genetically modified organisms, their derivatives or products, which are isolated by physical, chemical or biological barriers that effectively limit these organisms’ contact with a potentially receptive medium or their effects on that medium.

Ecological footprint: indicates the area of land and sea necessary to sustain the consumption of food, goods, services, accommodation and energy required, and assimilate the waste produced, by one person, group or country.

Eco-socialism: ecological socialism, a proposition based on a different relationship between human beings and nature that guarantees the wellbeing of current and future generations. Eco-socialism is proposed as a global solution to environmental problems and as an alternative to capitalism.

Endangered species: species whose survival is unlikely if actions are not taken to correct the factors that negatively affect its populations.

Endemic species: species limited to a relatively small geographic area or an uncommon or rare habitat, that is, a very restricted geographic distribution.

Exotic species: species, gametes, seeds, eggs or propagules that can survive and subsequently reproduce themselves, which are outside of their natural distribution area.

Ex situ conservation: maintenance of some components of biodiversity outside their natural habitats.

Ex situ conservation center: infrastructure for the conservation of some components of biological diversity outside their natural habitat, such as for example; zoological farms, repopulation units, gene-banks, botanical

46

gardens, nurseries, zoological parks, aquariums, herbariums, museums and rescue and recovery centers.

Gene bank: genome of plant species in any of its reproductive forms (seeds, tissues, etc.)

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs): any organism, alive or dead that possesses a new combination of genetic material obtained by the application of modern biotechnology.

Hegemony: domination that one state exerts over other states.

Intangible component: any information, innovation or individual or collective activity associated with Biological Diversity and its components, whether they are protected or not by intellectual property regimes.

Invasive exotic species: any exotic species that establishes itself in an ecosystem or natural habitat and that acts as an agent of change or threatens authoctonous Biological Diversity or inherent ecological processes.

Natural distribution area of a species: geographic areas that include habitats and ecosystems, where populations of a given species interact naturally with the system.

Transgenic: genetically modified organism.

Transplanting or translocation: the introduction, deliberate or otherwise, by a natural or legal person, of an exotic species outside of its natural geographical range. agua almacenada en depósitos o tanques en el interior del casco de los buques con el objetivo de procurar la estabilidad de las embarcaciones, la cual constituye la vía principal de translocación de organismos marinos fuera de su área natural de distribución.

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PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS IN THE COLLECTIVE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) Municipal Institute of Sport (IMDA) Valencia Aquarium Center for the Investigation and Management of Fauna Civil Association (MANFAUNA) Provita Civil Association United Nations Association, Venezuela Venezuelan Association for the Conservation of Natural Areas (ACOANA) AUDUBON, Venezuela Awataniba Biocontacto Bioreptilia TV Catia Center for the Investigation and Conservation of Marine Turtles (CICTMAR) La Patilla Group Origen Group Fernรกndez and Hernรกndez Business Confederation of Community Councils Calle 13 Community Council La Sabana Community Council, Vargas state La Boyera Community Council, El Hatillo Loira Community Council Luces de Oliveira Community Council Fire Brigades of Venezuela

Marine Firefighters of Venezuela Eco Activa El Capurro La Verdad Daily Newspaper Agro Students Fetra Playa Vargas ABRAE Foundation Caracas for children Foundation Eco games Foundation La Salle Foundation

La Salle Natural History Museum La Tortuga Foundation

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Foundation for the Development of Physical, Mathematic and Natural Sciences (FUDECI) Foundation for the Defense of Nature (FUDENA) Tierra Viva Foundation Study Group: Biodiversity and Sustainable Development in Forest Ecosystems (BIODESUS) Working Group for Marine Turtles in the Gulf of Venezuela (GTTM-GV) University Park Rangers Organized Communities Newsletter (Infocoas) Rafael Alberto Escobar Lara Pedagogical Institute (IPRAEL) Alonso Gamero Technological University Institute (IUTAG) Yaracuy Technological University Institute (IUTY) Santiago Mariùo Polytechnic University Institute (IUPSM) Caruao Civil Headquarters Ministry of the People´s Power for the Environment

Socialist Tree Mission

Los Roques Archipelago Sole Authority

Legal Consultancy

National Reforestation Company (CONARE)

State Environmental Management

General Headquarters of Institutional Communication

Foundation for Environmental Education (FUNDAMBIENTE)

National Foundation for Zoological Parks and Aquariums (FUNPZA) Hidrocapital

National Parks Institute (INPARQUES)

Las Delicias Zoological Park

Institute for the Conservation of Lake Maracaibo (ICLAM)

Administration and Service Office

Strategic Analysis Office

Office for International Cooperation and Management

Vice ministry for Water

General Headquarters of Hydrographic Catchment Areas

Vice ministry for Environmental Conservation

Directorate General for Forests

Directorate General for Environmental Education and Community Participation

National Biological Diversity Office

Strategic Areas for Conservation Unit

Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity Unit Biosecurity Unit Endangered Species Unit

49

Exotic Species Unit

Environmental Impact Investigations Unit Information Management Unit

Unit for the prevention, monitoring and control

of the illegal use of Biological Diversity.

Viceministry for Environmental Planning and Administration

Directorate General for Environmental Monitoring and Control.

Directorate General for Environmental Planning and Management

Administrative Office for Permits Ministry of the People´s Power for Land and Agriculture

Socialist School for Tropical Agriculture (ESAT)

Socialist Agricultural Development Fund (FONDAS)

National Institute for Agricultural Investigations (INIA)

National Institute for Integrated Agricultural Security (INSAI)

National Land Institute (INTI)

Socialist Institute for Fishing and Aquaculture (INSOPESCA) Ministry of the People ´s Power for Food Ministry of the People ´s Power for Science, Technology and Intermediate Industries

Directorate General for Investigation.

Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Investigations (IVIC)

Institute for Advanced Studies Foundation (IDEA)

FUNDACITE Aragua Ministry of the People ´s Power for Commerce

Autonomous Service for Intellectual Property (SAPI) Ministry of the People ´s Power for Communities and Social Protection (Fundacomunal) Ministry of the People ´s Power for Information and Communication

TV Ávila Ministry of the People ´s Power for Culture

Natural Science Museum Ministry of the People ´s Power for Defense

Venezuelan Bolivarian Armada

Coastguard Command

School for the ´Training of Officials (EFOFAC)

Venezuelan Bolivarian National Guard Ministry of the People ´s Power of the President´s Office

General Secretariat for the Council for the Defense of the Nation (SECODENA)

50

Ministry of the People ´s Power for University Education

Mission Sucre Foundation Ministry of the People ´s Power for Economy and Finance

National Integrated Service for the Administration of Customs

and Excise (SENIAT) Ministry of the People ´s Power for Energy and Petrol

Mission Ribas Foundation PDVSA

Communal Gas Intevep Ministry of the People ´s Power for Justice and the Interior

Civil Defense Ministry of the People ´s Power for Foreign Affairs Ministry of the People ´s Power for Health

Dr. José Ignacio Baldó General Hospital

Concepción Palacios Maternity Ministry of the People ´s Power for Work and Social Security

Institute for the Capacitation and Recreation of Workers (INCRET) Ministry of the People ´s Power for Tourism Ministry of the People ´s Power for Planning and Development

Corporation for the Recovery and Development of Vargas state (Corpovargas) Ministry of the People ´s Power for Electrical Energy

National Electrical Corporation (CORPOELEC)

Electrification of the Caroní (EDELCA) Public Prosecutor’s Office La Salle Natural History Museum (MHNLS) Notivecinos La Limonera Nucleus for Socialist Endogenous Development Epxilón Operator Indigenous Student´s Organization of Bolivar state (ODEIBO) El Pinar Zoological Park Bararida Zoological and Botanical Park El Petarazo Newspaper Vargas Police Prefect´s Office, Vargas state Hidrocaribe Anzoátegui - Press Mission Patilla Independent Producers Animal Protection La Mancha Free Communication Project Climate Change Journalism Network

51

Innovative Production Network Sea Vida Secretariat for the Environment of Aragua state Televen Felipe Guillermo Rojas U.E.N. Venezuelan Bolivarian University (UBV) Santa Rosa Catholic University (USR) Central University of Venezuela (UCV)

Agronomy Faculty Students Union

Alberto Fernández Yepez Biological Field Station

Museum of the Institute of Agricultural Science

Botanical Institute of Venezuela Foundation

Tropical Zoology Institutel Lisandro Alvarado Western Central University (UCLA) Carabobo University (UC) Los Andes University (ULA) Eastern University (UDO) University of Zulia (LUZ) Caribbean Maritime University (UMC) National Open University (UNA) Guayana National Experimental University (Uneg) National Experimental University for the National Armed Forces (UNEFA) Ezequiel Zamora National Experimental University of Los Llanos (UNELLEZ) National Experimental University of Táchira (UNET) National Experimental University of Miranda (UNEFM) National Experimental Maritime University and of the Caribbean (UNEMC) National Experimental Polytechnic University of the National Armed Forces (UNEFA) Rómulo Gallegos National Experimental University (UNERG) Sur de Lago National Experimental University (UNESUR) Libertador Pedagogical Experimental University (UPEL) Santa María University(USM) Simón Bolívar University (USB)

Littoral Nucleus

Sartenejas Nucleus Camurí Grande Simón Bolívar University Yacambú University (UNY) Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) Educational Zone, Vargas state

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