GREATER GOOD CHARITIES AND GREATERGOOD.COM JOIN FORCES WITH WCS TO PROTECT ARGENTINA LAND, HOME TO VULNERABLE SPECIES
April 29 2024 - 12:04PM
Today, Greater Good Charities and GreaterGood.com announce they
have awarded a grant to the WCS in a dedicated two-part effort to
protect more than 150,000 acres by donating it to the province of
Mendoza in Argentina. This land, located in the Natural Protected
Area La Payunia, is inhabited by endemic, endangered, and
threatened species.
“We are thrilled that
after nearly a decade this special land in Mendoza and the species
that live there are getting the protection they deserve,” said Liz
Baker, CEO for Greater Good Charities. “Greater Good Charities is
proud to participate in this effort as a part of our mission to
preserve the environment and help protect biodiversity.”
The land purchased serves
as the main winter range of the most massive guanaco migration left
in the species´ range, and provides habitat for the threatened
Andean condor, endangered Andean cat, Darwin´s rhea, puma, mountain
viscachas, grey and culpeo foxes as well as other small cats
(Geoffroy and colocolo cats).
WCS Argentina has been
working for over 20 years to safeguard this otherworldly landscape,
conducting extensive research on these species, supporting
conservation actions and developing regenerative land management
practices to allow humans and wildlife to coexist in the
surrounding rangelands.
In 2019, Greater Good
Charities and GreaterGood.com worked with WCS Argentina, and the
Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network as an articulator, to
permanently protect nearly 103,000 acres of guanaco summer range by
purchasing it from private landowners and donating it to the
government of Mendoza as a tool for increasing the area of public
lands within this provincial preserve.
“Increasing the
proportion of public lands within the reserve will facilitate the
protection of wildlife, ecosystem services, and the cultural and
geological assets of the region. Moreover, it enhances the
possibilities of local sustainable development through public use
and tourism,” said Andrés Novaro, Land Conservation Director of WCS
Argentina.
“When I first visited
this area almost 10 years ago, I saw hundreds of large, wild
animals simultaneously, including guanaco, foxes, and condors
spread across a wide plain; surrounded by mountains and an extinct
volcano,” said GreaterGood’s CEO, Tim Kunin. “It was like a South
American Serengeti. I knew we had to protect this majestic and
important landscape.”
This most recent grant
will purchase an additional 50,000 acres of land, expanding the
public land in the existing protected area permanently for these
important vulnerable species. Like the previous purchase, this land
will have all livestock removed, and will be marked with signage as
public lands inside the protected area and monitored by local
authorities.
“The collaboration of all
the parties involved marks a milestone for La Payunia, the largest
natural protected area in Mendoza and one of the largest in
Patagonia, by preserving its natural and cultural heritage in
perpetuity,” assured the Undersecretary of Environment of Mendoza,
Sebastián Melchor. The Minister of Energy and Environment of the
Province, Jimena Latorre, highlighted that “this important
expansion of the public area allows us to strengthen the candidacy
of Payunia as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which would
strengthen the area as a tourist destination and provide new
employment opportunities.”
The generous
contributions from Greater Good Charities and GreaterGood.com were
supported by Living Future.
About Greater Good
Charities Greater Good Charities is a 501(c)(3) global
nonprofit organization that works to help people, pets, and the
planet by mobilizing in response to need and amplifying the good.
Greater Good Charities, with a Four-Star rating on Charity
Navigator and a Platinum Seal on GuideStar, has invested more than
$750 million in impact, including cash grants, in-kind supplies,
and programmatic support, to charitable partners in 121 countries
since 2007. To learn more about how Greater Good Charities is
amplifying the good across the globe, please visit greatergood.org
or follow Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok.
About Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS) WCS combines the power of its
zoos and an aquarium in New York City and a Global Conservation
Program in more than 50 countries to achieve its mission to save
wildlife and wild places. WCS runs the world’s largest conservation
field program, protecting more than 50 percent of Earth’s known
biodiversity; in partnership with governments, Indigenous People,
Local Communities, and the private sector. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org.
Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: +1 (347) 840-1242.
Listen to the WCS Wild Audio podcast HERE.
About
GreaterGood GreaterGood empowers people around
the world to affect positive change by making ordinary online
actions extraordinary. When you shop at a GreaterGood store, or
take other actions at one of our cause sites, you generate funding
that benefits people, pets, and the planet. As a registered
fundraiser for Greater Good Charities, GreaterGood has proudly
raised more than $80 million for charity. The programs and projects
supported by our combined efforts address a wide range of vital
needs including disaster relief, funding food and care for people
and animals; providing mammograms and related support to women;
funding research for challenge diseases; preserving and reforesting
threatened habitats; and providing scholarships and new books to
children.
- GREATER GOOD CHARITIES AND GREATERGOOD.COM JOIN FORCES WITH WCS
TO PROTECT ARGENTINA LAND, HOME TO VULNERABLE SPECIES
Greater Good Charities
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