Brazilian Black Lion Tamarin

IPÊ Overcomes Challenges in Habitat Loss, Enforcement of Protected Areas and a Civil Uprising to Help Save a Species

What began as a straightforward research question soon grew into an applied conservation strategy to help protect natural areas through environmental education programs and local participation. After 14 years, the greening continues.

We have been confronted with this question for an eon! There is no need for such a dilemma. The choice between improving the quality of life for people or protecting nature should not exist. People have forgotten that our essence is nature and that an unhealthy ecosystem will result in threats for our own survival. Nevertheless, humankind, as the most powerful species, bears the responsibility to fight for conservation and to raise people's awareness to the importance of protecting the richness we inherited in our planet. We must find ways where people, animals and plants can live in balanced relationships.

We make these statements based on the experience of working to save the Brazilian black lion tamarins. The forests where this beautiful species of monkey lives have been greatly destroyed. Black lion tamarins exist only in the western region of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, once 82% covered with forests. Today less than 2% of these forest fragments are left, and the black lion tamarins are so restricted by loss of habitat that their numbers have plummeted.

When Claudio Padua was a young graduate student, just embarking on a career in biology, he had no idea how complex his project on black lion tamarins would become. He knew he was a good scientist, and, as a scientist conducting serious biological research, he believed he would be able to save the species from extinction. It did not take long for him to learn that good science is only part of the issue.

Part of the cause of tamarin population decline in Brazil is linked to habitat loss. Black lion tamarins live in small, fragmented parts of the rainforest in the state of São Paulo. Only two protected areas exist where the tamarins live, and a great deal has to be done to help enforce the laws that can effectively protect them. Even in these protected areas, it takes a lot of effort to enforce the laws.

Fast Facts About the Lion Tamarins

Illustration by Stephen D. Nash
Conservation International

Did you know that the tiny tamarin lion monkeys, found only in the Atlantic Rainforests of Brazil, are critically endangered? Slightly smaller than squirrels, tamarins are commonly called "kings of the jungle" because the manes around their faces recall the manes of lions.

All of the species of this family have claws, which they use to dig under bark to gather insects. More informaton about the black lion tamarin, the black-faced lion tamarin, the golden lion tamarin and the golden-headed lion tamarin is just a click away.

Black Lion Tamarin Profile

Claudio's projects in black lion tamarin conservation research and my work with environmental education worked hand-in-hand in the Atlantic forest study site. In 1992, Claudio and I founded a non-profit organization called IPÊ - Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas to support these and other related conservation efforts in Brazil.

IPÊ now has more than 60 people conducting 25 projects in six different regions of the country. Projects include long term studies with jaguars, tapirs, black-faced lion tamarins, red-tailed Amazon and many other endangered species. Sustainable development for local people is now incorporated into all conservation programs. So, people and nature are being cared for at the same time.

In addition to completing research, we conduct classes and workshops on how to plant, what to plant, and why to plant, to hundreds of people who visit our headquarters at the Morro do Diabo State Park, a protected unit of the Forestry Institute of São Paulo. From that facility, we help manage the areas that are being planted. We serve as advisors to the different groups and their specific needs. Many families organize themselves and begin their own nurseries, which now furnish seedlings to farmers who are requested by law to replant their properties.

Seven years of intensive education and tree planting have resulted in the "greening" of the region and in increased habitat for the black lion tamarins as well as all other species living there.

IPÊ has helped train many Brazilian and foreign students in a variety of environmental disciplines. Several of our 'graduates' have since begun their own projects and are now leaders of IPÊ. For example, Laury Cullen is in charge of feline studies and agroforestry training; Maria das Graças de Souza is an environmental educator who has helped turn local species into conservation symbols; and Cristiana Martins is responsible for re-introducing, translocating, and applying other management strategies to link fragmented populations and discontinuous habitat for black lion tamarins and other primates studied by IPÊ. These individuals are only a few of the many researchers who are part of the IPÊ team committed to helping protect what is left of native Brazilian forests.

In 1996, IPÊ founded the Brazilian Center for Conservation Biology, an education center where courses are offered in a continuous basis in all areas that we identify as important. Courses can be of high technical knowledge to specific needs in community-based ecotourism, for example. We try to fill in the gaps of important themes that are not being offered in formal education establishments.

We are currently organizing a graduate program for conservation and sustainable development, slated for launch in 2007; its construction will begin in the second semester of 2005. This has been possible due to another expansion that is very new in Brazil. IPÊ is now receiving support from businesses, especially Brazilian companies. The social and environmental responsibilities that many entrepreneurs proclaim as important, are being felt in concrete terms. Companies like Martins, Natura, Havaianas (Alpargatas) and some others that are still in negotiation stages, are becoming involved in causes that favor people and nature.

During the ecological study of black lion tamarins, Claudio and the team of scientists he trained discovered several new groups of monkeys living in very small fragments of forest. What an exciting discovery! Given the fact that the forest was once a large, continuous tract of habitat, it makes sense that the monkeys would be living in some of the unconnected patches of forest that remained.

But the excitement gave rise to caution and concern: more forest areas now needed to be protected; more patches of habitat and populations of monkeys needed to be connected to each other; more people needed to be educated about biodiversity and encouraged to participate in habitat protections; more research, basic science and applied conservation strategies had to be conducted and additional policies had to drafted that would protect these new found areas.

I am an environmental educator, and I am married to Claudio. Empowering the local people of the Atlantic Forest became my major challenge. Working with a group of young educators, we learned through rigorous experimental design and statistical testing of pedagogical techniques and by trial and error, different ways to involve local people in protecting the forest. It soon became clear that, although it requires a great deal of time and energy to impart, education is a crucial component of raising people's awareness to the importance of conservation. A basic knowledge and understanding helps motivate people to be conservation advocates rather than bystanders and observers.

The world does not stop for conservation, science and education. In the mid-1990s, while the group of conservationists and local people were busy trying to save the remaining forests, the agrarian reform movement, also known as the 'landless movement,' took place in Brazil. The well-organized civil uprising occurred when poor people organized themselves into groups consisting of many thousands of families. Some of the groups moved into the Atlantic forest region, demanding land from the government. These people believed that owning a piece of land which they could farm, would not only guarantee their survival, but would also provide a better quality of life.

The human issue for black lion tamarin conservation suddenly became even more complex!

Was it more important to protect the animals or support the people? At first it seemed like the conservationists and the Landless leaders had to fight for one another. If people started living in and around the tiny forest patches, the habitat would be destroyed, and the tamarins would go extinct. The only area available to the Landless to settle in this region of Brazil was adjacent to forest patches.

Gradually the Landless and the conservationists started listening to one another. Conservationists were not against the well being of people, and the Landless did not want the animals to die. How could we integrate these apparently so divergent objectives?

Putting a good idea into action is not always an easy task! From the first confrontations with the local people and the Landless, we of the conservation team were honest and open about our purposes to save black lion tamarins and the forests where they live. We also showed our sincere interest in helping make the settlements work, but our objective was to introduce sustainable lifestyle practices that would be implemented and maintained with little or no damage to nature in the long run. The idea? Plant trees!

The settlers could plant trees like a "savings account"-- an investment for the future.

With ongoing support from many individuals and organizations, the 'landless' and the conservationists continue to plant trees to form corridors that link one forest fragment to another so animals can roam as they please. Trees are forming protection zones, or "Green Hugs" around forest fragments to prevent fire, wind, or livestock from destroying the understory of the forest.

Over time, more sustainable development initiatives have been introduced. Organic coffee, planted under trees that are also being planted represents an additional revenue for the settled families. Only one hectare (approximately 3.4 acres) of this coffee can turn a family's income from negative (as they owe loans to the government) to positive. Besides, the trees that protect the coffee are helping 'green' the region.

Among the women of the settled families, a broad program is also being implemented. Through workshops that teach them new skills in artifacts, women are producing T-shirts, bags, aprons and other articles, all with the lion tamarins or other regional fauna and flora species. As they embroider or learn patchwork techniques, they hear about the importance of conservation, of the rarity of the animals that they are portraying and how they can help protect the local natural environments. These products are being sold, so the women are helping improve their families' income. As an additional gain, we learned the importance of women's role in transmitting values to their families and community members in general.

Researching, teaching, and empowering local people to conservation action -- that is how an entire team of conservationists has been busy for the 14 years. What began as a straightforward research question soon grew into an applied conservation strategy to help protect natural areas through environmental education programs and local participation in the solutions. We still need to be vigilant in order to influence policies that enforce the protection of nature and work with any unpredictable event that may appear in the process.

In terms of policies, the best example of success over the years can be the creation of a new protected area for the tamarins: The Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station. This was the result of more than seven years of persistent work that demanded a step-by-step follow-up through many government spheres till it finally became true.