Online auction to raise money for people and parrots Guatemala

This year, one of the projects that the auction will raise money for is parrot conservation scholarships for college students in Guatemala - home to some of the last wild scarlet macaws in Central America.

Auction begins January 5 and ends January 16, 2010.

visit www.biddingforgood.com/bornfreeusa

More information:
Revered by the Maya (the ancient peoples of Guatemala), scarlet macaws once flew over much of Central America. Today fewer than 200 scarlet macaws remain in Central America and that population is under constant and sustained threat from deforestation and poaching.

While Guatemala has a consolidated system of 120 protected areas covering 29.3% of the country, including the Mayan Biosphere Reserve — the second largest tropical forest after the Amazon — degradation of natural resources throughout Guatemala is intense, particularly as a result of illegal exploitation of forests and slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture. As a result, Guatemala has lost 17% of its forest area since 1990. Deforestation not only threatens species survival but also the ecosystem’s capacity to store water and avoid soil erosion, which in turn threatens the people of Guatemala especially the indigenous poor who are often forced to live on marginal lands.

However, there is hope. Home to more than 720 species of birds, its rich biodiversity, breathtaking landscapes, and rich cultural heritage give the country great potential for environmentally sensitive tourism that could aid in protecting the large tracts of land necessary to preserve species such as the scarlet macaw and jaguar and to protect rural communities.

A key factor in achieving Guatemala’s conservation potential is cultivating skilled and motivated human resources for the protection of native wildlife and management of human activities within protected areas.

Currently there are no specific graduate programs in Guatemala for students interested in wildlife conservation.

However, the University of San Carlos of Guatemala is developing a 2-year Wildlife Management masters course open to biologists and veterinarians to fill this need and aid in saving Guatemala’s wildlife.

The primary challenge to the development of a master’s program at the University is filling the program with the required number of students. While many wildlife and veterinarian students at the University have an interest in pursuing graduate level education in wildlife conservation, many lack the financial resources to do so.

More than 50% of Guatemalans live below the national poverty line. Guatemala also has the lowest literacy rate in Central America. Only 69.1% of the population aged 15 and over is literate. Given the considerable challenges faced by people in Guatemala, it is not surprising that less than 1 percent pursues higher education (about 90 percent of this group attends the University of San Carlos) or that many are unable to afford to complete advanced courses, internships, or degrees.

The parrot conservation scholarships from Born Free USA will be awarded to two deserving students with a keen interest in preserving parrots’ rightful place in the wild.