How honey is helping to save the glasses of glasses

Editor's note: This story was identified by the guest editor of Call to Earth, Erika Cuéllar.She is biologist and conservationist, and winner of the rolex award.

(CNN) - A bear puppy with yellow circles around the eyes is captured by a camera deep in the dry forests of the Andes mountain range in Bolivia.On his side, a glimpse of the black and disarray fur of his mother.

For six months, the researchers placed trap cameras in an area of 600 square kilometers, trying to see the strange glasses.

But in addition to the occasional photo of an indistinguishable hairy figure with the head outside, the elusive species had avoided the lens.

The photo was a great advance for the Bolivian conservationist Ximena Vélez-Lando and her team."We felt like on the moon, because it wasn't just a bear, it was a reproductive population," she says."That was one of the happiest moments of my life."

This photo of a bear puppy, taken with a trap camera on February 9, 2017, marked significant progress for Vélez-Lando and his team.

Five years later, Vélez-Lando gathered essential details about the enigmatic creatures and devised a strategy to protect them.

As the only kind of bear in South America, the glasses of glasses or Andean bear is famous throughout the world thanks in large part to the Paddington bear, the fictional character that comes from the "deepest and most dark Peru".But in reality, populations throughout the continent are decreasing.

There are less than 10,000 glasses of glasses, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which catalogs the species as vulnerable.In Bolivia, the southernmost country in the world where the glasses of glasses are located and where Vélez-Lando's work focuses, it is believed that there are about 3,000 individuals.

Severe drought, as a result of climate change, led local farmers to replace agricultural production with livestock ranches, says Vélez-lando.Bears, who fight to find food in their own increasingly small habitat, invade this land and sometimes kill cattle, leading farmers to kill bears as retaliation.The deforestation and exploitation of the land for oil and mining contributes to the loss of habitat, while the drought unbalanced the ecosystem, bringing the species closer to extinction.

Vélez-Lando wants to keep the "majestic" and "charismatic" creatures to which he dedicated the last 20 years of his life.But his recipe for his conservation involves an unusual ingredient: honey.

Bears and beekeepers

The glasses of glasses receive their name from the yellowish white rings around their eyes that make them look like they were using glasses.Credit: for the conservation of the glasses of glasses (SBC)

Based on the interandino dry forest of southern Bolivia and financed by the Chester Zoo and the research unit for the conservation of wildlife of the University of Oxford (Wildcru), the project not only monitors the population of bears of the bears of theregion, but also enables the local population as beekeepers.The idea is that when generating a healthy income from honey, it offers an economic alternative to livestock.

"The main threat (for bears) is definitely people," says Vélez-lando, and "cattle is the main reason why people kill bears."But livestock does not adapt well to high ground and produces small profits at a significant environmental cost, since it requires 20 times more land, water and resources than in the lowlands, he adds.

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Then, the team installed community apiaries, where local people could learn and practice beekeeping.After the first honey harvest, people began to build their own private hives.The honey, with the brand "Osos Valley", went on sale and money began to arrive.

There were three crops since the beekeeping project began in 2018, producing 2,750 kilograms of honey and almost US $ 20,000 in income, says Vélez-lando, more than double what was generated by the cattle.

Life Circle

The honey label refers to the bears, since they are the root of the project, says Vélez-Lando.

At the same time, the process is teaching the locals about the ecosystem and the crucial role of the bear in its maintenance: when spreading seeds, bears help restore forests, which in turn helps ensure water supply."People need to see the benefit of protecting bears," says Vélez-Lando, and through beekeep"

The project was widely recognized as crucial in the preservation of the species, winning the 2017 Whitley Prize for basic wildlife conservationists.Last month, the Whitley Fund for Nature announced that it would finance Vélez-Lando for the next two years, while working to create a "productive protected landscape", a management framework that respects the traditional use of the earth while combiningRestoration and economic activity of a positive nature.

She hopes that when presenting a viable frame, other countries with populations of glasses of glasses will follow her example.Conservation efforts are already underway in South America, even in Ecuador, where an bears corridor was created north of the capital, Quito, and in Peru, where for the conservation of the glasses of glasses (SBC) works with indigenous communities forCreate private protected areas, as well as offer alternative livelihood programs.

The participation of the community is essential in a lasting demographic change, the Canadian biologist Robyn Appleton agrees, who founded the SBC in 2009. "If you do not have communities by your side, you will not be doing any conservation," she says."You could have the last bear in Peru, and it wouldn't matter."

Vélez-Lando (left) works in close collaboration with local communities in the project.

When establishing relationships with local communities, Appleton says they successfully reduced the use of felling and burning: the cleaning of the land burning all the trees and plants in it.

The important message to transmit is that protecting the bear also protects people."We love bears and worry about wildlife, but we also care about humans," said Appleton."For us, it is about protecting a place: protect humans, protect wildlife, protect the ecosystem. They all work together."

Andes gardeners

The glasses of glasses play a vital role in the survival of the entire ecosystem, which is not much left.The dry forests of Bolivia, which flank the Eastern Andes with dense shrubs and thickets, are in critical danger.According to an investigation by the Arizona center for the conservation of nature, only 6% remain intact.

Mainly vegetarian, glasses feed on fruits, berries and cactus, and move up to 8 kilometers per day, dispersing seeds within the area as they defecate and generating new growth and biodiversity.

"The bears are the gardeners of the Andes," says Vélez-Lando."In areas where bears were exterminated, forest quality is extremely poor."

Thanks to the Vélez-Lando Bears Program, scientists are now more aware than ever what another life is inside the ecosystem.Eight wild cat species have been sighted on the site, including jaguars and pumas, and there were also sightings of the Chinchilla rat, critical extinction.

"Due to all our efforts to protect a single species, we are protecting 31 species of mammals, around 50 species of birds and 20 species of other amphibians," says Vélez-lando."By protecting bears we are protecting an entire ecosystem."