Sama is the air we breathe, it is the plate of food on our table, it is our glass of wine, our pascua florida, the Fiesta Grande de Tarija and our Carnaval Chapaco. Sama is definitely our source of life, where the water that feeds our land and with it our greatest dreams comes from.

With this clear concept in mind and aware of the threats facing this important reserve, a diversity of public and private actors, companies and citizens decided to create the first platform to support the sustainable management of the Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve.

The institutions that promoted this important initiative are the National Protected Areas Service (Sernap) through the management of the Sama Reserve and its Management Committee; the Foundation for the Development of the National System of Protected Areas (Fundesnap) and Tarija Environmental Protection (Prometa) with the important cooperation of the Swiss Embassy in Bolivia.

The event took place yesterday at 9:00 a.m. in the main hall of the Universidad Privada Domingo Savio (UPDS), where the platform's charter was signed.

According to the director of the Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve, Marcelo Ruiz, the platform consists of several national and Tarija institutions that are concerned about the reserve's situation and have the common objective of joining forces to improve its protection. "Some will contribute with money, others with supplies, work and whatever else they can. For example, an important tannery is giving us boots for our firefighters", explained Ruiz when highlighting the help of the institutions.

Prometa's executive director, Rodrigo Ayala, reflected on the importance of the Reserve, the key task of caring for it and the importance of all public and private institutions being committed to this. At the same time, he warned about the water problem and the risk of water depletion. With these words, he called for the population's commitment and launched the awareness campaign to increase support for the platform.

The event was attended by the 28 institutions that joined the platform in this first instance, as well as important authorities in the area such as Renán Donaire, president of the Management Committee of the Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve; Nayda Mamani Vera, director of Planning of the National Protected Areas Service of Bolivia; Sergio Eguino Bustillos, executive director of Fundesnap; Marcelo Ruiz, director of the Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve and Rodrigo Ayala, executive director of Prometa.

Each of the key players offered important words focused on the promotion of this platform, in addition to which, as a central event, membership certificates were presented to all the institutions that are part of the initiative.  

We interviewed Marcelo Ruiz, director of Sernap Sama, to discuss in depth the platform to support sustainable management of the Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve.

El País (EP): What are the main problems facing the Sama Reserve?

Marcelo Ruiz (MR). The Sama Reserve was created by decree 22721 of January 30, 1991 and comprises six municipalities: El Puente, Yunchará, San Lorenzo, Cercado, Padcaya and Uriondo. One of the main problems we face is the lack of personnel, as we only have seven park guards. In addition, we have a shortage of technicians.

There is also another problem related to the lack of environmental education among the population, since visitors to the reserve's tourist sites pollute too much by leaving their garbage behind when they go for a walk or something similar.

Another conflict focuses on aggregate extraction and the extraction of plant material such as guava leaves, which are widely used commercially in Tarija for flower arrangements.

There is also the problem of water reduction and forest fires, on which a lot of training has been done, but there is still work to be done.

EP. What is the work you do as Sernap?

MR. As part of the protection work we do in the Sama Reserve, we also carry out environmental education in schools, as well as training for our own park rangers and firefighters, in addition to the constant cleaning of the Reserve.

At this moment we have the support of several forest fire departments such as Jinetes de Méndez, Bomberos Voluntarios Ángeles de fuego, Bomberos Voluntarios Tarija Brasschaat.

EP: How will the recently constituted platform help in the conservation of the Reserve?

MR. The platform will allow us to address the Reserve's main problems such as water reduction; in this case it will support us in protecting water sources; in another area it will allow us to hire more park rangers, give us the possibility of having more training for our personnel, and help us to reinforce reforestation campaigns, among many other things.

The idea is to add more actors every day and that each one of the people of Tarija becomes part of the conservation of Sama in favor of themselves and the entire population.

So far we have had a very good response, each institution is contributing from its own possibilities and competencies.

EP. Finally, what would you tell the population to join this great challenge?

MR. In a fundamental way we ask you to be aware, to join efforts among all of us to improve the conditions of the reserve. Sama is everyone's task and it is our source of life.

The importance of the Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve

It covers part of the territory of six municipalities: Yunchará, El Puente, Tarija, Uriondo, Padcaya, and San Lorenzo. It has six watersheds of great importance for the region, one of which is the Guadalquivir watershed, which provides water to the population of Tarija and communities in its area of influence, this "source of water for the Central Valley of Tarija" is considered one of the protected area's conservation targets. The reserve is also a Ramsar site - one of the most important wetlands in Bolivia - and is home to a diversity of flora (254 species) and fauna (more than 180 species).

In an area adjacent to the Sama Reserve (western sector) is the most important aquifer recharge area of the Central Valley of Tarija in the Tolomosa area, which is made up of two basins (the upper part is in the Sama Reserve) that converge in the Guadalquivir River: the Tolomosa and La Vitoria basins, the first of which is a source of water for irrigation and electricity production. The second provides 33% of the drinking water for the city of Tarija and in the rainy season covers up to 70% of the water demand. Between the two reserves, there is a degree of integration between protected areas and different degrees of protection for the water factory area.

One of the most important threats to the protected area are fires. Records from the year 2000 indicate that fires occur in 31 of the 39 communities located within the area and in the reserve's area of influence. The reserve's population (13,935 inhabitants) is dedicated to livestock (llamas and subsistence agriculture).

Note written by: Danitza Pamela Montaño T