south america

Description and geographic extent: This continent has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometres or almost 3.5% of the Earth's surface. Most of the continent is in the Southern Hemisphere and three-fourths of South America lie within the tropics. Waterbird planning regions have not yet been identified for South America, such as for North America in the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan. Political Units: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Plans, Implementation and Resources

National Waterbird Reports. Summaries of the state of knowledge relevant to waterbird conservation in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America (e.g., species occurrence, status, habitats and protected areas, threats, conservation projects, legislation) are available thanks to a multi-year Neotropical Waterbird Conservation project coordinated by BirdLife International on behalf of the Waterbird Conservation Council and with funding from the U.S. Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act and numerous partners.

Some key findings from the synthesis of South American national reports (still in preparation):
Note: in this context, waterbirds has a broad definition, including seabirds, coastal waterbirds, wading birds, marshbirds, waterfowl (ducks, geese and swans) and shorebirds.

417 species of waterbird have been recorded in South America

Project Contact details:

Cristina Morales
Species Programme Manager
Guyra Paraguay (BirdLife in Paraguay)

Dr Rob Clay
Conservation Manager
Americas Division
BirdLife International

Additional Contacts for the Waterbird Conservation for the Americas initiative in South America (members of the Waterbird Conservation Council):

Ian Davidson
BirdLife International
Quito, ECUADOR

Francisco Rilla
UNEP/CMS Secretariat
Bonn, GERMANY

Alberto Yanosky
Guyra Paraguay
Asunción, PARAGUAY