Wildlife reserve created along Bolivia’s Iténez River with aid from rainforest trust

American NGO Rainforest Trust has aided in the creation of a 715,000-acre wildlife reserve in Bolivia along the Iténez River, considered by scientists to be a “link of life.”

The 780-mile-long waterway, which forms much of the northeast border between Bolivia and Brazil, is home to jaguars, Amazon River dolphins, giant otters, lowland tapirs, black caimans and more than 260 species of fish, 25 of which are found nowhere else.

The protections are enshrined within the Agua Dulce Municipal Wildlife Reserve, created through local legislation. The reserve secures a key ecological corridor linking protected areas in both countries, including Noel Kempff Mercado National Park and Iténez Departmental Park in Bolivia and Corumbiara State Park and Pedras Negras Extractive Reserve in Brazil.

Led by Bolivian NGO Faunagua with technical and financial support from Rainforest Trust, the reserve encompasses Amazonian forests, floodplains, pampas and riparian ecosystems. Its management plan, crafted with local communities, is built on three pillars: wildlife protection, maintenance of ecosystem services, and sustainable extraction opportunities for the local economy.

The announcement also marks a milestone for Rainforest Trust, which says its work has now directly supported protection of 70 million acres of rainforest globally, with 10 million acres added in just the last eight months.

“Protecting 10 million additional acres in just seven months shows what is possible when we match the urgency of the biodiversity crisis with ambition and strong local partnerships,” said James Deutsch, CEO of Rainforest Trust.