Wild Spaces Programme

Zoos & Aquariums Protecting the Wild

Zoos and aquariums play a vital role in the conservation of biodiversity by raising awareness of conservation issues to their visitors, maintaining collections of endangered species and supporting in situ conservation.

The World Land Trust’s Wild Spaces Programme offers zoos, aquariums and their associations an opportunity to help save wildlife in the wild.  

The BIAZA Reserve, Brazil

The  BIAZA Reserve Project in Brazil is an exciting collaboration between the World Land Trust and the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), who are working together to urgently raise £260,000 in funds through BIAZA members and their visitors. This amount will enable the World Land Trust (WLT), together with the Trust's project partners REGUA in Brazil, to purchase and protect a strategically-placed parcel of land in the critically-threatened Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest or Mata Atlântica. With only 7% of the original forest remaining, preventing the loss of what remains is an absolute priority.

The funding will enable the purchase of about 1,700 acres of Atlantic Rainforest strategically-situated next to the 17,000 acre Guapi Assu Reserve already protected and managed by REGUA. This species-rich area will be named the BIAZA Reserve.

The Atlantic Forest is extremely diverse in wildlife. Here, a Brown-throated three-toed sloth at REGUA. Photo © Alan Martin.

The Atlantic Forest - biodiversity 'hotspot'

The Atlantic Rainforest or Mata Atlântica is a major 'biodiversity hotspot' and one of the most ecologically important eco-regions in the world. It is a unique ecosystem with high biodiversity and extremely high levels of endemism, home to over 20,000 plant species, 40% are endemic, with over 50% of tree species unique to the area.

Of the 260 mammal species found there, 70 are endemic, including the Maned Sloth, the Thin-spined Porcupine, 4 species of Lion Tamarins, and two species of Muriquis (Woolly Spider Monkeys).

There are over 930 bird species of which 144 species are endemic, including the endangered Red-billed Curassow, which is being reintroduced into the REGUA Reserve. It is also a critically-important area for amphibians and several endemic species of reptile.

The massive destruction of this "Global Hotspot for Biodiversity" has been described as "one of the biological tragedies of this century" by Sir Ghillean Prance (FRS, former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and leading expert on South American rainforest conservation).

Much of the Atlantic Forest has been lost through the spread of agriculture. The BIAZA Reserve will help ensure the permanent protection of some of the remaining forest.

More information for Zoos

For more information about the Wild Spaces Programme and ways in which WLT can help you develop and achieve your conservation targets, please contact us.

More information on the Wild Spaces Programme

• Zoos supporting the BIAZA Reserve
• Learn more about the BIAZA Reserve on the BIAZA website
• Learn more about the species protected at Guapi Assu on the REGUA website
• Zoos supporting the Wild Spaces Programme
• Wild Spaces press release
• Zoo help save threatened rainforest press release
• BIAZA Reserve project brief (304KB) (opens in new window)
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