Legal status, utilisation, management and conservation of the jaguar in South America

Abstract

The jaguar Panthera onca is widely distributed throughout South America with itsstronghold in the Amazon. It is protected by law in all countries, but some countrieshave legal loopholes and all lack a strict enforcement of the laws in place. Jaguarkilling is common, even in strictly protected areas, but detailed records are lacking.Jaguars have been historically hunted for their pelts, however, inclusion of the speciesin the CITES Appendix I proved effective to curtail the spotted cat trade in the 1960sand 70s. Over the last few decades, there exists little information on jaguar huntingfor trade, but recently reports have surfaced showing increased illegal trafficking ofbody parts with evidence of domestic and Asiatic demand. Conservation of jaguarsin South America has been relatively well-informed by research data. National parksand indigenous lands have been and still are the cornerstones for jaguar conservationthroughout the continent, but are hampered, with a few exceptions, by underfunding,understaffing and a lack of governance and political will. Financing the operationof national parks and protected areas, while securing rights of indigenous landsshould be a priority for funding agencies, especially in areas where most jaguarpopulations are restricted to protected areas like Argentina and south-eastern Brazil.In countries where jaguars are still widespread efforts should also be directedtoward unprotected areas where threats like habitat loss and killing are higher. Therethe biggest management challenge is upscaling conflict prevention and mitigationmeasures. The Jaguar 2030 Roadmap marks a milestone for the species, aiming tojoin range governments, NGOs and private partners to advance conservation actionfor jaguars, but getting the initiative off the ground is the current challenge. It isnoteworthy to highlight the importance and need for transboundary cooperation andaction, especially among the trans-frontier population hotspots. The new, or emergingthreats like jaguar part smuggling and man-made fires need extra attention and actionto be curtailed. If jaguar conservation is to be effective despite increasing threats, itneeds to be streamlined from high level agreements through scalable effects on theground, combining protected areas, corridors, and local people buy-in.