Bolivia has spectacular natural scenery and astounding biodiversity, both of which are protected in its national parks, monuments, sanctuaries and biosphere reserves.
Understand
[edit]The country's natural resources are protected by the National Service of Protected Areas (SERNAP), a federal government agency that manages 22 protected areas, 13 of which are designated as national parks and 3 more that are designated as integrated natural areas and 6 that are designated as biosphere reserves.
Biosphere reserves
[edit]Bolivia designates six areas as biosphere reserves. Three of these are also designated as UNESCO Biosphere Reserves:
- 1 Pilón-Lajas Biosphere Reserve
— preserves an area of Yungas wilderness and protects lands of at least three indigenous cultures - 2 Ulla-Ulla Biosphere Reserve — (managed as the Apolobamba Integrated Management Natural Area) area of Andean wetlands that is home to condors, alpacas, vicuñas and indigenous communities
- 3 Beni Biological Station Biosphere Reserve — protects a region of mixed rain forest, savannah, and woodlands on the edge of the Amazon basin
Parks
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National parks in Bolivia
- 1 Madidi National Park — one of the world's most extensive biodiversity reserves. Its humid tropical climate has spawned one of Bolivia’s richest woodlands.
- 2 Sajama National Park — Bolivia's oldest national park preserves a dry highland ecosystem that is the traditional home of the Aymara indigenous group
- 3 Torotoro National Park — rugged landscape of canyons and ridges where paleontologists found 120 million-year-old dinosaur tracks and bone shards from the Cretacous period
- 4 Amboró National Park — one of the most biodiverse parks on Earth with more than 900 species of birds, more than 100 amphibian species, and more than 175 mammal species
- 5 Carrasco National Park — a mountainous landscape of rivers, waterfalls, tranquil valleys and deep canyons where more than 5,000 plant species thrive
- 6 Tunari National Park — home of Lake Warawara and rocky landscapes that flood every year
Tropical Lowlands
[edit]- 7 Gran Chaco Kaa-Iya National Park — dry tropical forest in the Chaco region
- 8 Noel Kempff Mercado National Park — remote park on the border with Brazil with remarkable biodiversity in several different ecoregions including tropical rainforests, savannah, wetlands, and dry forest
- 9 Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory — protects an area of the Yungas ecosystem and traditional homelands of the Tsimané, Yuracaré, and Mojeño-Trinitario Indigenous cultures of South America
See also
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