Usar p⁄gs xvii-134 - ResearchGate

Key FindingsVenezuela is still home to large tracts of intact forest, which offer tremendous opportunity for conservationand sustainable development.•Approximately half of the country is forested, and most of the forests can be found south ofthe Orinoco River in the Guayana region.•Approximately one fifth to one third of the country’s forest land is protected for conservationpurposes.•Forest ecosystems of the Guayana region are home for much of the country’s wildlife andother non-timber forest species, which help sustain the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.Forests of the Guayana region are at risk from logging, mining, agriculture, and population pressures.•Colonization of the forest by small-scale farmers and miners represents the greatest pressureon forest ecosystems of the Guayana region.•Population pressures and conflicts in land use create the potential for forest loss. Logging,mining, agricultural communities, and indigenous settlements overlap throughout BolívarState, and especially in the Imataca Forest Reserve.•Current logging and mining practices promote forest degradation and, where populationpressures are high, facilitate deforestation in the Guayana region.•The legal status is unclear for half of the area protected for conservation purposes in theGuayana region. This lack of clarity results from overlaps between protected areas withconflicting objectives and uncertainty regarding protected area boundaries established inofficial documents.Basic data on Venezuela’s forest ecosystems are out-of-date or incomplete. Key forest ecosystemsmay disappear before scientists have an opportunity to study them.•Venezuela has not conducted any forest inventories and the most recent publicly availablevegetation map at a national scale was produced in 1983.•Official records do not accurately identify the location or ownership of mining concessions.The most recent database is over five years old.•Venezuela lacks basic cartographic data, especially for the Guayana region, where accurateand complete topographic maps are not publicly available.xvi