The Gran Sabana, Canaima National Park and World Heritage Site
(Photo: Iokiñe Rodríguez)

Venezuela has a relatively good conservation record. In 1976 it established the first Ministry of the Environment in Latin America and has since established a complex legal framework for environmental management. It has one of the most extensive protected area systems in the western hemisphere with nearly half of national territory under some kind of protection and over 16% in strict protected areas (IUCN management categories I-III). Most of the countries’ birds are therefore found within at least one protected area. Of course, real protection is often inadequate or entirely lacking (see for example, http://www.parkswatch.org/Venezuela/VenezPAlist.shtml).

Information on the conservation status of Venezuela’s birds can be found in Rodríguez and Rojas-Suárez’ Libro Rojo de la Fauna Venezolana (PROVITA andFundación Polar, 1999) and Birdlife International’s Threatened Birds of the World (Lynx Edicions and Birdlife International, 2000).