The Action Plan for South American River Dolphins 2010 – 2020

River dolphins inhabit third world countries (in South America and Asia), where large and often poor populations of people live by rivers and lakes, and share the same habitat Solutions to problems faced by river dolphins also need to address the needs of local people to survive and thrive in the same environment.

The South American Action Plan for River Dolphins 2010 – 2020

In 2008, WDCS supported an important South American regional river dolphin workshop which took place in Bolivia. The workshop brought together conservation biologists, educators, researchers and some policy makers working on river dolphin issues from all range states. The workshop has resulted in a regional action plan for river dolphin conservation. Follow up work is now being done to develop national river dolphin action plans for each country, to express in more detail actions and measures needed to protect river dolphins locally.

The Action Plan was published in July of 2010 and has been presented at international meetings in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia. It is widely available in both pdf and hard copy in Spanish and English. The Action Plan is available for download on the WDCS website (beware it is 250 pages long)



The Action Plan for River Dolphins explores the conservation issues facing river dolphins throughout South America. Recommendations are made and priorities identified to better understand and address these problems and ensure the future survival of the dolphins in healthy environments.

The objectives of the action plan follow five strategic lines:

• Scientific Research Contributing Towards Conservation such as population studies, taxonomy and habitat degradation measurement
• Legislation and Policy - Improvement on existing protection laws in all countries
• Communications - Improve dissemination of information between researchers, general public and media
• Administration and Institutional Strengthening - Improve management and administration in all countries, particularly concerning financial resources
• Education and Community Participation - Improve environmental education programs and involve local communities in all stages of action plan

Throughout the region the most urgent threats to river dolphins are hunting for fish bait and accidental deaths in fishing nets (negative interactions with fisheries), impact of gold mining and dam construction.

WDCS is now working with individuals and NGOs in South America to implement the recommendations in the Action Plan. This work requires a considerable amount of financial support and we are looking at ways to raise the funding we need to progress and fund vital conservation work in South American Countries.

What is WDCS doing to save river dolphins?
?For some 20 years, WDCS has continuously supported river dolphin conservation projects and initiatives partnering people and NGOs working in their own countries in South America and Asia.

Following the catastrophic extinction of the baiji, WDCS is redoubling efforts to prevent the worlds surviving river dolphins following the baiji down the road to extinction. Essentially WDCS needs to work hard to secure funding for this area of work which is a huge commitment of our staff resources. The implementation of conservation work to address threats to river dolphins and their habitats clearly needs to take place in developing countries of South America and Asia where funding for wildlife conservation is just not available. We need to raise money in Europe and other northern hemisphere countries.

WDCS has already had some fundraising success and we are already working with a number of NGOs and conservation biologists to support river dolphin conservation projects in Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil.