In September, the Community Association for the Marketing of Vicuña Fiber of Bolivia (ACOFIVB) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) signed a cooperation agreement to carry out joint actions towards ensuring the conservation and sustainable management of vicuña (Vicugna vicugna).
ACOFIVB is a community-based organization that represents 11 Regional Associations of Vicuña Managing Communities (ARCMV) in Bolivia and that brings together more than 100 Vicuña Managing Communities (CMV) in the departments of La Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Tarija and Cochabamba. Its main objective is to guarantee the conservation, control, management and sustainable use of vicuña, as well as the preservation of its habitat; and to ensure that benefits generated by its management return to the communities that manage and protect this wild species.
WCS has been supporting the sustainable management of vicuñas for more than a decade, providing technical assistance to vicuña managers to conduct censuses and health evaluations of wild populations, as well as promoting the application of good capture and shearing practices and the adequate management of the fiber.
The recently signed agreement will strengthen WCS’s collaboration with the associations; and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences of vicuña management, well-being and health. It will also strengthen the organizational and management capacities of the vicuña managers and will allow the development of management tools for the vicuña management communities (CMV), the Regional Associations (ARCMV) and the ACOFIVB association, within the framework of a conservation model for the species and its habitat that benefits vicuña managing communities in Bolivia.