Action Lines

-Education and Public Opinion

To stimulate an interest in the improvement of integrated environmental management in the people of Uruguay and to promote active participation in education, promotion, and sharing of experiences. We organize an annual cycle of courses, mini-courses, conferences, workshops and meetings on a variety of topics related to nature. We work together with private and public organizations from different departments to give courses in the interior of the country. The Environmental Education Commission has given dozens of presentations in public schools.

-Spreading the word and communication

Day trips and activities, a well stocked library, membership drives and sale of various articles.

-Research

Support the decision making process and policy formation in the environmental field and in resource management, based on scientific findings, generated and/or disseminated by VIDA SILVESTRE. Researchers affiliated with Vida Silvestre do plant and animal surveys as well as basic zoology and ecology studies. They regularly travel the country, thanks to the support of the organization, for field studies in order to obtain first hand information. With these studies we hope to make a small contribution towards filling the knowledge gaps which still exist in the field of biology, with the goal of assuring conservation of our native ecosystems. Research related to wild flora and fauna is presented at international meetings and published in scientific journals.

-COnservation and Management

Support conservation and sustainable development of ecosystems through the development of methodological tools, technical solutions and management models for protected areas, which help to reduce conflicts between natural resource use and conservation.

– Training and Institutional Strengthening

Contribute to technical staff training, for integrated resource management and nature conservation in Uruguay, both within and outside of protected areas, through courses and seminars.

–    Others
:.Publications

Two months after the creation of the NGO we began to edit the VIDA SILVESTRE newsletter, a publication for the organization´s members and other organizations. The newsletter has been published once every 2 months for more than 11 years.  In 1998 we began publishing the scientific journal ¨Relevamientos
de Biodiversidad¨ (Biodiversity Findings), financed by the governmental department responsible for renewable natural resources (Dirección General de Recursos Naturales Renovables) and distributed at the national level as a publication of Museum of Natural History. On July 5th 2000, the ¨Birding Guide to Montevideo¨, an identification guide with coloured pictures for first-time birders was released. The editing of this guide was financed by the Municipality of Montevideo and the Fondo Capital. More than 50 editions of our newsletter have been published, in addition to the Birding guide to Montevideo and a field guide to the mammals of Uruguay.

:.Policy Formation and Citizen Control

A follow up to the project on laws in protected areas was carried out. Contacts with the Environmental Commission of the Senate was kept and ideas as well as a document put together by VIDA SILVESTRE was presented as a contribution to the creation of locally applicable a law. The law was approved in February 2000, and we continued our work in order to achieve appropriate regulations. In the first semester of 2000, there was a strong movement for the preservation of the scientific collections in the Museum of Natural History, which are imperative for studying the biodiversity of our country. As a result of this campaign, the Ministry of Education and Culture took steps to improve the condition of the storage areas where the specimens were kept for an interim period. It is our hope that they will be moved to a better site.