Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Bolivia
Type	Natural
Criteria	ix, x
Reference	967
Region**	Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription	2000  (24th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location:	Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia
Area:	15,234 km²
Established:	June 28, 1979

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is a national park in the northeastern portion of the Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia, on the border with Brazil.

The park was created on June 28, 1979. Its original name was Parque Nacional Huanchaca, but it was changed to honor the late Professor Noel Kempff Mercado for his research and discoveries in the park.

Despite its natural beauty, lack of pollution, and isolation, the park still faces several threats, including:

• Turtle hunting
• Fishing
• Industrialized forest fires
• Illegal forest exploitation
• Drug trafficking
• Financing its projects

Geography

The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park spans 5,880 square miles (15,234 km²) in northeastern Bolivia, in one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Bolivia is known for its diversity in climate, fauna, and flora. In the area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra the weather is very humid and warm. The normal temperature is between 25 and 29°C. The rainfall is annually roughly 1,500 mm. This area, near the border of Brazil, has a lot of rainforest and tropical animals.

The site contains an array of habitat types including evergreen rainforests, palm forests, cerrado, swamps, savannas, gallery forests, and semi-deciduous dry forests. The cerrado habitats found on the Huanchaca Meseta have been isolated for millions of years and thus contain a high diversity of plant and animal species, including viable populations of many globally threatened large vertebrates.

Flora

It is estimated that the park has approximately 4,000 species of vascular plants. There exist diverse types of bromelias, passifloras, heliconias, aráceas, and palm trees. There are also important types of wood like the "Mara." The area includes five important ecosystems ranging from Amazonian rainforest, gallery forest and semi-deciduous tropical forest to flooded savanna and dry cerrado.

The 80m Cataratas Arcoiris in the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

Fauna

The park is home to more than 130 species of mammals, (including rare river otters, river dolphins, tapirs, spider and howler monkeys, the giant armadillo, giant anteaters and endangered jaguars, including a population of black jaguars), 620 species of birds (including 9 species of macaw, possibly the highest number of species in any one protected area), and 70 species of reptiles, including black caiman and snakes.

There are also more than 617 species of birds (20 percent of the all bird species in South America). Recent studies say that these numbers would increase if migratory birds were included.

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park seen from Spot Satellite

The park has 347 species of insects, including some of the rarest in the world, many of which have not yet been studied. Butterflies in a range of colors can be found.

Principal goals

The general objective of the park's formation is to protect this natural area of great diversity that has not been industrialized and is not polluted.

Specific goals are to:

• Guarantee protection of the ecosystems
• Foster scientific research
• Allow visitors to enjoy its natural beauty
• Help local residents to improve their lifestyle

Looking to the future

Through a unique partnership, the government of Bolivia, the Friends of Nature Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and three energy companies (American Electric Power, PacifiCorp, and BP Amoco) have teamed up to jointly implement the $11 million Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project—the largest forest-based carbon project in the world.

External links

• Official UNESCO website entry
• Climate Action Program
• World Conservation Monitoring Centre
• Short amateur video of waterfall Arco Iris in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
• Short amateur video of waterfall Ahlfeld in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

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