Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to identify causes and solutions proposed by the most legitimate environmental narrative for the shared problem of Jaguar population decrease in the Brazilain Atlantic Forest, and put them in relation to the convivial conservation approach.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims at recoignizing the main issues at stake in Jaguar conservation and population decrease in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest (AF), one of the most biodiverse and fragmented ecosystems in the world. Numbers of Jaguars in the AF continue to decline and specialists estimate around 250 mature living adults in the whole biome (Galetti et al. 2013). This critical situation gathered a complex network of scientists, NGOs and public institutions working towards saving the remaining Jaguars and recognizing priority areas for protection, population supplementation and reintroduction. Over the past decade efforts have been made in field work and modeling to recognize spatial possibilities for population recovery (Ferraz et al. 2012), e.g., the identification of Jaguar Conservation Units (JCU) (Paviolo et al. 2016). We focus on two out of three JCUs contrasting an area where jaguar populations have been showing signs of recovery with another where there is no sign of recovery, respectively, the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu (PNI) and the Serra do Mar Biodiversity Corridor (SMBC). In this context, our objetive is to identify causes and solutions proposed by the most legitimate environmental narrative for the shared problem of Jaguar population decrease in the AF, and put them in relation to the suggested convivial conservation approach. We depart from the colective stakeholder mapping exercise held by people working in conservation efforts in both study sites and historical data on Jaguar conservation in the AF to recognize the contours and length of the ‘jaguar conservation network’. We then move on to present the main issues at stake in this network in it’s homogeneity and plurality, following the statements of their participants. Finally we compare the visions and missions for Jaguar conservation in the AF with key aspects of the convivial conservation approach and possibilities for outscaling.