will be the 81st Party to CMS on 1 March 2003. The country is located
in Central South America, southwest of Brazil sharing a common border
of 3,400 km with South America's largest state. Its neighbouring countries
Peru, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Peru are already CMS Parties. With
Bolivia joining CMS, regional co-operation and cross-border activities
will gain further impetus. Bolivia is already Party to the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), The Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
- Its climate varies with altitude: humid and tropical to cold and
semiarid. The rugged Andes Mountains, with the Nevado Sajama as their
highest point exceeding more than 6,000m and a highland plateau (Altiplano)
dominate Bolivia's territory, alternating with hills and lowland plains
of the Amazon Basin. On its western border, Bolivia shares Lago Titicaca,
the world's highest navigable lake, with Peru.
- Pantanal, South America's largest freshwater area is one of the most
important wetlands both at the ecoregional and world level due to its
excellent state of conservation. It is also the watershed for trinational
wetland, which also encompasses Brazil and Paraguay. The wetlands are
linked to the Amazon basin, forming a biological and genetic corridor.
The Bolivian Pantanal is a priority ecoregion within the larger Pantanal
system covering millions of square miles of central-western Brazil,
eastern Bolivia, and eastern Paraguay. A landscape of lakes, lagoons,
rivers, flooded savannas, palms and dry forests, the Bolivian Pantanal
regulates floods and droughts in a large area of Eastern Bolivia. Its
extremely rich biodiversity harbours nearly 200 species of fish, more
than 70 species of amphibians and reptiles, more than 300 species of
birds, and more than 50 species of large mammals.
- About 8 species listed on CMS Appendix I occur in Bolivia. Various
hawks and flamingo species and also river dolphins are included with
others in Appendix II. Of particular concern to CMSare two species of
river dolphins, the Amazone river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis)
and the Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), two species of flamingos,
the Andean flamingo (Phoenicopterus andinus) and the Puna flamingo (Phoenicopterus
jamesi) as well as three passerine species: the Bearded Tachuri
(Polystictus pectoralis pectoralis), the Dark-throated seedeater
(Sporophila ruficollis) and Dinelli's Doradito (Pseudocolopteryx
dinellianus). The Seventh Conference of the Parties has recommended
these bird species for Cooperative Action. The Andean condor, a symbol
in several countries in South America, sitting on top of Bolivia's national
emblem, is also included CMS Appendix II.