Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Venezuela

Priorities for Coastal and Marine Conservation in South America Edited by Anthony Chatwin Table of Contents Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Editor’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Chapter 1: South American Marine Conservation Priorities: an Ecoregional Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 2: Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Chapter 3: Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Chapter 4: Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter 5: Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Ecuador. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Chapter 6: Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chapter 7: Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Venezuela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Appendices Appendix A: The Nature Conservancy’s Marine Ecoregional Assessments Methodology in South America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Appendix B: South American Marine Threats Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Maps: Map 1: South America Marine Ecoregions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii Map 2: Urban Development Threat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Map 3: Fisheries Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Map 4: Hydrocarbon Industry Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Map 5: Aquaculture Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Map 6: Maritime Transportation Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Map 7: Combined Index Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Map 8: Current Levels of Coastal and Marine Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Map 9: Additional Levels of Coastal and Marine Protection of Proposed New Protected Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Map 10: Brazil’s Coastal and Marine Priority Areas for Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Map 11: Chile’s Coastal and Marine Proposed Priority Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Map 12: Colombia’s Coastal and Marine Priority Areas for Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Map 13: Ecuador’s Coastal and Marine Priority Areas for Conservation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Map 14: Peru’s Coastal and Marine Protected Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Map 15: Venezuela’s Coastal and Marine Priority Areas for Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . 48 iv PRIORITIES FOR M A R I N E C O N S E R VAT I O N IN SOUTH AMERICA viii PRIORITIES FOR M A R I N E C O N S E R VAT I O N IN SOUTH AMERICA Ve 48 PRIORITIES FOR M A R I N E C O N S E R VAT I O N IN SOUTH AMERICA C H A P T E R 7 Coastal and Marine Conservation Priorities in Venezuela E. Klein, D. Sánchez, L. Malavé, J. Posada, G. Papadakis, R. Lazo, A. Chatwin, M. Guevara, J.C. González, R. Martínez, C. Villalba, E. Yerena, H. Guada, J.J. Cruz, M. Rada, C. Bastidas, and A. Ramos 7.1 Introduction Venezuela is considered one of the top 10 most megadiverse countries in the world, and an important reservoir of Caribbean marine biodiversity. Caribbean marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests that provide a strategic source of food, medicinal goods and tourism, are all found within Venezuela’s extensive coastal zone, territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In addition, the Venezuelan coast is the site of one of the most important pelagic fish populations with an annual catch of approximately 200,000 tonnes. Those populations are also the base of the trophic system, which represents an important component of marine biodiversity (marine mammals, sea birds and other predators). logical, or strategic importance) in the Venezuelan Caribbean Sea, with special emphasis on the sites of potential interest to the oil and gas industry. The second objective was to identify best practices for the hydrocarbon industry, and it focused on avoiding impacts on fragile ecosystems or minimizing the impact on biodiversity and priority sites identified under the first objective. Under the auspices of conservation and sustainable development of the offshore oil and gas industry, the third objective was to develop conservation guidelines and policies to be incorporated in the bidding documents and contracts awarded to companies, thereby compelling them to avoid or minimize the impact of their development activities and propose general conservation activities. As a result, the project not only identified the current conservation status, the sensitivity, and the vulnerability of marine ecosystems in Venezuela, but it also established a set of priority areas for the conservation of coastal and marine biodiversity along that country’s Caribbean coast. With investments in all major oil and gas industry activities – from exploration and production to refining and shipping – Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) factors heavily in Venezuela’s standing as the fifth-largest oil exporter and seventh-largest oil producer in the world. PDVSA has identified the development of the offshore oil and gas reserves as an important component of its strategic plans. In anticipation of the planned development, and in recognition of the potential risks to Venezuela’s marine biodiversity, PDVSA has undertaken an ecologically and strategically important initiative to identify priority areas for the conservation of marine biodiversity. This exercise is an effort to seek a territorial zoning scheme for offshore oil and gas exploitation activities. The implementation of the proposed strategies and the monitoring of conservation targets based on the provided ecological indicators could avoid irreversible damages to marine biodiversity and help mitigate unavoidable impacts. The study (Selecting Priority Areas for the Conservation of Caribbean’s Marine Biodiversity: the face of near-term offshore gas exploitation), developed by Intecmar from the Universidad Simón Bolívar with the technical support of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and financed by PDVSA) had 3 main objectives which were all successfully met. The first, and most relevant to the current publication, was to identify priorities for the conservation of biological diversity (including fragile ecosystems, threatened or endangered plant and animal species, rare species, species of economic, eco- The coastal domain of Venezuela hosts 61% of the country’s population—the largest population concentration in a coastal area in the Caribbean. It also has the greatest volume of shipping traffic, and one of the largest annual fish catches in the region. The economies of the coastal and marine areas are dominated by tourism, fisheries and hydrocarbon extraction. The value of fish exports was US $153 million in 2000 and the sector gave employment to 44,302 people. In 2001, Venezuela exported 114 million metric tonnes of oil (up from 69 million in C OAS TA L AND M A R I N E C O N S E R VAT I O N P R I O R I T I E S IN VENEZUELA 49 1990). Hydrocarbon extraction, processing, and transshipment, which already occurs at a large scale in a number of regions, is due to undergo significant expansion in the next few years with the opening up of new gas fields in the northeastern and northwestern areas of the country, including the Gulf of Paria, the Gulf of Venezuela, and areas offshore of the Orinoco Delta which combined are thought to hold 80% of the estimated natural gas reserves of Venezuela. There are four governmental institutions which have responsibility over the marine environment: • • • • The Ministry of Environment (MINAMB), Venezuela’s highest environmental authority, is responsible for environmental regulation and policy, supervision of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes, and coordination of territorial land use planning. The National Parks Institute (INPARQUES) is an autonomous institute supervised by the Ministry of the Environment. Its mission is to manage Venezuela’s national parks and natural monuments and to foster their sustainable use for research activities, recreation, environmental education and ecotourism. The National Institute for Aquatic Spaces (INEA), a dependency of the Ministry of Infrastructure, is responsible for planning, organizing and controlling shipping, waterborne transport and recreation, fishing and tourist fleets, and for promoting scientific and technological research in the aquatic sector. The National Institute of Fisheries (INAPESCA) is responsible for fishery aquatic resources planning, sustainable use, and policy execution as dictated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Land. Venezuela ratified the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) on September 12, 1994 through promulgation of a Special Law (Official Gazette No. 4.780 Ext.) by which the country commits to develop strategies, plans and programs that aim to incorporate the conservation and the promotion of biodiversity and sustainable use into the planning and decision making processes. Venezuela has an important set of protected areas of national and regional importance for biodiversity conservation, which together cover 55.6% of the national territory. However, the Venezuelan government is still in the process of developing a public policy framework 50 PRIORITIES FOR M A R I N E C O N S E R VAT I O N IN and acquiring the technical instruments for the integral management of the National System of Protected Areas (NSPA). In marine environments, Venezuela has already declared 13 national parks and 4 natural monuments (UICN II and III) which together represent 4.3% of the national territory. The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2001) (NBSAP) recognizes the coastal-marine ecosystems as threatened due to the high population concentration in the central northern coast of the country. It also recognizes the importance of scientific and technological development as a critical component of the national strategy for conservation of ecosystems and species. 7.2 Priority Areas for Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Conservation in Venezuela The identification of priority areas for the conservation of coastal and marine biodiversity followed the ecoregional assessment methodology developed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and implemented in this case by the Institute of Marine Science and Technology (INTECMAR) of Simón Bolivar University with the technical support of TNC. The methodology has been implemented in planning processes in 7 other nations in South America, as well as many other places around the world, but the direct interaction with regional offshore gas exploitation to generate specific products for the oil industry has not been attempted before in this region. Through a series of workshops over a period of 2 years, more than 50 coastal and marine experts representing 18 academic, governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in the country’s environmental issues, as well as environmental managers from oil and gas companies interested in the development of offshore oil and gas, contributed to the development of the coastal and marine conservation portfolio of priority sites for conservation (see Map 15). The expert-validated portfolio includes 20 individual sites that represent more than 37% of Venezuela’s Caribbean shallow maritime territory (<200 m of depth) and more than 20% of the study area. Priority sites comprise coastal environments, oceanic islands and deep water bottoms. From the government administrative structure, the Ministry of Environment is responsible for the implementation of conservation strategies, including the adoption of selected areas into the National System of Protected Areas. PDVSA, as SOUTH AMERICA owner of the project, is transferring all the information to the corresponding offices and promoting offshore environmental baseline studies derived from the Biodiversity Study results. Table 10:. Coastal and Marine Conservation Targets for Venezuela Marine Vertebrates - Fish Excluded 1 Bird Feeding Areas 2 Coastal Cayman 3 Ceteceans 4 Marine Bird Nesting Complexes 5 Manatees 6 Marine Turtles 7.3 Coastal and Marine Conservation Targets In a set of 4 workshops, interdisciplinary teams of experts identified a total of 20 biodiversity conservation targets in the various ecoregions of the Caribbean territory of Venezuela. Furthermore, given the richness of the archaeological resources found in the Venezuelan Caribbean, archaeologists and anthropologists also identified archaeological, paleontological and cultural conservation targets from the pre-Colombian, colonial and republican periods. Experts evaluated the present condition, vulnerability, and national and ecoregional rareness of the conservation targets. These evaluations were used to determine the conservation goals (See Table 11), which refers to the minimum area, in percentages, of the current distribution of each target to be represented in the set of priority areas for conservation. This project represents the first time that national conservation goals for coastal and marine biodiversity were established for Venezuela. Because of that, the Ministry of Environment will use this exercise as the basis for future designation of protected marine areas with an ecosystem- based approach. Communities Associated with Soft Bottom Ecosystems 7 Clay Cliffs 8 Mangroves 9 Subtidal Sandy Bottom 10 Coastal Lagoons 11 Sandy Beaches 12 Benthic Primary Producers Communities Associated with Hard Bottom Ecosystems 13 Coral Reefs 14 Deep Water Corals 15 Subtidal Hard Bottom 16 Inter-tidal Hard Bottom Fishery Resources and Biologically Productive Areas 17 Spawning Aggregations 18 Large Pelagic Fish Complexes 19 Small Pelagic Fish Complexes 20 Demersal Fish Species Table 11: Coastal and Marine Conservation Goals for Venezuela 30 30 60 30 30 60 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 100 30 60 30 30 30 30 100 100 30 100 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 100 100 30 30 30 30 30 60 60 30 30 30 30 60 30 30 30 30 30 C OAS TA L AND 30 30 30 30 60 60 30 100 30 60 60 60 30 30 30 30 30 100 30 100 30 30 30 60 30 30 30 30 30 30 60 30 30 Fosa Cariaco Tocuyo Paraguaná Golfete de Coro 30 100 Unare - Píritu 30 30 30 30 Costa Central 60 30 60 100 30 30 60 Golfo Triste Clay Cliffs Mangrove Forests Coral Reef Communities Deep Coral Communities Sand-mud Bottoms Communities Hard Bottoms Communities Coastal Lagoons Sandy Beaches Benthic Primary Producers Intertidal Rocky Shores Reproducing Fish Aggregations Demersal Species Minor Pelagic Fishes Major Pelagic Fishes Cetaceans Manatees Sea Turtles Coastal Cayman Bird Nesting Complexes Bird Feeding Areas Golfo de Venezuela CONSERVATION GOALS FOR COASTAL AND MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA Area Oceánica Metas_en 30 30 30 30 30 60 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 60 30 30 60 30 30 30 30 30 M A R I N E C O N S E R VAT I O N P R I O R I T I E S IN VENEZUELA 51 7.4 Key Threats to Coastal and Marine Biodiversity in Venezuela Experts were asked to identify the main key threats that affect each conservation target. These results were tabulated and grouped into the key threats to coastal and marine biodiversity of Venezuela. In order to map and quantify the identified hazards, and considering the scarcity of systematic data on the individually identified threats, it was necessary to aggregate them into 7 categories. Each of the hazards was evaluated using secondary information, such as population size and density, industrial vs. agricultural employment, location of solid waste facilities and water treatment plants, hydrological characteristics of seadraining rivers, etc. Relative importance of each threat was obtained from expert opinion using a Delphi consulting methodology. These 7 threats represented over 90% of the opinions and do reflect the current and planned economic development activities. Future hazards from offshore development were identified and systematized in an “activity - potential impact - best practices” matrix. The conceptual visualization of future gas field infrastructure was over layered with the selected priority sites in order to create “potential conflict” maps. Combining those maps with the known distribution of the conservation targets, their ecological key attributes, and ecological indicators, provided the essential tools for designing conservation strategies and monitoring guidelines in each site in order for each ecosystem and population to be preserved. 7.6 Information Needs and Monitoring The study—the first of its kind in Venezuela—provided for the location and coverage estimate of the conservation targets used in the analysis. However, due to the extent of the study area, this information is presented in a relatively coarse scale. It also lacks field verification in many locations and it is mainly ground-trusted by expert knowledge. The exercise provided not only information about the location of the conservation targets and conservation goals, but also the strategies that, at a national level, might be implemented in order to ensure the future conservation of those species or ecosystems. The study provided an easy-to-follow set of indicators that would allow any institution to measure biodiversity health, but the idea is that part of the mon- Figure 13: Key Threats to Venezuela's Coastal and Marine Environment Fishing Activity 11% Tourism 9% Maritime Transport 6% Coastal Development 14% Climate Change 5% Other 13% Resource Extraction 2% Pollution 18% Oil and Gas Activity 29% 52 PRIORITIES FOR Invasive Species 4% M A R I N E C O N S E R VAT I O N IN SOUTH AMERICA Aquaculture 2% Figure 14: Map of the Main Threats to Marine Biodiversity in the Venezuelan Caribbean itoring process will be led by oil companies with activities in those areas. In fact, in the course of ongoing offshore exploration, foreign companies and future associates of PDVSA in gas exploitation are committed by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Energy and Oil to implement an environmental baseline study aimed at fine-tuning the location of the conservations targets, and detailing the ecological attributes and indicators defined in this study. 7.8 Author Affiliation E. Klein, J. Posada, G. Papadakis, R. Lazo, C. Villalba, E. Yerena, J.J. Cruz, , C. Bastidas – Instituto de Tecnología y Ciencias Marinas INTECMAR, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela. Email: [email protected] D. Sánchez, L. Malavé – Petroleos de Venezuela, PDVSA CVP, Venezuela. Email: [email protected] A. Chatwin, M. Guevara, J.C. González, A. Ramos – The Nature Conservancy, Northern Tropical Andes Conservation Program, Cartagena, Colombia. Email: [email protected] R. Martínez – Instituto de Estudios Regionales y Urbanos IERU. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela H. Guada – WIDECAST - Wide Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, Venezuela Chapter 7.7 References Bevilacqua M, Cardenas L, Medina, Domingo. 2006. “Las Áreas Protegidas en Venezuela: Diagnóstico de su Condición para el Período 1993-2004.” ACOANA, Comité Venezolano UICN de Venezuela, Fundación Empresas Polar y Conservation International, Caracas, Venezuela. M. Rada – Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales. Estación de Investigaciones Marinas. Margarita, Venezuela Granizo T, Molina ME, Secaira E, Herrera B, Benítez S, Maldonado O, Libby M, Arroyo P, Ísola S and Castro M. 2006. “Manual de Planificación para la Conservación de Áreas, PCA.” The Nature Conservancy. Quito, Ecuador. \ Groves C, Valutis L, Vosick D, Neely B, Wheaton K, Touval J, & Runnels B. 2000. “Designing A Geography of Hope,” Second Edition. The Nature Conservancy MARN. 2000. “Primer Informe de Venezuela sobre Diversidad Biológica.” Caracas. 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