A new 715,000-acre reserve guards the Amazon river scientists call a 'link of life'

Along the Iténez River — 780 miles of water forming much of the border country of north-eastern Bolivia — jaguars, Amazon river dolphins, giant otters, lowland tapirs and black caimans move between protected areas on both banks. That corridor is now protected in law: the Agua Dulce Municipal Wildlife Reserve, created by local legislation and led by the Bolivian NGO Faunagua with support from Rainforest Trust, safeguards 715,000 acres of Amazon forest, floodplain and pampas, home to 260 fish species, 25 of them found nowhere else. The reserve also carries Rainforest Trust past a remarkable milestone: 70 million acres conserved worldwide, with 10 million of those acres added in just the last eight months. 'Protecting 10 million additional acres in just seven months shows what is possible when we match the urgency of the biodiversity crisis with ambition and strong local partnerships,' said its CEO, James Deutsch.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program