Gonzalo Cardona Molina
ProAves – Tolima, Colombia
Gonzalo Cardona Molina (1966-2021) dedicated more than two decades of his life to the protection of the endangered species, the Yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis). Since 1998, he worked at the “Reserva ProAves Loros Andinos” in the central mountain region of Colombia. He was the first environmental leader killed in 2021 in Colombia.
Better known as Gonza, he began with ProAves at its founding, serving as the first forest guard for the organization. His mission for two decades was to help the species flourish. Gonza championed the birds, and took on the risk of his life’s work with passion and vigor.
The only remaining population of Yellow-eared Parrots make their home in an area of the Andes where safety can be a concern. There in the humid montane forest, the parrots find their essential nesting sites in the Endangered Quindío Wax Palm. But the palm is logged for its strong wood and the local landscape has been degraded by cattle grazing and unsustainable agriculture and aquaculture. The birds themselves are targeted by hunters for food or sale into the illegal pet trade. Only 81 individuals were left and struggling to survive when Gonza took on the charge of their protection. He lived and loved his work for two decades, including organizing massive wax palm replanting efforts and creating a silvopasture plan that has helped protect wildlife while benefiting people in the area for 17 years. His two decades of selfless dedication to saving this iconic species of Colombia is a triumph. In December 2020, Gonza completed a national census of the Yellow-eared Parrot population, counting 2,895 individuals.
Although they eat a variety of buds, seeds and fruits from palms, trees and ferns, yellow-eared parrots are heavily dependent on the fruits of wax palms. Because of this parrot’s strong relationship with wax palms, Mr Cardona also became an expert on the regeneration of the Quindío wax palm, Ceroxylon quindiuense.
Other conservation efforts focus mainly on yellow-eared parrots, particularly local education efforts that include media campaigns, festivals, ecological workshops, and even a brightly painted “parrot bus” — a mobile classroom that visits hundreds of schools around the country, spreading the message of parrot conservation to more than 150,000 children.
These multifaceted and imaginative conservation efforts also helped inspire the establishment of a Threatened Parrot Corridor that spans both slopes of the Central Andes in 2009. This Corridor was the result of collaborative efforts by ProAves Colombia, Fundación Loro Parque, the American Bird Conservancy, and the Rainforest Trust along with matching funds provided by Frank Friedrich Kling, a Chicago-based philanthropist. The Corridor encompasses more than 18,000 acres of key habitat for the yellow-eared parrot as well as four other endangered parrot species that are in imminent danger of extinction. The Corridor conserves other endangered wildlife, especially the mountain wooly tapir and the spectacled bear, which are frequent targets of poachers. Additionally, the Corridor protects four major watersheds that provide fresh water to thousands of people.
The Threatened Parrot Corridor is managed by Fundación ProAves, which is the leading conservation organization in Colombia.
Gonza gave people hope. He made Colombians proud of their natural treasures, just as the adventurous team at Expedicion BIO from the Humboldt Institute is reclaiming this heritage and giving the country a path forward in conservation and ecotourism.
“There would be no Yellow-eared Parrots without him. Gonza planted a new forest that will someday become habitat for the species that he protected.” -Sara Ines Lara, Women for Conservation’s Founder and ProAves Foundation’s current Executive Director.
Website: ProAves
Video 1) Introduction (Spanish with CC)
Video 2) Gonza’s Legacy
