Bolivia is a country with a great biodiversity. This is not only a privilege, but also a responsibility. Bolivia has about 22 protected areas that, according to the Ministry of Environment and Water, are having positive results. However, the difficulties that these areas have are the logistic limitations and the lack of workers for the entire area. But, even though we have those protected areas, we also have many endangered wild species.

The Bolivian Network of Environmental Volunteers is a national network of volunteers that works on projects and campaigns to protect the environment and biodiversity in Bolivia. According to a report of the mentioned network, there are about 68 endangered wild species in Bolivia. However there are three species that are in a critical situation, their names (in Spanish) are: paraba de barba azul, cóndor andino and peta (tortuga) gigante. The main causes of that situation are the expansion of agriculture, human activity and hunting.

One of the ways that the Ministry of Environment and Water is proposing to stop illegal hunting and trafficking of species is to add to the Penal Code another crime ?faunicidio? in Spanish. Personally, I think that it is important to have laws that protect our environment and biodiversity, but actions have more impact, so to include another crime to the Penal Code could be important, but concrete actions will help us stop the extinction of those animals.

So, how we as youth can contribute to protect endangered species? I was trying to find out concrete actions undertaken by youth organizations in Bolivia to protect endangered species. What I found was information about campaigns to raise awareness among people about those animals, which I think is vital to stop illegal hunting and to raise a common conscience of protection to the environment and species. However, I think that capacity building is very important in order to make youth organizations capable of starting other kind of actions, which is something I decided to work on, capacity building for youth organizations, volunteers and activists.