Erika Cuéllar Soto (born in

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

, 1978), is a Bolivian biologist recognized as the guardian of the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...

region of South America, where she has worked to promote and conserve this ecosystem that covers regions of Bolivia,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. A fundamental axis of her activism is the training of local community members in the conservation of their territory as well as the training of parabiologists to be guardians of nature. She has been named a

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

explorer.

Life and work

Cuéllar graduated in biology from the

Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University The Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University (Spanish: ''Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno'') is a university in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. It was created by supreme decree of December 15, 1879. The first rector was Bishop Juan ...

and then obtained a master's degree in

Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

Conservation from the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

in England. She earned a PhD in

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Cuéllar's work focuses mainly on the conservation and sustainable protection of the Gran Chaco, she is coordinator of the Species Survival Committee of the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

. A fundamental part of her work consists of training parabiologists, that is, making communities and the local population participate in caring for their environment through comprehensive training so that they can be researchers and custodians of natural resources. In this regard, she has said: “I would like the local people, who know so much about nature, because they were born and lived in it, to stop being (considered) simply cheap labor.” Sekeetamys calurus

She has worked prominently for the protection of juvenile and adult

guanacos The guanaco ( ; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The gua ...

. Thanks to Cuéllar's efforts, their hunting has become prohibited, the repopulation of genetically isolated herds is being explored and attempts are being made to recover their habitat, which had been invaded by free-range cattle and invasive plants. According to Arrazola, Cuéllar's impact continues,

Erika Cuéllar's innovative solutions and great passion bring new hope to wildlife. She trains villagers in the Gran Chaco to be practical conservation managers and parabiologists. Communities nominate participants for the 800-hour course that ranges from basic biology, mathematics, and other sciences to map production, computer and GPS use, research project design, data collection, and presentation of results. Those who pass the final exam take their professional skills to the forests, wetlands and rangelands. They make bird and mammal census reports, display and analyze data from cameras and radio tracking devices.

In 2016, Cuéllar was part of the team that made the first recorded sightings of the Sekeetamys calurus rodent (Bushy-tailed Jird) in the territory of southern

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, in western Asia.

Selected awards

* National Geographic Explorer, 2013 * Character of the year, science category,

El Deber ''El Deber'' (Literally in English: "Duty") is a newspaper published in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features ...

, 2012 *

Rolex Award Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

for Enterprise, 2012 * Whitley Award in the category Human Rights and Conservation, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuellar, Erika 1978 births Living people Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of the University of Oxford Bolivian biologists Bolivian women Bolivian women scientists 21st-century Bolivian women 21st-century Bolivian biologists Conservationists Women environmentalists Women biologists