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Once vanishing from view in the dense Atlantic Forest, jaguars are again stalking the undergrowth of Iguaçu National Park in Brazil. Their comeback — numbers have more than doubled in the region since 2010 — is a rare success in the world of large carnivore conservation, reports Mongabay contributor Sarah Brown. The recovery owes much to an unusual alliance of biologists, bureaucrats, border-straddling NGOs and a crochet collective of local women.
The jaguar (Panthera onca) population in the Brazil-Argentina Green Corridor, a 185,000-hectare (457,000-acre) stretch of forest, had collapsed by the late 2000s. Habitat loss and retaliatory killings had reduced sightings to almost none. But cross-border collaboration — between Brazil’s Jaguars of Iguaçu Project and Argentina’s Proyecto Yaguareté — has helped the population grow to at least 105 individuals. It may still be isolated from other jaguar populations, but it is now stable and even cautiously expanding.
Such progress did not come from enforcement alone. Efforts have ranged from ecological monitoring and rapid-response conflict mitigation to educational programs in local schools and technical support for farmers losing livestock to predation. Crucially, outreach efforts have built trust. Landowners who once reached for rifles now call biologists.
A notable innovation is the Jaguar Crocheteers, a women-led artisan group supported by the conservation team. Based in communities bordering the park, they produce jaguar-themed crafts sold to tourists and used in awareness campaigns. For some, the income is substantial. For many, the emotional connection is transformative.
All of the members are “united by the jaguars,” said Claudiane Tavares, a project coordinator and participant.
Institutional backing has followed. Foz do Iguaçu’s airport became the first in Brazil to earn “Jaguar Friendly” certification. In 2024, the Paraná state government adopted a five-year jaguar action plan, outlining measures to improve habitat connectivity, curb hunting and roadkills and reduce conflict. The effort was catalyzed in part by public outcry in 2021 against plans to reopen a road through the park — plans now shelved.
Yet challenges remain. The region’s jaguars remain genetically isolated, and pressure on their habitat continues. Yara Barros, who leads Brazil’s conservation push, warns that long-term survival depends on stitching fragmented habitats together and sustaining political will.
Still, the jaguars’ resurgence offers hope. Where there are jaguars, Barros likes to say, there is life.
In Iguaçu, at least for now, that life is roaring back.
Read the full story by Sarah Brown here.
Banner image: Thanks to cross-border collaboration, the number of jaguars across the Brazil-Argentina Green Corridor has more than doubled in the last 13 years, with 93 individuals across the Iguaçu-Iguazú site. Image © Whitley Awards.
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